Neo groaned and turned carefully so he didn't end up sprawled over his living room floor. His back creaked with every movement as he pulled himself up. He flexed his arms, hearing the joints pop. He was too old to be sleeping on the settee. Sometimes being a gentleman was hard, he thought to himself.

But there was nothing that could have made him share a bed with a drunk Charlie. His emotions for her were already confused. He didn't need to make the waters even more muddied.

The sound of giggling had him dragging himself towards the kitchen. He licked his lips at the delicious smell wafting towards him.

'What's cooking?' But the words died in his throat when he saw Charlie flipping pancakes at his stove.

'The best pancakes ever!' Dante fangirled as he shoveled more into his mouth.

Charlie smiled at him over her shoulder and Neo made his way to an empty seat, not taking his eyes off her.

She'd changed out of the form fitting leather trousers into a pair of ripped skinny jeans, and her face was washed free of makeup. He was grateful for the change, knowing that he would have been tempted to ogle her perfect behind, something he would not want to do when his children sat a few feet away from him.

'Hey, Dad. Charlie fixed my computer. It's much faster now.' Willow beamed at him.

'That was nice of her,' Neo choked out. Despite clearing the air with her last night, he felt awkward. Somewhere inside of him he knew that the morning after was coming, but he'd been hoping to avoid her as much as possible. But, as usual, Charlie had her own ideas.

'It was easy really,' Charlie said, placing a plate piled high with pancakes in front of Neo. 'An olive branch. Thanks for last night.' Her eyes briefly connected with his before she turned to finish the rest of the pancakes.

Neo took one bite and moaned.

'They're that good, right?' Dante agreed. 'Where did you learn to make pancakes like this?

Charlie placed the last few pancakes on a plate and brought them to the table.

'When I was stationed at the Pentagon, you couldn't go to any diner before 11am and not have pancakes. I found when I came back, I missed the taste so I set about learning.'

Three pairs of eyes blinked back at her.

'You worked at the Pentagon? That's so cool,' Dante said wide eyed as his pancakes lay forgotten.

'I was on loan from MI6 for a few cases. The Americans needed someone good with electronics from time to time and it was good inter-country cooperation to loan agents out.'

'MI6? Were you a spy or something?' Willow's eyes were round as saucers.

Charlie laughed and shook her head. 'No. I was a cyber analyst.'

'And you gave that up? Why? Sounds like the coolest job ever,' exploded Dante.

'It was. But sometimes it's good to have change.' Her eyes flicked once again to Neo.

Neo worked his way through his pancakes, listening to his kids asking Charlie questions, their excitement growing when Charlie announced certain things were classified.

It was almost cosy, the easy vibe between his children and Charlie. The animosity between them was close to being non-existent, though there were still a few things Neo needed to talk to her about.

With breakfast done, Neo offered to do the dishes whilst the teenagers scarpered, neither of them wanting to be roped into washing up.

'So George was gay?' He watched as Charlie's shoulders stiffened and she sighed.

'I wasn't sure if I'd dreamt that conversation in the car.' She shook her head. 'Yes, he was gay.'

'Would Lucy have told anyone about her pregnancy? Her parents? Her sister?'

'Me?' Charlie turned. 'She would never have told me cause I couldn't have let her go through with it. Could never have let her destroy the one thing I knew I would never have the chance to have,' she whispered.

Neo cursed and pulled her in for a hug. 'I'm sorry. I forgot about the accident. I shouldn't have- I should have...' He struggled to find the right words.

Charlie wiped at her eyes and pulled away. 'I know why you're asking. I know that you have to ask. But I can't see Lucy telling anyone, least of all Jane.'

'And what about Jack? Her, Jack and George were all arguing a few days before the murders. Could it have been about this?'

Charlie picked up a tea towel and started drying the dishes Neo had washed, to give her hands something to do.

'I don't know, Neo.'

He placed a hand on her shoulder until she looked up at him. 'I know this is hard for you, but you knew Jack and Lucy. Was there something between them?'

'I knew Lucy fancied Jack, but if you're asking me if he's the father, I don't know. Like I said, Jack was the fuck them and chuck them type of guy. Good times were what he was after. I never knew him do long term.'

Neo never got the chance to respond as his mobile rang.

'DCI Denzel,' he answered.

'Denzel it's Colin. I got the result back on Jerry Phillips' attack.'

'Hold on, let me put you on loudspeaker.' Neo motioned for Charlie to sit down. 'Go on Colin.'

'The rocks near the edge of Felton Pond have droplets of blood that match the impact zone on the back of Jerry Phillips' head.'

'So he could have slipped then?' Neo shook his head. He'd been convinced that Jerry had been attacked.

There was a pause on the other end as Colin shuffled his papers.

'The wounds on the back of Jerry Phillips' head had the same traces of lichen found on the rocks by the pond. However, the wound to his temple had no traces of lichen.'

Neo licked his dry lips. 'And that means?'

'The wound to his temple was not caused when he fell.'

Charlie leaned back in her chair and ran a hand through her hair. If Jerry hadn't got that wound from when he fell into the pond, then that left only one option.

'Do you think he was attacked?' Neo asked, watching Charlie's pinched expression. He knew in his gut what Colin was about to say, and it would hurt her.

Colin cleared his throat. 'I'm certain. And judging from the angle of the wound, it's likely to have been a frontal attack by someone say 5ft 7 to 5ft 9.'

'Can you tell how close a range we're looking at here?'

A sigh reverberated down the line. 'The size and relative jaggedness of the wound leads me to believe it was likely a large rock. The angle on the wound appears to go from bottom right to top left, grazing from his cheek to his hairline. Given that, I believe the attacker would have likely stood in front of Mr Phillips, rather than throwing the stone in his general direction. If it was thrown, you wouldn't have that type of grazing pattern.'

'Thanks Colin. I appreciate you fast tracking this for us.'

'No problem. Say hi to Charlie for me.' The smirk was clear in his voice as he disconnected.

'You know what this means?' Neo asked Charlie.

'There's a chance that Jerry saw his attacker.'

'This could be it. The breakthrough we need. What if he'd seen Harry Bennett? The man was planning on leaving his wife, has ties to some very dangerous people, could he have kidnapped his wife and kids?'

'But with all his means, why ditch the car and where could they go?'

Neo stood up and started pacing. 'What if Jane found out he was leaving and used their time trapped in a car to confront him?'

'You think he acted off the cuff? Panicked when she found out?'

'Is it that far a stretch?' Neo stopped and stared at her.

'It's possible, but we're going to need evidence and that still doesn't explain where they are. I have a contact who might be able to dig up some more information on Harry Bennett, but you're not going to like their methods,' she warned.

'Is it anything illegal?'

Charlie grimaced. 'Do you really want me to answer that?'

Neo sighed. 'Are they trustworthy? Cause the last thing this investigation needs is false evidence.'

'Alex is a genius, but they have a tendency to get a little extreme now and again. They're part of a few questionable protesting organisations and have contacts in shady places, but I would trust them with my life.'

'Them?'

'Alex identifies as non-binary. Therefore, the preferred pronouns are they and them. It may also make them less likely to want to help the police or the establishment. There are plenty of government agencies who don't recognise people like Alex.'

'And you think they'll still help us?'

Charlie nodded at Neo's correct use of the pronouns. It irritated the hell out of her when people dismissed Alex because of how they wanted to be identified. As far as she was concerned, Alex could be male, female or part bloody elephant, and it still wouldn't matter. Alex would still be one hell of a tech genius, no matter what. Charlie could manipulate most tech, but Alex could build it.

'Dad?' Willow stopped their conversation as she stepped into the kitchen, a map held in her hands. 'I went into your office to find a pencil for school. Is this the map of Felton Pond?'

'Willow, you know I don't like you going in-'

'Dad!' Willow interrupted him. 'I saw a map of Felton Pond at Charlie's this morning.'

Neo frowned. 'What were you doing at Charlie's?'

Willow glared at him whilst laying down the map. 'You're missing the point.'

'What's the point?' Charlie asked before Neo could question his daughter again.

'This building isn't on her map, but there was a store shed on Charlie's that I can't see here.'

Charlie blinked, peering closer at the layout, noticing another handful of differences between her map and Neo's.

'They're different. Where did you get this?' she asked Neo.

'Archives in Shrewsbury. What about you?'

'Local library one town over. But they shouldn't be different.'

Neo cursed. 'Then why the hell are they?'