Chapter Text
Charles Rowland dropped the stub of his cigarette onto the pavement and ground it out under his foot, while he looked up at the dull grey building in front of him. He sighed heavily before opening up his packet and lighting another fag. It was a bad habit, he knew. He should start vaping instead, or just quit altogether. But something about this concrete monstrosity that he was staring up at made him feel so on edge that all thoughts of being a healthier, better version of himself had to be pushed to one side. He needed, right now, just to get through this by being the average, crappy version of himself that he hoped was good enough for this place. New job first, sorting his life out second.
This was not the first police station he’d stood in front of. His old station was four times bigger and bustled with life. It was a nonstop whirl of sirens and people- every part of life represented. Dragged in, thrown out, walking out like a zombie to have a fag at the end of a 12-hour shift. He was used to that. He loved that- the noise, the chaos. He could cope with that, that was what he’d craved when he had signed up to be a PC in that moment of madness 6 years ago. His friends had called it a midlife crisis, they’d taken the piss and said just because he was nearly 30 didn’t mean he had to join the filth. But it was the best thing he’d ever done. He’d loved that job, that station, the people he’d worked with. He’d loved patrolling the streets of London and making things right after 29 years of achieving nothing.
But now he was here. New police station in the arse-end of nowhere, deep in the countryside. And it was so fucking quiet. He could hear birds singing and kids were happily whizzing up and down on their electric scooters. One of them even had a helmet on, for fuck’s sake- definitely not in London anymore. And he was going to have to go in there and introduce himself- newly double striped DS Rowland, and pretend he was happy to be there. Because, theoretically, this was a promotion. They couldn’t prove he’d done anything, and so they had offered him this promotion. It was a very thinly veiled take it or leave offer. So, he took it. He took the job in the middle of nowhere, reporting to a DI who had the reputation of being unable to work with anyone for more than a week without them requesting a transfer. He took it because he still, despite everything, wanted to be a copper. He wanted to help people.
A fresh start, that’s what today was, Charles told himself as he bent down to pick up his two fag butts and carried them forward to deposit them safely in the bin. The last thing he wanted was to be done for littering on his first day. These guys seemed like they would be really hot on littering. Littering and sheep rustling, probably. He shook his head. Positive thoughts: today was going to be great. Charles shoved a mint into his mouth, made sure his uniform was straight and then started to walk purposefully forward towards the entrance. He plastered his most winning smile across his face. His smile could be pretty convincing, after all.
“Hi, I’m DS Rowland. Reporting for my first day with you guys.” Charles smiled across the desk at the young woman sitting in front of the computer. She had pulled back blonde hair, chewing gum and a bored expression that turned positively delighted when she looked him up and down.
“Oooh, you the latest sacrificial offering to Payne, are ya?” She grinned, showing all her teeth and the gum that was still rolling around as she spoke.
“Am I what now?” Charles drew himself up taller, sure he was being mocked somehow but just not sure exactly how.
“The latest plaything for Payne to chew up and spit out. I’ve got a fiver on him making you cry by Friday.” She laughed loudly and Charles felt himself tense up.
“Oi, cut it out Emily.” Another woman rounded the corner, wearing the familiar uniform. She looked older than the girl on reception, and her smile reached her eyes. “I’m Jo. PC Jo Wood, I’m the one who’ll be showing you round. C’mon.” She nodded and Charles followed as she started to walk.
Jo was a full head shorter than Charles, and maybe around his age. She had short bobbed brown hair and a crease between her eyes even when she wasn’t frowning. Charles immediately liked her more than the gum-chewer.
“Nice to meet you, Jo.” Charles gave her his warmest smile and she nodded briefly in return. She was walking down the corridors at such a speed Charles was doing a little trot to keep up. She rattled off the names of rooms of interest as they went past. Toilets, staff rooms, briefing rooms all merged into one and Charles hopped he wouldn’t be asked to find anything of importance throughout the day, and seriously hoped there’d be someone to remind him later about the nearest gents and kettle.
Suddenly she stopped at a closed glass door, with the kind of wobbly glass you couldn’t quite see through, so everything looked slightly blurred beyond it. Charles could make out the shape of a desk, and pieces of paper all over the walls. Jo turned to him and blocked his way as if he was going to open the door himself (he wasn’t, but maybe he was giving off an impatient vibe).
“So, this is the main room for the case at the moment.” She spoke it like it was capitalized. The Case. Because in this rural town, there was only one case on everyone’s mind at the moment. The reason the station seemed so quiet, Charles knew logically, was because every spare ounce of manpower was out combing the area for forensics, knocking door to door to try to get a scrap of evidence. He knew all about The Case. “The DI is in here. He’s… well, have you heard about him?” Jo tilted her head to one side. Charles shook his head, wanting to hear what he was told. “Ok, right. He’s the best of the best. Genius. Youngest DI on record in something ridiculous like fifty years. But he’s tough, he doesn’t do people skills, he’ll tell you like it is. Some people can’t handle that. So, just… yeah. Be aware.” She nodded. Charles had already heard the horror stories. He knew what he was facing. Unconsciously, he braced his shoulders as Jo raised her hand to knock.
“Sir, new recruit for you.” Jo announced as she pushed open the door. “This is DI Payne- lead of the investigation. Rowland, you’ll be working directly under the DI on this investigation.”
Charles felt, ridiculously, like things had gone into slow motion. The DI was turning around, away from the evidence wall and to face them and it was like he was pirouetting. He had expected many, many things from meeting the infamous DI Payne for the first time but a heart-bursting and cock-throbbing crush was not one of them. Inappropriate crush on your terrifying boss on your first day at a new job you didn’t want? Wonderful, just what he needed right now.
In his defense, the DI looked like he was sculpted from marble. Jo really wasn’t lying when she said he had been promoted young, because he could only be Charles’ age, but he was the one here wearing the suit, hair slicked back and immaculate. He had high cheekbones, a snarl at his full lip and a white shirt that fitted him so well Charles was worried he might be able to make out the shape of his abs. He tried very hard to keep his eyes firmly fixed on his face and concentrate on not blushing at the image of working directly under him. He really wanted to appear like a competent police officer in his 30s. Not like a 16-year-old who’d never seen an attractive man before.
“Sir. DS Charles Rowland. Pleasure to meet you.” Charles extended his hand over the desk. DI Payne looked at it for a moment with the utmost suspicion before reaching across to shake Charles’ hand. His grip was firm, and his hands were soft. Of course they were.
“You can leave us now, Jo.” The DI didn’t even glance her way as he dismissed her. His eyes stayed focused on Charles and Charles tried not to buckle under the intensity of his stare. Charles heard the door close as the DI’s hand fell from his. “Right, I’m told you’re decent and I hope that for once that’s not a lie. Because we’ve got a missing girl, and the first 24 hours have already passed. As Jo said- I’m DI Payne. Tell me what you’ve heard about me.”
“That you’re the best of the best.” Charles replied quickly.
“And?” The DI raised an eyebrow. Charles thought quickly. He could lie again, but he thought there was little point. He must know his reputation.
“And nothing else that matters.” Charles looked intently at the man across the table, trying to judge if he’d said the right thing. He gave little away, but Charles was sure he saw the tiniest twitch of his lip upward. “So, tell me about Becky Aspen.”
“Becky. Right.” The DI gave a small nod as he moved back, away from the desk and towards the only other prominent feature in the room: a large white-board on wheels with pictures on it, neat writing scrawled into the blank spaces. It was one of those old-fashioned boards you would imagine, with string connecting all the dots. It looked out of place here in this clean, impersonal room. But it fitted in with the DI. Young as he was, he looked like he could be timeless and certainly like he would be more at home with a piece of chalk in his hand than a laptop.
“Becky is ten years old. She was reported missing by her parents, who woke up and found her bed empty.” He pointed to the most prominent picture in the middle of the board. There, a young black girl smiled toothily out in her school uniform. Her hair was in bunches, her tie slightly lop-sided. Her parents could never have known, when they ordered this picture, that it would one day end up being used for this. Charles felt a strong twist of his gut when he looked into those innocent eyes. He was reminded inexplicably of his sister at that age- and everything he would have done to protect her. Everything he still would do.
“How many hours has she been gone now?” Charles tore his eyes away from her, looking over the other pictures on the board.
“Twenty-nine.” DI Payne said, without looking down at his watch. Charles wondered how many, if any, of those twenty-nine hours DI Payne had slept. Close up, he looked ghostly white. “The first critical window of opportunity for collecting evidence has gone, and we have exactly zero leads on where she might be.”
“And you think this might be, she might be related to-” Charles’ eyes roamed over the board, the other faces that were pinned there to the side.
“I do not think, I know.” DI Payne snapped. “Seven other missing girls. Bodies never recovered. All taken in the last ten years, all from this area. This is my case, these are my girls. No one else cared about them, no one else could see the links. Five years I’ve been trying to get justice for these girls, trying to find them and tell their stories. Five years in hell. Now we’ve lost another one.” DI Payne slammed his hand down on the desk, and then ran it through his hair. Charles wondered if he might cry, or break something.
“Sorry, Sir. That must be-”
“You do not need to apologise.” The DI straightened up, once again projecting the calm exterior Charles had walked in to. “I did not mean to get emotional, it is most unprofessional of me. I have not slept, and I am not, I have been told, very good with other people.”
“Well,” Charles put back on his brightest grin- smiling for the both of them, trying to convince himself as much as his new boss that everything would be fine. “I’m aces with other people, and you’re stuck with me now.”
“We’ll see about that.” DI Payne looked him up and down. Charles wanted to assure him that they’d be a good team, wanted to voice his commitment to helping find Becky, to find justice for the girls who had gone missing before her. Then he remembered the bet the other staff had, remembered the reason he’d been shoved into the middle of nowhere. So, he just pulled his shoulders back, and decided he’d show them all instead.
“Where do you want me to start, sir?”