Costa Crew 2: They Walk Among Us

Chapter 16 - On A Mission

It seemed that every other day the Costa Crew called an emergency 'council', and half the time it was without Becky. When Paul arrived home everybody was waiting in the living room, anxiously awaiting news.

"Breaking news: I'm going to Australia," he announced as he sat down.

"What on Earth?" asked Charlotte incredulously.

"Becky needs the best lawyer we can find if she has any hope of clearing her name," Paul replied. "And there's only one defence attorney that's good enough."

"Please, please tell me you're not talking about Lisa Kleinman," groaned Ted.

Paul grimaced. "Afraid so."

Ted facepalmed. "Paul, she's crazy! And she's worked for Amelia for years!"

"Paul might have a point," said Hannah thoughtfully. "I should go."

"Last time you and Lisa met she threatened to kill you if we didn't let Amelia go," said Paul.

"And I dropped the charges against her, she owes me," countered Hannah. "It's a thirty hour flight to Australia. Then you have to actually locate Lisa. We have no idea where she is, so that'll take days. Then once we actually locate her, we have to persuade her to come back. I don't have anything happening at work, and even if I did this is more important."

"I think Hannah should be the one to go," agreed Charlotte. "I can't take any days off until this case is closed in case Drake needs me for a raid. Ted's our best hope of finding out what's going on with Drake's investigation. And Paul, you're in the best position to actually work on this case. Becky's a member of the police force, meaning Anti Corruption has grounds to investigate. And if it wasn't Becky, which I think we can all agree on, then someone's planting evidence against her, not to mention knowing her email and phone number. There has to be police corruption involved."

Paul sighed. "But Hannah hates heat."

Hannah rolled her eyes. "I'll manage. I'll go pack, somebody book me a plane ticket. I'm on the next flight to Australia."

Hannah ran to her room and grabbed a suitcase, shoving in a single change of clothes and other essentials, such as phone charger and toothbrush. While Paul battled with online bookings, Ted and Charlotte had to practically dismantle the apartment to find Hannah's passport.

"About bloody time," muttered Paul as he clicked Print Tickets. "Hannah, you're on a 1am flight from Heathrow, meaning you'll get there at 7am the next day, which is 6pm in Sydney. My advice is get some rest then start looking for Lisa the next morning."

Ted strolled in holding Hannah's passport in his hand. "I was just thinking, this flat's gonna be closed for forensics," he said as he handed Hannah the passport. "Paul, why don't you stay with Bruce and I until it's open again?"

"And if you still can't get in when you come back, Hannah you can stay with me," added Charlotte.

"If it's not too much trouble…" Hannah said. Charlotte shook her head.

"To be honest, I'm kinda spooked after that phone call and it'll be nice to have someone else in the house," Charlotte admitted. "But you don't need to worry about that now. Your priority is finding Lisa Kleinman and bringing her back here."

Conscious of time, Charlotte drove Hannah to the airport as quickly as the law allowed, then yelled "POLICE, COMING THROUGH," to clear a path to the terminal. "Good luck," she said, hugging Hannah as she passed through security and ran onto the plane.

Despite Hannah's efforts to pass the time - sleeping for a few hours, watching every Toy Story movie, drawing and thinking about what she would say when she did find Lisa - thirty hours was an eternity. The back of her mind was plagued by Becky's arrest. She was probably mentally destroyed, if she was even still alive. Or worse - she could be guilty.