Neo felt bone tired by the time he turned his front door key, feeling a simple pleasure as the lock disengaged. He pulled the door open and dumped his stuff straight in the doorway.

'I'm home,' he called.

'In here, Dad,' Dante shouted from the kitchen.

Neo padded down the hallway in just his socks, placing his shoes in the rack as he went passed. He rocked back on his heels when he saw Charlie standing at the island, chopping up a bunch of green looking leaves.

'Hey Chief, thought since I was causing you so much trouble I may as well cook you dinner to make up for it.' Charlie lifted her head and smiled at him.

'And it smells delicious, Dad,' Dante exclaimed, inching forward to linger over the saucepan with a dreamy expression.

'How was work, Dad? Charlie said you may have had a hard day.'

Neo turned to his daughter, who was still looking pale but much better than when he'd left her that morning.

'It was challenging,' he answered drily, noting the smirk that covered Charlie's face.

Challenging was putting it mildly, and both he and Charlie knew it. But there was no need to worry his children.

Dante didn't seem to notice anything amiss, but Willow watched him like a hawk. Even hungover, she was still hyper aware of other people.

'So what's cooking?' Neo headed towards the stove and watched the pasta boiling in the water.

'Pasta carbonara. We need some sustenance after today,' Charlie replied.

'Anything I can do to help?' It felt weird to have someone else in his house cooking him food.

'I've already got one chou chef.' Charlie pointed to Dante, who was hovering around her like a little puppy waiting for scraps.

'Right. Well, would you like a drink? I have red, white, or a few ciders? Or we could stick to non-alcoholic.' Neo frowned. After the day he had, he really wanted a crisp white wine to go with his pasta.

'White would go well,' Charlie said.

Neo collected the glasses whilst Dante drained the pasta. He popped the cork just as Charlie cracked a few eggs into the pan and covered the pasta with cheese.

She finished with a bit of parsley and dished it out into four large bowls.

'Think I'll eat mine in the living room. You coming, Dante?' Willow headed out. Dante, his mouth already stuffed with pasta, followed her without a glance at his dad.

'Well, I think I've been dismissed,' Neo said, making Charlie laugh.

They took a seat opposite each other and dug into the food. Neo moaned with appreciation as the tangy, cheesy pasta hit his tongue.

'This is so good,' he murmured, spooning more into his mouth.

'My dad was the cook in our house and he taught me a thing or two.' Charlie rolled the pasta around her bowl, trying to soak up as much cheese as possible.

'Do you get to see them much now?' Neo asked, knowing that her parents had moved to Spain not long after Charlie had left for school.

'I travel out there every few months or so,' Charlie replied, surprising Neo. He'd assumed she was more of a lone wolf, someone who rarely interacted with people. Incorrectly, he'd thought that attitude would apply to her parents as well.

'I suppose it must be like a nice holiday for you.'

Charlie snorted. 'I think you're under a misconception, Chief. My parents might live in Spain, but they live in an environmentally friendly commune. It's more about building sustainable reed beds for their toilet waste than nipping down to the beach.'

Neo paused in his eating and looked at her. She'd told him her parents were hippies, but he'd thought it was just an exaggeration.

'So you go over there to help them out?'

Charlie laughed at his stunned expression. 'Yes, though the community is complete, there are always a few odd jobs that need doing and my parents aren't getting any younger.' Charlie frowned when she imagined her sixty-one-year-old mother clinging to the roof of their home, trying to fix the tiles.

'They sound like interesting people,' Neo replied noncommittally, which only made Charlie chuckle.

'That's one way of describing them.'

'And what you said to Palmer today, I'm guessing that influenced their move?'

Neo watched as Charlie's smile faded. 'My parents were always seen as oddballs in the village, but the way the police used the image to their advantage drove my parents away.'

'They discredited them?' Neo guessed.

'Bingo. Their accusations of my treatment fell on deaf ears because of their unconventional lifestyle.'

Neo finished the last of his pasta. 'And I'm guessing any evidence to the contrary was never found.'

Charlie grimaced. 'Miraculously, any scrap of information that could have proven my treatment disappeared.'

'What do you have on Palmer?' Neo asked. 'If what you're saying is true, there was a huge cover up of your treatment, which the commanding officer at the time must have been aware of.'

Charlie regarded him in silence as she finished her pasta. 'I don't think it's a good idea for me to tell you, Neo.'

Neo jumped as she used his first name. He'd become used to her calling him by his title. To hear her say his name brought back how intimate their setting was. His kids might have only been in the other room, but that didn't make their proximity any easier to deal with.

He held her gaze as she sipped her wine. 'I don't think Palmer is right. You're not delusional, you're not a liar. Which could mean one of two things, either I'm wrong about you, or Palmer is lying. I need to know that I'm not risking my career, my job, for nothing.'

Charlie placed her glass on the table and bit her lip. Indecision wasn't something she was prone to, and yet she was conflicted.

She sighed. 'You know I was no stranger to breaking the law. A few weeks before Lucy and George were murdered, the police had busted Jack for some petty theft. One officer, a big man with a superiority complex, took something of Jack's, a personal item. Probably wanted to teach Jack a lesson. Jack had taken items valuable to other people, so he'd taken something valuable from Jack. So I broke into the station to get it back.'

Neo's gaze narrowed, but he remained silent.

'Back in those days there was no one manning the station at night so it was easy enough to get in, only there had been people there that night.'

'Palmer,' Neo whispered.

'Not just her.' Charlie took a large sip of her wine to give herself some courage.

She'd only shared this story with one other person, not even her parents knew, though they knew she was keeping something from them. Knowledge was power, and her knowledge of Palmer could have destroyed many people, and it wasn't worth it. Not when they'd discovered that Jack was the one behind the murders.

'That night, I saw Superintendent Roberts fucking Rosy over the Chief's desk.'

Neo frowned. 'She was cheating on her husband?' He'd known Rosy for several years and she'd always acted the devoted wife and mother. Hell, Neo had invited her and her husband over for a welcome BBQ when he'd moved to Marton.

'Nope. There were three people there that night.' Charlie shook her head and laughed without humour. 'Whilst Rosy was getting fucked, her husband was watching from the sidelines.'

'Shit,' Neo cursed.

'Exactly. If I'd said anything, that would have shamed her husband amongst his military circles. Ended the Superintendent's career and likely stalled hers before it even started.'

'That's what you meant by she saw you?'

Charlie nodded. 'I got Jack's belonging and got out of there sharpish but as I was leaving our eyes locked for the briefest moments. I'd hoped that she hadn't seen me and as the days ticked by and no one came to arrest me, I thought I'd gotten away with it.'

'Until the murders.' Neo finished.

'What a perfect way to discredit me, right?'

Neo sat back in his chair and screwed his eyes shut. 'And you never said anything?'

'What would have been the point. My two friends were dead, one was missing, and my parents had always been disliked in the village. Rosy had better connections than me. It would have been like trying to fight a boot when you're just the ant.'

'And yet you're willing to go up against her now?'

'I owe Jerry and Alice that much. I won't let them lose another daughter,' Charlie vowed.

Neo opened his eyes when Charlie pushed their bowls to the side and placed her laptop on the table.

'Are you sure you want this information? Like you said, it's your job on the line.'

Neo pulled the laptop closer to himself, in answer. 'So what am I looking at?'

Charlie watched him for a few seconds with an unreadable expression before she moved to stand behind him.

'This is the house that Harry Bennett just put a deposit down for, with a loan taken from his employer.'

Neo flicked through the images of the three-bed property on the outskirts of Leeds. 'Next Level Law, never mentioned they'd given him any loan.' Harry Bennett was a mid-level lawyer in a relatively young firm. His employers had nothing but good things to say about his work, though Neo doubted they had the cash to loan him anything close to what Harry would have needed.

'That's because they didn't.' She took the seat next to Neo. 'For the last few years Harry Bennett has been sidelining as legal counsel to a drug cartel operating out of London.'

Neo's head turned so quickly that the joints in his neck popped. 'You can't be serious?' He'd seen images of Harry Bennett and those images did not fit with Charlie's information.

The images had all shown a man of short stature, slim build, and a narrow face, adorned with wire-rimmed glasses. He looked every inch a lawyer with his finely cut suits and smug expression. Not a hardworking criminal involved with a drugs gang.

'The signs are all there if you know how to look for them. Apparently asset rich but cash poor. He knew better than to bank it, but instead laundered it through multiple companies that are thought to be run by the cartel. If you want hard proof then I haven't got it. My informant couldn't even tell me how he got involved with them. But I know this, only his name is on the house deed.'

'Could it be a coincidence? Maybe it was easier not having his wife's name on the deed.' But the words fell flat. Neither of them believed it.

'It's possible but couple that with multiple trips to his own lawyer and movements between his and his wife's assets, and you know as well as I do what it all adds up to.' She looked at him expectantly.

'He was planning to divorce his wife,' Neo said.

'All the evidence is there. He was building himself a nest egg for him and his kids.' Charlie pointed out the various documents that confirmed her theory.

'When did this start?'

'From what I can make out, around six months ago, though he really stepped up planning about a month ago.'

Neo continued flicking through the documents, noticing that Charlie was right. 'Something must have sped up his plans,' he pondered.

'That was my thought, but no one seems to know what was happening between the couple. They kept to themselves mostly, never sharing too much. It isn't so noticeable in a city, so I don't think anyone thought too much about it. But there was something happening behind closed doors.'

'Enough that Harry Bennett could have abducted his family?' Neo asked, but Charlie didn't have the answers.

They remained in silence for several minutes, both trying to draw their own conclusions.

Charlie cleared her throat. 'I actually have a favour to ask you.'

Neo looked at her, but she was fiddling with her wine glass.

'Alice is being released from the hospital tomorrow and I've arranged for permanent care at a home more suited to her needs until Jerry...' she trailed off, a small quiver in her voice.

Neo reached forward and placed his hand on top of hers, making her lift her head.

'Jerry will recover. That's all we can hope.'

She nodded but didn't move her hand. 'Until then, Alice needs care that I can't provide, nor is there any other family, as far as I know. I was wondering if you would be there. I don't know how Alice is going to react to being moved from her home.'

Neo knew it was risky to be seen with Charlie so soon after Palmer's warning, though technically, it had nothing to do with the investigation. He would simply be making sure the wellbeing of one of his residents was being taken care of. Plus, he wanted to say yes. Charlie didn't seem the type of woman to need help all that much, and he didn't want to refuse her when she was asking for it. He knew it would have taken a lot for her to ask him.

'I'll be there,' he promised.

Charlie smiled widely, her eyes twinkling as they caught the overhead light. Their heads were so close together that Neo could feel her breath across his skin. A few inches closer and he'd be able to connect their lips.

The sound of the doorbell broke their moment and both of them leaned away.

'I'll get it,' Dante shouted, followed by the sound of his quick feet pounding towards the door.

Charlie shuffled nervously, draining the last of her wine. 'Thanks, uh, for coming with me tomorrow.'

'No problem,' Neo replied lamely.

'I should really be going.' Charlie closed down her laptop and packed it away, but before Neo could say anything else, his daughter appeared in the doorway.

'Everything okay?' Neo took in Willow's nervous expression with apprehension.

'It's Mom. She's at the door.'