Things fall apart 1/5 : A Keystone Cop by fawsley, white Cortina with Gene and Annie
Title: Things fall apart 1/5 : A Keystone Cop
Author: fawsley
Characters: Gene, Annie, the team
Rating: White Cortina for now. Colours will crank up somewhat in later episodes
Warnings: none
Word Count: 1550
Disclaimer: not my characters, all the property of Kudos and the BBC
Notes: With Sam lost to them, 'A' division is beginning to crumble, and Gene finds solace with WDC Cartwright...
Things fall apart 1/5 : A Keystone Cop
‘Ray! Any word from forensics yet?’
‘Erm, on what, Guv?’
‘The shoes, yer div! Victim’s muddy shoes. Body was found on concrete in the middle of an ‘eatwave. Where’d the wet mud come from?’
‘Dunno boss. They’re still in a bag in, erm, well, dunno where quite…’
‘Fuckin’ hell Carling. Get ‘em to forensics now before yer bollocks find themselves spectacularly separated from yer groin courtesy of me specially blunted-for-the-purpose Swiss army penknife. Chris!’
‘Yes Guv!’
‘Tapes!’
‘Yes Guv!’
‘Yes Guv what?’
‘Um, dunno Guv…’
‘Have yer listened to the tapes from this morning’s interviews? Any conflicting statements? Anything doesn’t make sense, doesn’t add up? Anything nigglin’ at the back of what tiny amount of mind yer were last seen in possession of?’
‘Well, yer see, the tape sort of got jammed in the machine an’ when I tried to take it out it were all spewed out an’ wound up inside an’ so, well, that is…’
‘Flamin’ Nora! Then get the damned thing to a shop, get it fixed and listen to the soddin’ tape, you priceless div!’
‘Priceless? Thanks Guv! Will do!’
‘Nick! Vince! Files! Paperwork! Shite, get yer jaws off the floor an’ them gobs shut before yer even start, I don’t want to know. Whatever it is, I don’t want to know. Cartwright! My office! Now!’
*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´
It had taken so very little time. Weeks, possibly even days, though he didn’t like to consider that particular possibility.
Two very large shots of Islay’s finest, two very large glasses.
‘Sit down Cartwright and drink yer whisky.’
‘Thank you sir, but really, I don’t want…’
‘Lots of things in this world we don’t want but ‘ave to get on with. Now I need a drink and I want someone to drink with so shut up and drink yer soddin’ whisky.’
‘Um, yes sir. Thank you sir.’
The plonk sipped at her glass like the big girl she was. So very unlike another big girl who used to sit in the same seat, defiance fizzing and sparking the air. A big girl who matched him word for word, shot for shot.
Why her? He couldn’t say. But it had to be someone. Showed how times had changed.
‘Where’d it go wrong, Cartwright? Where’d I go wrong?’
‘Sorry, Sir? Come again?’
‘I’ve lost ‘em. You saw it. You know what’s going on. Place is fallin’ ter bits.’
Annie banged her hardly-touched glass down firmly.
‘No Sir, you mustn’t think like that. It’s different, yes, but…’
‘It’s a total fuckin’ disaster, Cartwright and you know it! I’ve lost ‘em and I can’t get ‘em back. I don’t know what to do. He’d know. He was our lynchpin, though I'll fuckin' kill yer if yer tell anyone I said so. He had ‘em in the palm of his hand. But I don’t an’…’
‘No Sir! Pardon me but you’re wrong. It’s different, yes, but that’s because everyone’s still in shock. It was so sudden, so unexpected. They don’t know where the boundaries are anymore, that’s why it isn’t working. You need to keep showing them, Sir.’
‘You talkin’ bollocks or what, Cartwright?’
If she wasn’t going to drink that Scotch then he certainly wasn’t going to let it go to waste.
‘Not bollocks, Sir. Please, just listen to me. Sam changed things, changed the way we worked, the way we thought. Now he’s gone and the team, well, they don’t know if everything goes back to how it was before Sam arrived, the old ways, or if…’
‘Or if I changed too. That what yer sayin’?’
‘Yes Sir, that’s it, sort of. Once they understand how you expect them to work it’ll all fall into place. When they see that you believe in the things that Sam believed in...’
‘Tyler was a mouthy little tart who believed a lot of stuff that should ‘ave had him locked up years ago.’
Annie’s laughter was like a soft silver bell.
‘He did that, Sir. But he was a good copper, we both know that. He was so passionate about his work…’
‘You sayin’ I’m not?’
‘No Sir, I’m not saying that, not at all. He was just, well, different.’
‘I’ll drink to that all right. Come on Cartwright, drink up girl, yer laggin’.’
‘No more Sir, please. But Sam, we all miss him. Some of us more than others. But we can keep his memory alive by honouring what he believed in, by working with the changes he made…’
‘And not slidin’ back into the morass that was CID BT, yeah?’
‘CID BT, Sir?’
‘CID Before Tyler.’
‘That’s it. The team need to know Sir. And, excuse me for saying so, but I think you do too.’
A large sigh to accompany the large amount of whisky leaving the bottle and arriving in the glasses.
‘You’re right, Cartwright. He did change things. Changed me too. For one thing I’m sittin’ here openin’ me heart up to a soppy plonk.’
‘I’ll take that as a compliment, Sir.’
‘Good. Was meant as one. And you’re right, much as I hate to admit it. He made me a better copper, damn him. And now I can’t go back to how I was before he sauntered in. But I don’t know how to go forwards either.’
‘You need a DI, Sir. Forgive me for saying so.’
‘You want the job, Cartwright?’
Annie’s shocked recoil was impressive and not a little scary.
‘Me, Sir?! Oh no, Sir. Never, Sir. Well, maybe, in me dreams, one day. No, but Ray…’
‘Carling? Yer must be fuckin’ jokin’ cause he’s a fuckin’ joke. He wasn’t right for the job before Tyler turned up. He’s even more not right now. No, there’s only one person I want in that post, only one person I can work with.’
‘And that is, Sir?’
‘Tyler, of course.’
Arms crossed in stout defiance, pouting like the little boy he sometimes still was.
‘But Sir, Guv… You know that’s impossible… Sam’s gone… And like you said, Sir, there are things in life we want but can’t ever have, so we just have to get on and…’
‘Get on an’ let the Gene Genie work his magic, I think!’
‘Sir?’
‘Where the hell was it that he went, Cartwright?’
‘Erm, Norwich, Sir…’
‘Norwich? Soddin’ hell! He could’ve at least had the decency to stay on the same ruddy planet…’
###
Part 2 here : Things fall apart 2/5 : Norfolk Bronze
Author: fawsley
Characters: Gene, Annie, the team
Rating: White Cortina for now. Colours will crank up somewhat in later episodes
Warnings: none
Word Count: 1550
Disclaimer: not my characters, all the property of Kudos and the BBC
Notes: With Sam lost to them, 'A' division is beginning to crumble, and Gene finds solace with WDC Cartwright...
Things fall apart 1/5 : A Keystone Cop
‘Ray! Any word from forensics yet?’
‘Erm, on what, Guv?’
‘The shoes, yer div! Victim’s muddy shoes. Body was found on concrete in the middle of an ‘eatwave. Where’d the wet mud come from?’
‘Dunno boss. They’re still in a bag in, erm, well, dunno where quite…’
‘Fuckin’ hell Carling. Get ‘em to forensics now before yer bollocks find themselves spectacularly separated from yer groin courtesy of me specially blunted-for-the-purpose Swiss army penknife. Chris!’
‘Yes Guv!’
‘Tapes!’
‘Yes Guv!’
‘Yes Guv what?’
‘Um, dunno Guv…’
‘Have yer listened to the tapes from this morning’s interviews? Any conflicting statements? Anything doesn’t make sense, doesn’t add up? Anything nigglin’ at the back of what tiny amount of mind yer were last seen in possession of?’
‘Well, yer see, the tape sort of got jammed in the machine an’ when I tried to take it out it were all spewed out an’ wound up inside an’ so, well, that is…’
‘Flamin’ Nora! Then get the damned thing to a shop, get it fixed and listen to the soddin’ tape, you priceless div!’
‘Priceless? Thanks Guv! Will do!’
‘Nick! Vince! Files! Paperwork! Shite, get yer jaws off the floor an’ them gobs shut before yer even start, I don’t want to know. Whatever it is, I don’t want to know. Cartwright! My office! Now!’
*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´
It had taken so very little time. Weeks, possibly even days, though he didn’t like to consider that particular possibility.
Two very large shots of Islay’s finest, two very large glasses.
‘Sit down Cartwright and drink yer whisky.’
‘Thank you sir, but really, I don’t want…’
‘Lots of things in this world we don’t want but ‘ave to get on with. Now I need a drink and I want someone to drink with so shut up and drink yer soddin’ whisky.’
‘Um, yes sir. Thank you sir.’
The plonk sipped at her glass like the big girl she was. So very unlike another big girl who used to sit in the same seat, defiance fizzing and sparking the air. A big girl who matched him word for word, shot for shot.
Why her? He couldn’t say. But it had to be someone. Showed how times had changed.
‘Where’d it go wrong, Cartwright? Where’d I go wrong?’
‘Sorry, Sir? Come again?’
‘I’ve lost ‘em. You saw it. You know what’s going on. Place is fallin’ ter bits.’
Annie banged her hardly-touched glass down firmly.
‘No Sir, you mustn’t think like that. It’s different, yes, but…’
‘It’s a total fuckin’ disaster, Cartwright and you know it! I’ve lost ‘em and I can’t get ‘em back. I don’t know what to do. He’d know. He was our lynchpin, though I'll fuckin' kill yer if yer tell anyone I said so. He had ‘em in the palm of his hand. But I don’t an’…’
‘No Sir! Pardon me but you’re wrong. It’s different, yes, but that’s because everyone’s still in shock. It was so sudden, so unexpected. They don’t know where the boundaries are anymore, that’s why it isn’t working. You need to keep showing them, Sir.’
‘You talkin’ bollocks or what, Cartwright?’
If she wasn’t going to drink that Scotch then he certainly wasn’t going to let it go to waste.
‘Not bollocks, Sir. Please, just listen to me. Sam changed things, changed the way we worked, the way we thought. Now he’s gone and the team, well, they don’t know if everything goes back to how it was before Sam arrived, the old ways, or if…’
‘Or if I changed too. That what yer sayin’?’
‘Yes Sir, that’s it, sort of. Once they understand how you expect them to work it’ll all fall into place. When they see that you believe in the things that Sam believed in...’
‘Tyler was a mouthy little tart who believed a lot of stuff that should ‘ave had him locked up years ago.’
Annie’s laughter was like a soft silver bell.
‘He did that, Sir. But he was a good copper, we both know that. He was so passionate about his work…’
‘You sayin’ I’m not?’
‘No Sir, I’m not saying that, not at all. He was just, well, different.’
‘I’ll drink to that all right. Come on Cartwright, drink up girl, yer laggin’.’
‘No more Sir, please. But Sam, we all miss him. Some of us more than others. But we can keep his memory alive by honouring what he believed in, by working with the changes he made…’
‘And not slidin’ back into the morass that was CID BT, yeah?’
‘CID BT, Sir?’
‘CID Before Tyler.’
‘That’s it. The team need to know Sir. And, excuse me for saying so, but I think you do too.’
A large sigh to accompany the large amount of whisky leaving the bottle and arriving in the glasses.
‘You’re right, Cartwright. He did change things. Changed me too. For one thing I’m sittin’ here openin’ me heart up to a soppy plonk.’
‘I’ll take that as a compliment, Sir.’
‘Good. Was meant as one. And you’re right, much as I hate to admit it. He made me a better copper, damn him. And now I can’t go back to how I was before he sauntered in. But I don’t know how to go forwards either.’
‘You need a DI, Sir. Forgive me for saying so.’
‘You want the job, Cartwright?’
Annie’s shocked recoil was impressive and not a little scary.
‘Me, Sir?! Oh no, Sir. Never, Sir. Well, maybe, in me dreams, one day. No, but Ray…’
‘Carling? Yer must be fuckin’ jokin’ cause he’s a fuckin’ joke. He wasn’t right for the job before Tyler turned up. He’s even more not right now. No, there’s only one person I want in that post, only one person I can work with.’
‘And that is, Sir?’
‘Tyler, of course.’
Arms crossed in stout defiance, pouting like the little boy he sometimes still was.
‘But Sir, Guv… You know that’s impossible… Sam’s gone… And like you said, Sir, there are things in life we want but can’t ever have, so we just have to get on and…’
‘Get on an’ let the Gene Genie work his magic, I think!’
‘Sir?’
‘Where the hell was it that he went, Cartwright?’
‘Erm, Norwich, Sir…’
‘Norwich? Soddin’ hell! He could’ve at least had the decency to stay on the same ruddy planet…’
###
Part 2 here : Things fall apart 2/5 : Norfolk Bronze