Ashes to Ashes 1. Chapter 1

**Ashes to Ashes - Crying for Attention**

**Chapter 1**

"I can't bloody understand a word mentioned in this soap." A number of the detectives were gathering around the old fashioned tv set in CID, on one Friday evening, watching an episode of Brookside. Ray who was an avid soap fan was beginning to wish he hadn't bothered giving this soap a try. None of his colleagues, seated next to him or seated in front of him, were taking any blind bit of notice of his criticizing remarks. However, Chris who was getting ready to leave the office, was the only person who had observed and overheard this.

Chris didn't look favorably impressed by his friend's comment "Ray, that's a bit harsh. Brookside's quite a good soap to watch."

"You're only saying that because Shaz makes you watch every episode with her. She's definitely changed your mind on it." The DI chuckled softly, believing he was exactly right as usual, in what he said.

"Yeah so what, I can't argue with that." Chris defended his reason for watching Brookside, much to his friend's miffed reaction.

Normally on a Friday evening, Fenchurch East CID detectives would be chancing any opportunity to bugger off to Luigis or off home, when the coast was clear, especially when the Guv's back was turned. Of course Gene had known what was really going behind his back but didn't give any hint, he had pretty much worked out was going on behind his back. Needless to say he looked not too happy about what kept happening every Friday evening. _Cheeky twats, trying to outwit me all the bloody time. Maybe I should make them work hard for the extra hour or two in the office._

So it was surprising to say the least, seeing a few members of the team staying behind until 8pm, watching something on that knackered looking tv set in the main office. He felt he should remind them, they better move their lazy backsides off elsewhere.

"Haven't you lot got places to go to or loved ones to go home to?!" Gene shouted, hoping they might take the hint and all clear out of the office as soon as possible. He closed the office door behind him and went to sit at his desk. He hadn't meant to raise his voice at them but to be honest, he did have a lot of problems on his mind at that moment. He and Alex weren't on friendly terms, the reason for this was because he had spoiled her planned evening, earlier in the week while she was on a promising date with one of Luigi's handsome young Italian waiters, Gianluca.

She'd been happily hosting and treating the charming and funny Gianluca to a luscious and tasty pasta meal. Yet she hadn't bargained on her unapologetic colleague, to suddenly knock at her door and interrupt her evening, by telling her to"_ put what plans you've got on hold - grab your coat and follow me, there's been a stabbing at the local Fenchurch nightclub." _

_"Well where's Ray, Chris and Shaz? haven't you phoned one of them and explained to them about this reported stabbing?"_

_"I've already phoned Raymondo, he claims he's come down with a dicky stomach, so he says and Chris and Shaz, I don't where the bloody hell they are. Anyway Bolls, I can't see why you're getting all, high and mighty with me...more to the point. No more arguments right..me and you, were a team like John Steel and Emma Peel, Sapphire and Steel...hmm that's rhymes and all," he gave a cheeky grin, hoping this might cheer her up. Alex still didn't look reasonably happy with him and his presence was putting Gianluca off, from wanting to stay any moment longer and soon left._

_"Oh thanks a bunch, that was your fault by the way." Alex fumed at him, she was beginning to lose patience with Gene._

_"How the hell was that my fault?, I was calling on you to come with me, to conduct a few witness interviews. Fine I'll do it myself." Gene commented, talking loudly in response. He turned away from her and started to head towards the hallway stairwell. _

_She quickly changed her mind, believing she couldn't very well let him deal with this investigation alone, seeing as he looked rather moody and so she called after him. "Gene wait there, I'll come with you...this is my job to after-all. However this isn't going to make me forget how mad I still am with you."  
_

_Gene turned around, looking slightly pissed off with her. "Christ make your mind up woman. You're more terrible at making your mind up than Bucks Fizz are."_

Alex was still giving him the cold shoulder, three days after that. On this Friday evening, she and Shaz had both already individually left the office. He struggled to get his head around the reason as to why she was continuing to pay no attention to him, whenever he tried to make amends with her - going as far as thanking her for being the only member of the team to have been clever enough to connect all the clues together and work wonders by delving a little deeper into the mystery behind this stabbing case from the other day.

After Gene had hurried and chased everyone out from the office in a matter of moments. Now alone and without anyone to talk to, he suddenly opted to treat himself to a glass of scotch from the cabinet. As he downed his full glass, he decided he was going to finally put things right between himself and Alex once and for all, whether she liked it or not.

**xxxxx**

**The following Monday **

For once in a while, Ray was working harder than usual. He was scribbling down a few notes from a caller, who was reporting a discovery of a dead body in their back garden. He thought it might end up being a foregone conclusion to this reported crime. "_The husband's found the wife's been getting her leg over with a toyboy. Obviously found them in bed together and snapped and attacked his wife's lover, accidentally killing him in the heat of the moment."_

"Hold on love...are you trying tell me, the identity of the body in your back garden, is your brother?" Ray asked, the look of bafflement registered itself across his face as he tried to make sense of what she was actually claiming. He rested the handset on his shoulder and whistled over to Gene, who happened to be standing nearby, ceremoniously reading something on one of the evidence folders.

"Yeah, what is it Ray?" The Detective Inspector managed to get his boss and friend's outright attention. The DCI curiously walked over to Ray's desk - with the intention of finding out why Ray needed to speak to him and what on earth he had in fact written down on his small notepad.

"Got an upset woman on the phone here, she's found her brother dead in her back garden. She reckons it's a possibility he spent the night outside because when she tried to wake him, she said she checked to see if he was feeling fine but she panicked when she realized his hands were freezing cold and had no pulse." Ray thoroughly explained everything to Gene, thoughtfully updating him on the information he had ably noted down on paper. "This was about three hours ago now, she phoned an ambulance but they pronounced him dead on arrival."

"Right, check with forensics to see if the body's already down there, Ray. Me and DI Drake will go and see her at the hospital, if she's still there. Did you ask for her home address by the way?" Gene instructed, as he decided on which direction the beginnings of this investigation would go next.

"You sure it's such a good idea, you and Alex investigate this one together?, I mean you two still aren't much on speaking terms." Out of the blue, the DI started to question Gene's inadequate decision-making. This comment soon went down like a lead balloon, met with a disgruntled look from his longtime friend and boss. As soon as Ray picked up on his reaction, instantly he changed this subject and handed Gene the provided address, which the woman had mentioned over the phone.

"Me and DI Drake will sort things out soon enough, so for the time being keep your nose out Columbo. In the meantime we need to work together on this because as much as I hate to say, I need her help on this case, just as she might need mine." Gene's eyes scanned around the office, to be honest he was more or less expecting to find her standing over the dot matrix printer. Looking like she was going to give the printer a right bang with her hand.

Unfortunately she was nowhere to be seen and for that reason, this began to worry Gene - not that he'd dare to consider revealing this out loud. Honestly her bewildering manners and behavior was beginning to frustrate him so much, yet he was still feeling pretty optimistic of making things up with her - Apologizing for the unacceptable comment he made after he and Alex had carried out individual witness interviews with a partygoers outside the nightclub.

"Good_ job you didn't start giving those southern poofters all sorts of ideas Bolls, about that tarty dress of yours." _He hadn't thought much of this remark at first but when he saw her offended and annoyed reaction, he wondered whether he'd pretentiously let his big gob run riot with inexcusable quips.

Shaz could tell how concerned he was looking and made an interesting suggestion. "Guv, she might be still in the station."

Gene turned to face her. "And how did you figure that out, Granger?"

"Well first of all, she hasn't taken her jacket, I mean if she's still feeling uncomfortable at the thought of being around you, she wouldn't go and dash out without it." Actually Shaz's prompted suggestion was beginning to make him ponder over this possibility.

"She'll be on the roof balcony" After spending a few minutes of careful thinking, now there was no doubt in his mind, as to where she most likely was.

**End of Chapter 1**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ashes to Ashes - Crying for Attention**

**Chapter 2**

Alex looked reflectively while standing on the station's roof balcony, the gust of the wind helped to bluster gently across her face. She had so much emotions on her mind, some of which she didn't want to go and admit to Gene about. One thing she did really want to tell him was, that she forgave him for the other evening despite the fact that he'd spectacularly ruined her relaxing evening with Gianluca - she couldn't feel any frustration towards him anymore, even though he might still from time to time, have the habit of stubbornly doing some things his way instead of her way.

She heard the sound of familiar footsteps advancing towards her, yet she didn't turn around to see who it was, as she knew exactly who was standing behind her. "I'm fine Gene, honestly I am."

"No you're not Bolls...this isn't like you, not looking like your normal annoying Posh Knickers self. I reckon something's eating up you inside. Tell me...I promise, I won't let this big gob of mine, come out with something bloody stupid as usual." He gestured a zipper like signal across his lips with his left thumb and fourth finger. She finally did turn around to address him and stared him full on in the eyes.

"Why do I get the feeling, you're not going to give up on getting the truth out of me." She tried to confess out loud - what was making her feel unhappy and reserved.

"Because I'm the Manc Lion and this is what I do when I'm needed, I listen. Trust me Bolly, I've heard the weird of the weirdest bollocks, some stories that make me feel sick to my bloody stomach, plus I've heard too many stories of Ray's awfully embarrassing stories - he told me one time, he found himself handcuffed to the gate outside his house once." Gene watched her considerately as her pretty eyes nervously glanced elsewhere, away from him. He wished she would stop keeping whatever these secrets were from him and make sure they wouldn't consciously distract her all the time.

"It's no wonder I can't keep anything private to myself anymore. I know you too well nowadays Gene and I know without a doubt, that you'll do everything you can get me to admit to my current problems" She knew from always sitting alongside him in interviews - how genuinely determined he can be, with regards to getting the truth out of someone.

_Christ finally a breakthrough of sorts, despite the fact she behaves like a right dozy mare, she's still got a feisty and smart posh bird. Fingers crossed and hand on heart, she's finally thinking of opening up to me._

In an awkward-like attempt to cheer her up, Gene wanted to reassure her that he and everybody else in the station, honestly enough did care about her well-being. "You're spot on there, you certainly do know me too annoyingly well Bolls. As I've kept telling you...me and you are the definition of a classic team. You see...we can get through some shit times and some shiny and glory times because me and you, we're unbreakable...no i can go one better than that...all of us in this station we're unbreakable." His eyes were staring at her with reassurance.

"If I tell you, why I'm feeling upset and scared..."

Gene's eyes narrowed once he heard her confessing to feeling scared. "Bolly..I didn't have you down as a scared person?" _She keeps boring me with all that Psychology bollocks, yet now she's tossed that all out the window_. _Something's definitely up. _He expressed as much interest as he possibly could show, by waiting calmly in taking note of, what else she felt she needed to get off her chest.

Luckily he wasn't made to wait too long to finally hear the genuine reason behind why she was isolating herself from Gene and the team. "I was up all night, last night because I was woken up by someone trying to quietly force their way into my flat. They didn't get the chance of stealing anything valuable of the flat because they must have seen the light from my bedroom lamp flickering. I just froze after the person left, I mean what if he had been violent and tried to attack me."

"You're one tough cookie bird Bolly, even if an attacker was armed and dangerous I would always expect you to give them, a deserved slap to the gob or a knee in the groin."Gene decided to do his utmost - muster up whatever he can, by offering the some obliging word. With a bit of luck that this might hopefully help to rejuvenate her confidence.

"You know Gene I've noticed from time to time, that you've typically been downright negative, when giving each and every member of the team the advice that, your gut feelings is telling you that they need. I guess now, you've learned from making that mistake. Look I'm grateful for your kind words...just promise me one thing, please arrest the person responsible for this, you know..before he ends up doing something far worse than this to an innocent onlooker." She asked him - she didn't want anybody else to fall victim to this nasty piece of work.

She spoke with more optimism and sureness - The effectiveness of Gene's words were certainly starting to work wonders for her while she responded to his previous comment. "Do whatever's possible,

"Oh don't worry Bolly, whoever this fairy arsed bastard is, I'll be making bloody well sure he doesn't see the sunlight shining out of his backside again and that he has 'nasty poof' stamped across his big forehead." The DCI looked fairly adamant, up on promising about what he might do next, once he got his hands on this grubby thieving bastard.

She smiled fondly, looking reassured after he gave her this satisfying enough promise.

"Thank you..." She said before eventually changing the matter of this subject. "Before you sneaked up behind me, you looked like you had something interesting information to put me in the picture about." Without glancing back at him over her shoulder, she was clever enough to figure out

"Christ you really do have eyes at the back of your head, don't you Bolly." Gene chuckled out loud - he definitely had a unique laugh on him, that's for sure. Once he was finally able to settle his laughter down, without delay he got right back on track with the real reason, on his behalf for coming to speak to her.

"A distraught woman rang into the station, reporting a dead body. We have reason to believe she found her brother face down in her back. So that's pretty much what we know so far. Suppose we should pay a visit to the morgue first, see what forensics has found on the body. Then later me and you can visit the sister, see if she's feeling up to answering one or two of our questions...and yes I'll go easy on her Bolls." He felt he was rabbiting on too much and they had better get cracking with this new investigation.

She gave a nod of assurance and soon enough the two of them were making their back inside the building together.

**xxxxx**

Back downstairs, at the front desk, an unhappy looking young woman with brunette hair was sitting alone in the visitors' waiting area. She looked extremely upset and emotional, this made Viv wondered whether he should forward on a message to DI Carling, as this female visitor to the station had asked to speak to him privately.

The Desk Sergeant's head shot up once he happened to overhear DI Carling talking a mile a minute, amongst a group of his fellow colleagues. Not willing to be left waiting another moment longer, Viv intervened in the conversation which Ray was sharing with other detectives. "Oh DI Carling there's a woman over there, says she needs to speak to you as soon as possible. She said it's about her brother's death."

"Oh right, thanks for telling me Viv. I'll bring her into the CID office and make sure she gets plenty of support. Oh by the way, you haven't seen the Guv have you?"

"Yeah him and DI Drake walked past together here, around five minutes ago. Seems like the two of them have patched up their differences at last. Why do you ask?"

"Forensics need a word with him and Alex, Might have a breakthrough already on this murder case. Apparently Robert down there's found some deep markings on Jonny Knight's body. Thinks Alex might be able to help explain the meanings of them."

The woman who was previously sat in the waiting area - all of a sudden came into view from behind Viv. She dashed and advanced towards where Ray was currently stood, she almost caused the desk sergeant to lose his foot balance. "Johnny where is he can I see him please? Please let me see him, I just need to make my peace with him."

"Hold on love, I need to square it with my DCI first, whether you can see your brother or not. So you might as well follow me to see my boss and ask him if you can see Jonny." Ray sympathized with her, knowing that she must feel like she's had her whole world turned upside down by what's sadly happened to her in the last 24 hours. He showed certain compassion as he escorted her to the main office.

He couldn't help but wonder why she'd had a change of heart suddenly - opting to speak to him personally. Perhaps it was nothing to worry about and she wanted to give her statement to the police as any relatives would normally do, at a difficult time or she knew exactly who was very much responsible for carrying out the ill-timed murder of her brother.

**xxxxx**

Gene cornered Alex strolling around the main office, while he was reading the horse racing section of the morning newspaper. Hand on heart he genuinely believed she hadn't told him everything and was still secretly keeping something stressful from him. However before he had the opportunity of calling her into his office for another chat, Ray was bringing Jonny Knight's sister Paula into the office.

Showing a more thoughtful and polite side of himself, Ray offered her, his revolving desk chair to sit down on. "You alright with sitting here love."

"Yes this is fine." She responded sensitively to his question. "So you're DI Carling, who I spoke to on the phone this morning. I suppose I should blame myself for not trying to keep him out of the horrible mess he got himself to."

Ray and Alex both exchanged questioning looks at each other, while they stood next to each other, facing this afflicted woman - who was giving very little eye contact at the both of them. Clearly she felt she needed to be completely straightforward and truthful with these two detectives.

"Do you want to make a statement Paula...you know about what you think might have happened to Jonny last night?" Ray plausibly asked her. He momentarily glanced over towards Gene's office, wondering why the Guv hadn't shifted his backside off from his chair in a hurry. Ray returned his attention back to Paula, his eyes slowly drifted downwards on the type of clothing she was working. The clothing looked untidy and bedraggled, he consider the possibility of perhaps the two siblings had found themselves caught up in their own individual troubles.

"Yes...but i'm only certain of what bad things, that he got himself embroiled in. I don't know who wanted him dead."

"So what he did find himself mixed up in?" Alex asked, chipping in before Ray could do.

"All I know is, he started meeting up with a couple of blokes, twice a week. They got him involved in human trafficking, he promised me he wasn't seriously involved with it, as he was forced into looking after a few of the women. I think whoever was masterminding this, feared he might blab about what things this group were intending to do with these women. In all honesty DI Carling he never got himself in trouble before this, Jonny was the sweetest and caring man, any single girl could ever wish for in their dream man. He was scared of these blokes who were bullying him around, telling where to take the girls to."

"Were one of these bastards called Gary Carter by any chance?" Gene asked, as he finally emerged from the surroundings of his small scaled office - with his arms crossed and him standing tall.

"Yes he definitely mentioned someone called Gary. Can I see my brother now." Paula felt she'd given as much evidence as she possible could and turned around to face this single-minded detective. Gene gave a nod of agreement, himself and Ray took her to the morgue to see Jonny, leaving Alex to mind the office for the time being.

**End of Chapter 2**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ashes to Ashes - Crying for Attention**

**Chapter 3**

After they let Paula identify her brother and briefly spend time with him, Ray and Gene were now taking drags of their cigarettes outside, on the station's front entrance's steps. They hadn't said one word to each other since they left the morgue. Honestly it wasn't like Ray to keep his gob shut and stay tight-lipped for more than thirty minutes. So Gene decided to ask him one or two things - hopeful of getting the truth out of his loyal DI.

"Come on spit out then Raymondo. has the cat got your bloody tongue?" He asked, wanting to know what Ray was genuinely thinking about,_ he better not be away with the fairies again_

"This is probably nothing but when I walking ahead with Paula before and when we both got outside, she hurried over to the side of the pavement and climbed into a waiting car."

"What have you been eating or drinking today, I reckon it's probably the same as DI Drake." Gene wasn't treating this seriously at first, he was quick to shrug off Ray's thoughts.

"Hang on Guv, I think it might be. I got a good look at the bloke driving the car. I knew I recognized the face, I would never forget it...I think it's Davey Lane. Christ it's a wonder he didn't shit himself and make for a break for it once he saw me, looking at him."

"Davey Lane, Christ that's a name I didn't thinking I'd be having the unfortunate pleasure of hearing again." Gene expressed natural surprise upon hearing the name of this one-time criminal from Manchester - now being possibly linked to the trafficking case and to Jonny Knight's murder.

"I know and I reckon he might have had dealings with this gang, who bullied Jonny about. You know what i think..I think it's such an interesting coincidence - him happening to suddenly be, a shoulder to cry on for Paula." Ray was eventually beginning to pretty much be thinking along the same lines as the Guv. "Guv do you reckon we should give the smug faced bastard a head start?..well he always was good at escaping arrest in a Manchester street from you and Litton."

"Yes but the only problem the sniveling weasel had, was that he couldn't leg it very far from us, when we did give chase after the smarmy bugger." Gene reminded his colleague of how much of an unlucky criminal and slow runner Davey Lane actually was, more than five years ago when they last met him.

"So what are you suggesting by the way then?" Ray looked intrigued to learn about what other considerate ideas that his friend wanted to share, with regards to this matter. Hopefully they would be straight-forward ones and not a ludicrous plan that might involve them lurking around and waiting to nab the suspect they were chasing after.

"Oh I'm sure DI Drake might be willing to suggest one of her clever Psychology bollocks ideas." Gene knew it was somewhat risky to rely on Alex's know-how and skills on getting the right results when it mattered, but no matter what his innermost negative feelings told him, his undeterred faith and trust in her wasn't exactly going to change anytime soon.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" If they agreed on going along with one of Drake's recommended ideas and if it perhaps was an undercover job, well then obviously they need to make a safe bet on whoever was chosen to keep close tabs of Lane and his thuggish cronies every movements.

"Of course I know what I'm doing Raymondo. I haven't gone and lost my marbles if that's what you're thinking." Gene was quick to respond, by reassuring his colleague nothing wasn't going to go wrong with this plan. He felt a textbook result was almost certainly around the corner for them, with this latest investigation. He felt optimistic that once he explained everything to Alex - about his history and past encounters with Lane, that she might not recommend a simple plan instead of one of those piss-taking lengthy ones.

"Christ! wasn't saying you had Guv."

**xxxxx**

Alex couldn't relax and concentrate as much like she was normally able to, what with Gene telling her about this murder case and also about having her problems to worry about herself. She knew it was absolutely wrong of her, to still be keeping Gene in the dark about her other problem. She wanted to finally feel safe and protected in her own home but she knew this could never happen, knowing that there was a dangerous individual monitoring her movements and tracking her every morning after she left her flat alone. She genuinely did want to tell Gene but she believed he would fly off the handle and choose to beat up whoever this person was, as apposed of asking the person why they'd chosen to stalk her.

"Any luck on finding anything on Jonny Knight, Chris?" She snapped out of her niggling thoughts and put her mind to focus on CID's current case.

"The only thing I could find on him was two outstanding parking tickets, other than that he was clean as a whistle." Chris said.

"What about his sister?" She asked, wondering if a likely clue could sooner or later be revealed through Paula's potential criminal past.

"Ah" Chris rummaged through the stack of paperwork and files across his desk, once he was able to find the right file, he handed it over to Alex. "The file on his sister looks more juicy in details, you better take a look Ma'am...Alex.."

"Oh believe me I intend to." She grabbed hold of the folder and her eyes soon began to look for what _"Juicy details" _might be recorded on Paula Knight's feasible chequered background. Was she a victim of crime herself or perhaps a desperate woman with intentions of breaking a couple of rules. Maybe her last one rule-breaker backfired on her spectacularly, resulting in her brother paying the consequences for what she was muddled up in.

_Paula Marie Knight_

_Arrested in June 1980 for assault on Alfie Brannigan, a former boyfriend. Who later dropped all allegations against her, for reasons unknown. _

_Arrested in April 1981 for causing damage to shop properties in Brixton. Served 10 weeks in prison._

_Questioned by DCI Duncan Stewart of Fenchurch West over not coming forward with evidence relating to a nightclub brawl between Davey Lane and Alfie Brannigan._

"Interesting, very interesting Chris." She smiled before placing the folder down on her desk. She didn't say much after this as she suddenly had a lightbulb moment, feeling her self-confidence and determination starting to resurface within her. - this was the boost which she had understandably been searching for, for the last few days or so.

Upon flicking through the couple of blokes names handwritten in the folder, one of them looked too familiar, Chris believed. "You know something doesn't add up about her ex dropping the assault charges against her, bloke who arrested her said, she was a right madam, trying to turn the tables on her ex. Mind you that bloke's name does sound a bit familiar, Guv probably might have arrested him a few years ago."

She got no further in attempting to share her thoughts, as Gene and Ray were returning back to the office together. The two of them didn't individually wander off towards their desks like they usually did, instead they made their way over to where Alex was sitting, on the edge of her desk.

"What's the matter?" She asked the both of them, feeling ever the more eager to find out just what exactly they were about to say to her.

"Come along Bolls, get that peachy bum of yours off your desk and follow me and Raymondo here into my office." Gene seemed like he was in an actual hurry to speak to her privately and so he head gestured for her to get a bloody move on and make her way over, across the room, towards his office as soon as possible.

"Why? has Paula provided you with more evidence, on which well-known criminals were most likely, a part of this gang, who her brother got himself involved with?" She refused to budge from her sitting position at that particular moment until names of probable suspects were eventually given

"Well we've got one name...Davey Lane. He's a right poofter, he's crap at legging it from the likes of us. Plus he's got one of those faces you'd be more than happy to want to punch - a lot like a punching bag, boxers use." Ray said, interfering in the Guv and Alex's conversation.

"Yes thank you Ray, for your summary of that poxy nonce." The DCI grumbled, clearly he didn't seem too surprised by his friend's hasty comments however he did begin to wish that Ray would keep his gob quiet for more than five minutes and give him a chance to talk to Alex alone, if possible. Satisfied with what she heard, she got up from the edge of the desk and came over to join them.

"I need a word with DI Drake, Ray. Can you..erm...try and look into anything on the sister, whether she's been leading us astray with the evidence she's given us." He finally turned around and told him straight.

"Alright Guv. I'll see whatever troubles she's had with the law." Ray responded, expressing disappointed that he was being sent away.

"No need, myself and Chris have already done that. Well more to the point, we've uncovered a few things, how she keeps having a couple of run-ins with Fenchurch West. She's also served a couple of weeks in Fenchurch Central prison as well. Either she isn't the distraught sister that she's showing herself as or perhaps we've got her wrong altogether and her past mistakes have caught up with her - thus resulting in her brother paying the price." Alex told the two of them, much to Ray's annoyance - meaning he didn't have much to do now.

"Well there's only one way for me and you to find out the truth then for ourselves, we'd better go and pay her a visit eh Bolls. See what she has to say for herself." Gene suggested.

"What if Davey Lane's there? and following along with whatever plan I happen to suggest to you, about keeping a close eye on him?" She asked, worrying they might be diving too much into investigation before it's even got off the ground.

"Oh I'm sure I can handle the bloody scrounging nonce when I get my hands on him." Gene declared with such exceptional confidence. Oh he was very certain Lane would have nowhere else to try and run to, once he found himself cornered by Fenchurch East and West, seeing as Paula's address was actually within the west part of the Fenchurch borough.

**End of Chapter**

**All Reviews are Welcome**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ashes to Ashes - Crying for Attention**

**Chapter 4**

Gene looked broodingly and full of determination as he handled the Quattro's steering wheel while driving. He and Alex had just left the station and were now on their way to Paula Knight's address. After sometimes getting jiggled around in the passenger seat, she was surprised to see that the Quattro was now being driven with much caution and restraint this time around.

"Shame you didn't feel like going along with what I had in mind for a possible idea after-all. We could have gone to see where Davey works, cornered him and had a reasonable conversation with him." As usual Alex looked less surprised by another of his spur of the moment choices, which he always had the annoying habit of making.

"Sorry Bolls, I'm following the old gut feeling of mine. Always works a wonder to go with what it's telling you all the time." Gene couldn't see nothing wrong with the way he liked to tackle lying, light-fingered poofs like Davey Lane.

"Hmm no surprise there then. You expecting me to consent to another of your not very well thought out ideas." She asked herself out loud, her slip of the tongue comment earned a disapproving look from Gene. She wondered whether perhaps she should try to keep too many of her thoughts to herself in future, seeing as he was obviously intent on confronting Paula over why she hadn't owned up about her brushes with the law and mentioned her about association with Davey Lane - whether or not it was business or pleasure between them, he couldn't give a toss.

"Oh cheers Bolls..." Normally he would have a good old moan and kick off after hearing a comment, except on this very occasion he didn't look too bothered about making an angry song and dance towards her. "She lied to us Bolls and right now my gut feeling is telling me that, that worthless street nonce has probably persuaded her to run rings around us and put on the tears as much as she can. Just so it gives his mates a chance to prepare their getaway from every potential copper across Fenchurch. "

"What makes you think this Gene? Are you sure this isn't about you getting too hyped up, on the thought of finally getting on your hands on Lane? Because I think it is." Her mind found itself suddenly being changed in dramatic circumstances, as her lingered look towards him, made her realize that she didn't want to see him allow his resentment towards Mr Lane overcloud whatever he intended to ask Paula when they got to her house.

"This isn't bloody about me, getting all high and mighty Bolly. No I know what sort of person this twat is and he isn't one whose hand you can squash in whatever way you prefer to make sure of, when trying to get the truth. He manipulates vulnerable women and makes their lives tens time worse than already probably is for them. If we get enough evidence against the bastard, to confirm his involvement with Johnny's death, then you'll see how right I am about this."

"Gene I'm not doubting you at all, I was just expressing my concern." She tried to fully explain her reason for why she was simply looking out for him in this manner. She also didn't want to see him blowing their chances of cracking this murder investigation, just as it was only picking itself off the ground for them.

Gene could tell right away, that she meant reasonably well, on account of how slightly worried she felt about him at that moment. For starters, bitterness was clearly brewing within his mind while he was thinking back to the last time when he chanced upon and clashed with Davey Lane. Taunting and kicking seven bells out of a homeless person just outside the old Manchester nick back in 1979. All he wanted now was to serve the horrible bastard cold hard justice and make sure the prison key was thrown away on him - so much for maintaining his cool and keeping in line with the main focus of this important case.

Soon enough the Quattro turned off into an industrious part of Fenchurch West, which was surrounded by local nightclubs and a snooker hall. "I can't afford slipping up and making another almighty mistake Bolls because of this. Hmm a bit touchy that you seem to care about my personal well-being all of a sudden." Gene looked thoughtfully at her. Well she certainly knew how to considerately put whatever worries she had for someone else first, ahead of any other niggling ones she had for herself.

"I just don't want to see you questioning whether your over-the-hill again, which of course you're not. I'm not helping much I am? To put this in a short answer, just establish yourself what you do best as a DCI. " She managed to avoid frustrating him, by

Gene parked up the Quattro on the left hand corner of the road outside of a corner shop/mini market and got out first, his eyes narrowed as they studied the houses on either side of the road. This certain road and it's row of terraced houses didn't look as rundown nor substandard as he originally thought they might be. Alex got out next, not long after him. Gene walked around the front of the car bonnet and then stepped on to the pavement. Paula's house number was further down on the right side of this road.

Keen on not getting herself mistaking for someone acting suspiciously, Alex started walking ahead of her somewhat motivated looking colleague. She glanced over her shoulder and quickly began to wonder why he was now playing for time, perhaps he was considering whether or not to stay as cool as a cucumber, once he eventually comes face to face with his long-time adversary - use this as way of getting the better of him, well she believed it was better to use your brains and not your fists.

"Well Gene, are you going to stand there, looking like a statue or are you going to follow on after me, so one of us can knock at Paula's door together?" She sighed, she didn't wish to say anything bad but felt she should remind him that time was literally on their hands.

"Alright Bolls keep your voice down, I'm not exactly planning on becoming one of them garden gnomes, if that's you were thinking, in that lovely posh mind of yours." Gene pulled a glowering face before quickly rejoining her, as the both of them soon started to make their way up towards the front of Paula's house.

"I think you'd make a very lovely garden gnome by the way." She couldn't resist making the odd witty remark, in an attempt to perk up Gene's sense of purpose and humor. He flashed a smile at her, giving the impression that didn't seem too fussed whatsoever over what she just said. They both glanced over at the front white painted gate which lead up to Paula's front door.

"Well let's see what she's got to say for herself. Hopefully the madam isn't going to feed more lies, like politician do at elections." Gene interestingly suggested, before opting to open the gate with his right hand and stepping forward, ahead of Alex. For once she completely approved of his thought-provoking comment.

As she viewed the freshly trimmed four-sided garden, Alex's eyes were curiously scanning sideways from left to right, quietly admiring it's many features. - plant pot, two garden gnomes and a watering can were placed next to each other.

Gene delicately gave her a two-fingered tap on the shoulder, which snapped her out of this brief distraction. "When you've quite finished Miss Garden Knickers." He wasn't too miffed to see her getting distracted by some measly knock off garden bric-a-brac. Unable to wait any longer, he gave a thumping knock on the surface of the door. Alex glanced inquisitively over her shoulder, just as a few of the neighbours were prying on their current activity outside Paula's house. _A woman's brother had just died and they have nothing else to do but treat what's happened to her and her family like something out of a British Crime, Gangster film._

One of the elderly neighbours suddenly approached Alex. "Oh it's awful what happened to her brother. She doesn't look like she's had a great few days, because yesterday afternoon my husband saw her arguing on her front doorstep with her fella." The woman who was now speaking to Alex, had a strong East End accent and a preserving look about her - one which suggested she probably liked being protective of her family and friends.

Yet Alex couldn't reasonably be sure on whether to believe this meddling elderly woman or not. "How sure can you be of this?" She asked.

"Well first of all, my husband's never once lied to me in our 48 years of marriage and I don't like to see women getting mistreated by their vile boyfriends or husbands." She responded, referring to what her husband had mentioned to her - for some reason she talked as if she knew and had seen bad stuff such as this happening before .

"Would you mind if me and my colleague over there, take your husband's statement?" Without further delay Alex retrieved her notepad from the pocket of her jacket, she was ready and waiting to jot down however much vital witness information she can, that this woman's husband could hopefully provide them with, for the murder investigation.

Unfortunately before she could get whatever chance of revealing hers and her husband's name, Gene marched over towards them and interrupted their conversation. He hadn't heard what had sort of conversation they'd been sharing and so assumed the nosy elderly woman might intentionally be holding up Alex for potential gossip from her. "If you don't mind love, me and my DI here, have more important things to do, instead of having to listen and put up with your best hawk-eye impressions." He sniffed, making a distinctive gesture for the old woman to leave them alone.

"Gene for god sake, she's got information that might help us with our investigation. Just at least listen to what she has to say first...please..." Alex reasoned with him, hoping he would quieten down and at least give the old lady the go-ahead to open up to them.

"Well before your rude colleague butted in, I was about to tell you, my name's Gwen and my husband's name is George Scott. That poor brother of hers, Johnny is who I feel sorry for the most. He came over to my house last month, he was all emotional about something. So I asked him why he was upset but he chose not to tell me. I knew something was clearly not quite right with him, I'm guessing that, that disgrace boyfriend of hers had probably driven a wedge between Jonny and his sister."

"What makes you think that?" Alex asked all of a sudden, out of curiosity. More to the point she was left to ponder over where exactly Gwen was going with what further assumptions she had to mention about.

"Oh trust me dear, I can read someone's body language as if I was reading one of my Delia Smith cookbooks. That boyfriend didn't nothing but treat Johnny like he was a punching bag and as I've already said, mistreat the sister badly as well." Gwen revealed another shocking revelation to the two detectives, who seemed a little more convinced now that she was telling them the truth.

Gene wasn't vaguely surprised to find out that Davey was treating Paula like a doormat, however the same couldn't be said in his reaction to finding out that Johnny had found himself on the end of a few beatings courtesy of his sister's boyfriend. "So he beat him up to a pulp? Blimey i didn't think Lane had it him, unless he hired two goons he's associated with, to do it for him."

"Seems plausible" There was no way of seeing around Gene's sixth sense, so Alex supported his comment.

**xxxxx**

After taking Gwen and George's witness statements and after Alex had persuaded Gene not to smash the front door in. The two Fenchurch detectives were now heading back to the station in the Quattro. "Okay I admit it, I was wrong and you were right. Davey's obviously influencing every decision she makes and he's probably thinking with her having made a statement, he's worried that she's going to spill the beans about his and Johnny's involvement with the trafficking."

"Look if we don't act now, she might end up joining her brother six feet under, Bolly. I can't let that happen, not on my watch." Gene was adamant that Davey's mental and awful domestic abuse over Paula would soon be coming to an end.

"So Johnny was trying to help her to escape from Davey's clutches, but then again the one thing I don't understand is why Davey go as far as bullying him to participating in these certain activities, that he and his spiteful friends were mixed up in. So there must be a reason for it because it scared Johnny over what he was caught up in." Beyond any shadow of a doubt, Alex was starting to believe the mystery behind Johnny's death was all coming together - the dots were being connected and the witness statements were painting a very intriguing picture of how Paula and her brother's lives were turned upside own by this intimidating man.

"Yeah it's called being 'the top bastard dog'. I reckon he thrived on treating him like a useless lapdog and using him as a go-between when he looked after the foreign girls, as Davey probably instructed him to." Gene suggested, he didn't want to see anyone else being hurt or damaged, as a result of Lane's underhanded and aggressive tactics.

"Paula could be in trouble, so we need to find her as soon as possible, before he turns violent again." Alex said, warning of possible terrible consequences because if they weren't to act sooner, they could end up having another murder case on their hands to deal with.

Before Gene could start the car's engine up, his radio boomed out loudly on the dashboard.

"Guv can you hear me!, Guv!. Oh have you bloody dozed off again? Alex...Alex are you there? Pick up" It was Ray, he had an urgent message to inform them about.

Alex was quick off the mark in picking up the radio and quickly answering it. Much to Gene's "Yes Ray, go ahead."

"I think you might want to get down to Fenchurch Central Hospital."

"Why?"

"Well, someone phoned us who lives in the same street as Paula. He said he works at Fenchurch Hospital. Got a shock when he saw Paula being whisked in, apparently she's in a critical condition and worse of all there was no one with her. Looks like Lane's buggered off."

"Thanks for letting us know Ray." She appreciated everything he mentioned and finished their brief conversation.

Gene and Alex looked saddened to hear this. "So he got to her first. He always one bloody step ahead of us, well he's going to wish he wasn't, as soon as we catch up with him." Gene fumed, with anger etched across his face and streaming throughout his muscular body. He felt like slamming his hand down on the steering wheel except he luckily managed to avoid making the mistake of doing this.

"We'll need to interview that neighbour, who works at the hospital." She suggested. With everything said and done, the Quattro started off it's journey to the Fenchurch Central Hospital.

**End of Chapter**

**All Reviews are Welcome**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ashes to Ashes - Crying for Attention**

**Chapter 5**

"Why do women bother sticking with nonces such as Davey_ Bastard_ Lane?" Gene still didn't look best pleased at the thought of being outsmarted by an aggressive thug such as Davey Lane.

"Obviously the male can lure their victim, whether it's the girlfriend or wife into a false security of love and when the male gets bored, lashing out is the best option for him." Alex explained, as she was able to briefly recall investigating something like this before, in the present day. She did happen to have sometimes felt slightly uncomfortable seeing the worst of this, despite the fact she was well trained, qualified Police Psychologist.

"You've seen this before with victims Bolls?" Gene asked, while he continued driving. He was considering letting Alex take over some sections of this current case. - Perhaps she could try and interview Paula concerning the nasty abuse Davey had inflicted upon her and Gene could then wade in and ask her a few questions about how her boyfriend was behaving on the night, her brother was killed.

"Yes, I've dealt with plenty of these domestic abuse cases before, enough for me to know and recognize what the causes of them are..."

"Oh really what are the causes?" He asked, she didn't know whether he was taking the piss or whether he was thoughtfully taking heed, with regards to her clear knowledge of cases like this.

"Jealously and dislike for starters, perhaps in Davey's case he disliked how Jonny always wanted to look out his sister's best interests at heart." She suggested, assuming this opinionated thought might just be exactly right.

Surprisingly Gene happened to agree with her for once, mainly because this was starting to make sense for him, enough for him to add together the missing pieces of this certain murder case. " Sounds about right Bolly. Still, I don't think it's right for any tosspot to knock birds about."

"You're actually agreeing with me?" She asked out of curiosity, expressing an intrigued look at him.

"Course I am, why did you think I was going to ambiguously park my arse on the fence?" He couldn't see a problem with this. _Typical Bolly, soon as me and her see eye to eye with each other. She's desperate to throw a party over it._

"No, It was the only choice you faced. You said it yourself yesterday, Davey probably didn't like the fact that Jonny and Paula had a strong sibling bond and that he wanted to drive wedge between them, by having Jonny working for him." She repeated and reminded him of the conversation they'd had yesterday.

Soon enough they were arriving at Fenchurch Central Hospital. Gene carefully parked the Quattro within the nearest parking spot, closest to the hospital's main entrance. Two male journalists and one female journalist and a Scottish cameraman were questionably hanging around outside the entranceway - obviously they were fishing for a scoop on the latest update on Paula Knight's condition, much to Gene's provocation.

"Bugger off!" Gene said, he really wasn't in the greatest of moods, as he and Alex quickly pushed past the three journalists before they walked in together through the main entrance.

"This isn't good, the press fishing for whatever updates they can get on the murder case." She wasn't happy too, the press/journalists seeking to expose holes or flaws in the Jonny Knight case.

The two Fenchurch East detectives were escorted by one of the on duty nurses, to the room Paula was currently recuperating in. "We checked on her, 30 minutes ago. She's awake now. She hasn't said anything to us since she came to, however we're hoping she might be encouraged to open up the two of you. Her arms, neck and chest are covered in painful bruises." The female nurse named Sandra, explained to them - giving a thorough enough update on Paula's latest condition.

Eventually they reached the hospital room, 220b. Alex thanked the nurse for showing them to the room Paula was in. Sandra, the nurse left them alone seconds later.

Before entering the room, Alex pulled up Gene out of the blue. "Gene, just promise me something. Take it easy with Paula because she's obviously not going to be feeling okay, especially after what's happened to her, over the last few days with Davey and what he did to her." Alex needed to make sure, he wouldn't behave persistently while asking her a few more questions about her boyfriend.

"Fine, I'll follow your lead then Mrs Marple and take the softly softly approach. Let's not forget here, she is our best hope of nailing that bastard, so we'll need to get enough evidence as we can." Gene commented, to a certain degree he was now starting to feel optimistic, after he had agreed to go along with her on this style of questioning - hopefully the thought of giving him an earache, if he put a foot wrong, might not be considered for a while yet.

Gene glanced into the room and saw a repentant Paula sitting up in her bed, staring out at the outdoor view from the window. He stepped into the room first and Alex followed him not long after.

Paula soon focused her attention away from the goings-on outside as she heard the detectives entering the room. She looked relieved to see them, implying the fact perhaps that, she was desperate to get a few serious things off her chest.

"So you know why we're here then, to talk to you?" Gene asked her, he could tell from the sad look in her eyes, that something important had considerably changed within her. - The horrible truth had dawned upon Paula about her nasty lover, perhaps she was now finally pointing the finger directly at him, over Jonny's death.

"You want me to tell you the truth this time. Why I haven't been honest with you about Davey's violent streak and why it's taken me until today to realize that, I'm better off without him in my life." She sighed with deep regret and overwhelming sadness.

"Well love I think this is the exact time for you, to start being honest with us for a change." Gene informed her. - She was being trusted to tell the truth, whether she actually wanted to or not.

"He told me never to trust anyone especially the police and that I should always keep trusting him instead. What a big mistake, that was." She regretted, having associated herself with this awful man.

Alex sat down on an armchair which was placed near to the left hand side of the bed.

"Which proves he wanted as much control over you as possible. Paula do you think Davey might have killed your brother because of the mess he got him into, with his illegal dealings?" Alex got straight to the point of asking her the most important question, which needed answering one way or another. Whether Paula truly wished to tip them off about Davey remained to be seen.

"Come on love, if you want to live to see another day and save yourself from Davey, now's your chance to start telling us everything you know." Her reluctance was beginning to test Gene's patience to a certain extent.

"Okay...okay. Me and Davey had a row at the start of this week. Jonny was so fed up of him having everything his own way - he didn't like Davey constantly dictating my lifestyle, following me around when I met with my friends. The other night I retired to bed, I can remember Davey being passed out drunk on the sofa. I got woken up by two people shouting, so I looked out of my bedroom window and saw Jonny being shoved around."

"By Davey?" The DCI asked her.

"No, I'm pretty certain it wasn't him. I know it wasn't him because the person bullying him around, was wearing a blue shirt. Davey was wearing a white and red striped rugby shirt. " Paula seemed pretty sure it wasn't him as she recalled one vital flashback, which she was able to remember from that unfortunate night.

"Then who was it?" Alex asked, she and Gene equally expressed their surprise upon finding out, Davey was more than likely to have been out for the count.

"Gregory." She named the person who she genuinely hand on heart, believed she saw arguing with her brother.

"Who in the bloody hell is Gregory?" Gene said, as the strength of his voice became louder than usual.

"Gregory is Davey's cousin, he's just as bad as him. Can't stand anyone who stands up to him, so he threatens them good and proper, until they promise not to defy him. He's never done that to me." Paula soon found some reassurance in opening up to the two detectives more. - Providing them with plenty of new evidence and naming a potential new suspect.

"Sounds like he's a right fruitcake fairy." Gene said, he'd heard many stories of unpleasant nonces like Gregory before, he'd even had the joy of running into a few of them on the streets of Manchester throughout the 1970's and also on the streets of Fenchurch East as well. Gene single-handedly made sure most of them weren't going to see the light of day anytime soon - He had gone to great lengths in making damn well sure they were locked up, so they can be forced to see the error of their criminal ways.

"That's him in a nutshell DCI Hunt." Paula expressed surprise, upon overhearing the DCI's comments.

"Do you know where he works in Fenchurch?" Alex asked her.

"I think he's an electrician, does the one or two jobs during the day. Davey told me, Gregory runs an electrical shop in Foster Avenue." She revealed to them, Gene didn't seem overall persuaded by her hasty answers. He didn't know why, he was still finding it difficult to believe her. Perhaps why she hadn't burst out crying while she was now speaking to them, gave him a good enough reason to suspect they weren't being told the full picture - for starters, the motive or whether perhaps Davey had urged Gregory to deal with Paula's brother once and for all.

Gene took Alex to one side, choosing to tell her what he was currently thinking. "I'm not buying her story Bolls. For all we know, he's roughened her up and probably told her to tell us a pack of lies. "

"Urgh...must you be so stubborn all the time. Not believing the truth until it practically whacks you in your eyes." Alex had every good reason to feel completely hacked off with him. Well she felt certain enough, Paula was definitively giving them the answers which they'd been seeking since the beginning of the investigation, yet Gene wasn't willing to trust the sister yet. If they were going to unravel the truth together, then he and Alex clearly needed to resolve their miscellaneous beliefs and their latest frustrating disagreement. - No matter what it takes.

Gene went off in a huff, presumably he was going outside the hospital for a cigarette break and to calm down. "You'll have to excuse my colleague. He doesn't like being judged and doesn't take criticism too well. He's had a few run-ins with Davey before, in Manchester."

"Yeah Davey told me. He said, DCI Hunt's capable of dealing with street tossers all on his own. Looked like he could someone's lights out over and over again. Seems like a different person from how Davey described him." Paula remarked, she presumed the DCI must have personally matured or something over the last few years and moved on from the hard-hitting, old-school days of the 1970's.

"Gene...DCI Hunt told me, Davey had the personality of slimy snake, the last time he saw him. Please Paula can you tell us if he owns storage facilities or lock ups anywhere in Fenchurch?"

"I thought you wanted to speak to Gregory." Paula asked, hoping they might get round to arresting this man, whom she'd longed disliked for so many months and then have him charged at long last. - She'd quietly prayed in her hospital bed, only a matter of minutes before the detectives had paid her a visit. She mentioned about having being spurred on to seek justice for her brother and she asked for Gregory Allen not to be forgiven for his sins.

"Oh we will be doing, soon enough." She reassured her, convincingly.

"Now you mention lock ups, if that's what you call them." Paula hadn't heard of the word _"Lock-ups"_ before. "I think Davey does happen to own one in Dunston Lane, I think it's down some side road by the Fenchurch Central train station." Flashbacks of one or two past conversations, which she'd previously had with her now ex boyfriend, seemed to come flooding back and help her to give Alex more crucial information.

"Does he often to stay there overnight or has he told you if he allows Gregory to keep an eye on it, for when he isn't there?"

"Gregory lives there mostly, Davey said Greg's lived on the streets for years. Got accused of robbing an off licence four years ago, unfortunately he was giving a light sentence because it was his first conviction."

"Let me guess he sweet talked his way completely out of getting a lengthy sentence?"

"Pretty much."

Gene stepped back into the room, not surprisingly he'd undergone a change of heart, while having smoking his cigarette outside the A&E main entrance. Something Bolly told him before he marched out, was now beginning to make some sort of sense. "_The truth whacking you in your eyes"_

"Gene?" Alex looked bewilderingly at him. She gave him, one of her customary _"What now?"  
_expressions.

"You were right Bolly, I've behaved like a dozy bastard since me and you got here. Cos here's me thinking we ought to be after Davey but for bloody once I'm wrong and you're right. Look this old mind of mine mightn't be as good as it use to be but I've just remembered something, that were certain stories about how that bastard would keep getting himself pissed and how three drinks would be enough to make him pass out. How many did he have the night Paula?" Gene was now acting as if, he'd been half electrocuted with some electrical belonging from the Quattro.

"Two or three perhaps, I can't be too sure." She couldn't confirm or not but had a rough idea, her boyfriend had certainly helped himself to a few cans of beer.

"Thanks for your help love. " He pivoted around and faced Alex. "Bolls you got a home address for Greg the Peg?" The two of them then left the room together and popped outside onto the narrow corridor.

"Well Paula's giving me an address for a lock up, which he shares with Davey... Dunston Lane." Alex hadn't considered writing this address down because she was capable of remembering it.

"Dunston Lane...that's a blast from the past" He was taken aback, upon hearing this particular address.

"Sorry what?" She asked.

"It's notorious for drug addicts. Ray got bit in the arse by a dog there as well. Dozy bugger couldn't sit down for two weeks on his chair in CID. We might as well, go and see if the tosser's there."

"Are you sure this is a good and reasonable idea?" She started to believe they'd be walking themselves into a dangerous situation, if they searched for Gregory there, instead of going to find his Electrical shop in Foster Avenue.

"Absolutely Bolls." Gene said. Eventually they left the building and drove off in the Quattro, 10 minutes later.

**End of Chapter**

**All Reviews are welcome**


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