Chapter Text
One was grasped easily, her hands pinned behind her back in seconds. But the other heard the initial commotion from her partner and was ready to put up a fight. She escaped the grip of the first man, landing a punch squarely in the others nose. Jarring him with the sheer force of the attack, he stumbled back slightly before punching her back. He was sure that she would have let out a deafening shriek of pain as her shoulder cracked on the pavement if it wasn’t for his previous hefty punch slipping her into unconsciousness seconds before she hit the ground.
“Jo? Jo can you hear me?” Questioned a voice. The world formed around her as she hauled herself away from the border of her stupor. She murmured indirectly to the words. The connection of who she was and what she was doing in- where ever she was, still struggling to form. As her ears searched for the sound, she turned her head to it. Well at least she tried to. “Holy shit.” She mumbled, more aware of the world now after the sudden electric shock of pain down her neck to her shoulder.
“It’s Kate. Kate Fleming.” She said calmly, pushing her fear down as deep it would go. And further.
“Wha- Where are we?” She questioned as the stench of rot filled her nose.
“Warehouse.” She stated.
“Great.” She replied sarcastically, sighing.
At her response, she darted her eyes around the grimy chamber they sat in. The walls were bare, the only thing between the ancient brick lay and the air: a layer of deeply beiged plastering clinging onto the wall desperately. The floor was dirty. A thin layer of dirt, dust and sand spread across the concrete. The ceiling was no better, cracked and beaten with waterlogged pools of water collecting under the many colourful layers of paint that the building must have acquired over the years that, like the walls, were flaying away. She identified her new accommodation as a store room, maybe an office even.
“We were walking, remember, to your house.” She responded, not quite sure how to battle Jo’s sarcasm.
“And I wanted to pop home to get something before we went out.” She finished. Jo could see Kate nodding her head out the corner of her eye but still decided against turning to face her. “My shoulder. Is it broken?” Kate finally moved into her view although as she did so, she really wished she hadn’t. She had clearly already had a session with the OCG but dismissed Jo’s look of worry with a slight smile. Although, even her smile looked pained, the corner of her mouth hitting her slightly swollen, discoloured cheek. “I’m fine, really.” She responded at the change in Jo’s face as their eyes met. She looked at her concerned, knowing she, like herself, would never state the true extents of any pain. “Besides, I imagine your in an awful lot more pain than me.”
“So is it?” She inquired anxiously. Kate pulled an indescribable face of neither confirmation nor opposition.
“Broken? Well that depends, do you know how to fix a dislocated shoulder?”
“Oh, hi. I was wondering if I could speak to DI Arnott?” asked the man stood at AC-12's reception desk. The woman nodded and pulled up the phone, pausing before it reached her ear. “And your name?”
“DS Chris Lomax.” He stated, peering around the building nervously as he waited.
Being seen at AC-12 is always bad, even if you’ve got nothing to tell. But he couldn’t leave it any longer. Someone needed to know. Someone else needed to care. He couldn’t let the nagging feeling something bad had happened to them just fade away. “He’ll be down in a minute.” Chris nodded. He headed to a group of seats in the corner of the open department and sat down. From yesterday morning his suspicions grew. Both Kate and Jo appeared to be late. And neither of them were ever late. They both had high standards of both themselves and their team. Except, of course, that day Kate was late and got 'told off' by Jo. Dirty stop out and glass houses. But that was once. And she was a grand 10 minutes late. But from the first suspicion, time continued to pass. Twenty minutes to thirty. One hour to three. They weren’t just late, they were absent. Both of them.
Steve was glad of the distraction from the hours of paper work he had been shifting through for what felt like was all week until he picked up the phone. DS Lomax from Hillside station. He quickly whipped on his jacket and hurried into the lift, wondering what someone from the Hill was doing at AC-12. A confession. An accusation. Evidence. For or against Davidson. Or anyone else at the Hill. He could be there for literally anything.
As he approached Lomax, he recognised him slightly, perhaps from looking over his ID when running the standard background checks rather than in person but he couldn’t be sure. “DS Lomax? Would you like to come upstairs to the department?” Steve asked, turning slightly as he started to walk off, back in the direction of where he came from but paused as Lomax remained stationary. “I’m not here to give you any evidence. If I got up there, it looks like I’m a rat.”
“Well, do you have something- or someone to rat on?” he inquired.
“No but- well surely you know what it’s like for us other officers being here. We’re either being sent away to prison for messing up our job or ratting on a fellow officer. Neither options are very good.”
“So which one are you here for?” Steve questioned.
“The third option.” “He answered.
“Right.” Steve replied, getting rather impatient now. “Which is?”
“The option when two of your station's officers go missing.” He paused as Steve’s eyes shot up in interest and felt him chance his stance. “Davidson and Flemi-" He started before being interrupted by the man, his arms previously crossed in front of him falling to his sides.
“Kate? Well why didn’t you spit that out when you first arrived, Christ.” He turned again, this time not pausing as Lomax hesitated. He shot him a look he couldn’t battle against and forced himself to follow him up to the dreaded department.
Steve scanned him through the gate, leaving him to look round the department before ushering him over to the door he was knocking on. He opened the door at a voice of confirmation and Chris followed him in, hiding away from the prying eyes that had followed him from the moment the lift doors first opened. “Sir.” He greeted. Hastings eyes fell on the taller man, recognising him from the many times he had looked through his file as well. “DS Lomax.” He said sternly. “Lomax has some information for you, I’ll leave him to explain, sorry I’ve just got to-" Steve apologised as he headed out the door.
He quickly headed to the bathroom, somewhere he could hide away from the world. He breathed deeply, his hands clenching the sink so hard his knuckles turned white. He stared into the mirror. How anyone couldn’t see the evident bags under his eyes and how drawn his face was, was beyond him. He reached into his pocket to feel the packet. The pills were screaming at him, trying to convince him to give in. He took it out and flipped the packet round in his fingers. He stared at them intently, as if they would give him some kind of answer. Some kind of solace in the situation. As he felt his blood boiling at the thought, he chucked them into the sink. One hand retook it’s place on the sink while one felt itself drawn to his face. He placed his hand over his mouth. Perhaps it was to stop himself from screaming. He didn’t know. None of this had ever made that much sense to him. Why couldn’t he just stop?
He felt the burst of hatred at the pills and himself die down a little and took the sudden opportunity of a clear mind to put the packet in the bin. He took a minute to observe the bin a little longer before heading out the bathroom, not yet sure whether he was filled with regret or relief.
As he left, he met Hastings and Lomax as they came out Hastings office. Lomax headed for the lift, leaving Steve and Hastings stood alone. He followed him back into the office and this time took a seat as Hastings gestured to it. “You alright son?” He inquired.
“I’m fine. I’m not the missing person.” Steve stated, rather bluntly.
“I know but it’s not any missing person is it? It’s Kate.” He replied.
“And Davison.” He added, clearly trying to steer away from the thought. Hastings could see right through the cover-up as if his lies were made of glass but let him be. “Of course we are going to do all the regular checks: family, friends, any locations they might be staying at. I’m not sure about Davidson but as you and I both know, Kate is not the type to disappear like this.” Steve nodded dismally, knowing what was coming next. “So I’ll get Chloe to do the basic checks but if they fail, they are both officially missing people.”