I'll Help You Hide From Them

Shane

Shane grins at me when I enter with a hint of smugness, as if he can still see me begging for my life.

I glare at him angrily. "You wanted to talk to me, then talk." I demand as I sit down opposite him and look him in the eyes.

The corner of his lips are still curled upwards in a confident smirk.

Seeing him like this angers me. "Well then, if you're just going to waste my time I shouldn't bother." I snarl, getting up and heading to the door. I stop when I hear him laughing.

"You're so off the book, so impersonal. I might as well be with one of your colleagues." He giggles.

"I'm being professional." I hiss at him.

"It still applies. Do you want to know who I was taking orders from or not?" He challenges. I hesitate in touching the door handle. "You don't want him going after that corrupt cop's younger brother."

Here I instantly snap at him. "Ralph was never corrupt!" I yell at him. "Don't you dare say such a thing!"

He licks his upper lip, effortlessly reminding me of the sounds he was making while he was sucking clean my finger after eating it to the bone.

"How else would I know to find you, little lamb?" He points out.

"No, you're lying. I know there is another explanation." I firmly tell him.

He just grins. "What's that then?"

I can't seem to come up with anything. "There has to be something else going on. I refuse to believe that my own partner would've had me kidnapped by someone as dangerous as you. There's someone else involved, that's the only way to explain how he got shot."

"Check his financials. That's what cops like you do, right?" He taunts before grinning at the sight of my fake finger. "You know, I never leave a meal unfinished."

"You do now!" I snap at him. "Because you haven't offered a name, you are going to be spending the rest of your life in high security prison. You are going to die behind bars." I snarl at him furiously.

His grin grows wider. "I did give you a name, it's not my fault you're not happy with it."

"You stinking liar! You went to the wrong Detective to lie about my partner like that." I warn.

A careful knock on the door widens his grin. "See for yourself."

I glare at him before hissing at the door. "What?"

Laurence pops his head around the door. "We need a word."

I keep a close eye on Shane, seeing how his grin has gotten a lot wider.

"Woolnough, now!" Laurence adds.

I let out a sigh as I follow Laurence out.

"Drew I think you need to see this." Laurence tells me, guiding me to the lab. He shows me some CCTV footage. I can see in the corner the screen that this is the morning before I was abducted. I can feel the hairs at the back of my neck raising at the sight of Shane. He's talking to someone who's got his back to the camera.

"Is there another angle?" I check.

"Just watch it Drew." Laurence tells me.

I do as I'm told but my mouth drops open when he turns around, revealing himself to be Ralph wearing a hat.

"No." I growl. "There has to be another explanation."

"Drew, we have to at least investigate it." Laurence points out. "If you don't feel like you can investigate any further, I won't blame you for stepping back and letting someone else lead the investigation."

Although this is a very tempting offer, I know that they won't tell me anything if I do back away. I need to know why I was kidnapped and why Ralph was shot.

If he did arrange something with Shane, there's no way that he would've been shot. There must be a third man in the picture.

"I'm staying on the investigation. There's no way he would've done this and I need to see the man who is framing him." I growl.

Laurence gives me a slightly disappointed look. "I'll assign another case for you to work on with Ralph's brother after we question him."

"What? He doesn't know anything! Ralph told me that they haven't spoken in weeks." I defend.

"Drew, you know that's just how we have to investigate." Laurence reminds me. "Do you think you can interrogate him or do you want me to?"

"Should we both go in together? I need to be absolutely sure." I try.

He nods, guiding me to a different interrogation room. Kier looks really scared and confused, making my resolve shake a bit but I know if he's going to replace Ralph, he's going to need to convince even Laurence.

"Drew, what's going on?" Kier asks me as Laurence and I take our seats opposite him.

"We'll be asking the questions." Laurence sternly replies.

Kier gives him a terrified look for a moment, partly curious as well.

"Kier, you would know if Ralph got himself into some kind of trouble, wouldn't you?" I begin softly.

"Not recently, we argued a few weeks ago and have been avoiding each other since. I haven't even spoken to him, I'd keep declining his calls." He admits guiltily.

We take a moment to observe his facial expression or body language to work out if he's telling the truth or not. There are no indicators to tell that he's lying.

"But you still lived together?" Laurence points out.

Kier gives a hollow laugh. "I lived in the house he managed to buy but he would spend nearly all the time at his "conquests" homes". My brother was lazy and a sleaze but I'm not sure that he's a criminal which is what you're implying. He's all I had, why would he completely ruin that?" He replies.

"Kier, do understand that a witness has pointed your brother out. Even though I knew your brother and don't believe the witness themselves, we have to investigate Ralph, otherwise Internal Affairs will be all over this and they'll undermine every case I've worked with your brother. Every guy we put away could walk." I warn Kier.

Kier looks very worried by the sound of this.

"Did you ever see your brother interacting with this man?" Laurence asks Kier, pushing a photo of Shane across the table.

Kier looks carefully at the photo, going deep in thought. "I don't think I have, whenever I'd see my brother he'd be with some girl. Maybe he's related to one of my brother's many conquests." Kier suggests.

"Kier, do you know how we can find all of the girls Ralph slept with?" I softly ask.

"He kept a book on it with their pictures. It's typical for pick up artists to look back on past flames." Kier rolls his eyes with a sigh.

"I'll notify officers to search your home for the book." Laurence decides.

"Captain, Ralph was one of our own, let me find the book." I instantly plead. "He deserves at least some privacy from the whole department. Please, Captain, you know that I'll notify you if I find anything suspicious."

Laurence looks deep in thought for a moment before he nods with a sigh. "Go ahead Woolnough, keep an eye on Kier while you look."