Stamford Industrial Products was a fairly large factory unit, Bayley saw as she got out of the SUV in the parking lot. The factory wasn't in the best of locations, but it looked quite modern, standing out from the buildings in the surrounding area. At the front of the unit, there was a reception area for visitors.

Commander Thorne barged through the entrance door with authority, startling the woman behind the reception desk. She was in her fifties, with curly grey hair and a rather officious look on her face.

"Can I help you with something?" the receptionist asked, taken aback by Thorne's arrival and demeanour.

Thorne held up her badge. "Commander Thorne, officer Martinez, SCPD Intelligence Division. We're here to speak to an employee, a Robert Holcroft. Is he here right now?"

"He is," the receptionist said, now on her feet. "I can go and get him for you, if you'll wait here." She started heading towards a door over on the back right of the reception area. Bayley could see through a small window in the door that it led through to the factory floor.

"We'll come with you," Thorne said.

The receptionist shook her head. "I'm sorry, that won't be possible. It's staff only on the factory floor."

Bayley looked at her boss, seeing a steely look in her blue eyes that even unnerved Bayley herself slightly. This was the commander in 'not to be fucked with' mode.

"Does this face look like it's asking questions right now?" Thorne said icily.

"Uhm, no, ma'am," the receptionist stuttered. "Why don't you follow me, and we'll go find Robert?"

"That would be wonderful," Thorne said dryly.

Bayley followed the two women through the door, onto the factory floor. It was a maze of pipes, valves, tanks and workstations, none of which meant anything to Bayley. There were workers wandering around wearing overalls, protective goggles and hart hats. She soon became aware that they were heading towards a man with a dark blue hard hat, as opposed to the white ones that everyone else was wearing. Blue hat also had a black beard. Robert Holcroft, she thought.

"Martinez," Thorne said quietly, meaning that Bayley should take the lead in the encounter.

Happy to receive the opportunity, Bayley walked slightly quicker, catching up to the receptionist before she reached Holcroft. Before they got there, he saw them coming. Bayley saw a flash of flight or flight instinct on his face, which told her a lot, before he got control of himself and tried to play it cool.

"Robert, these detectives are looking for you," the receptionist said. She clearly wanted to linger for some gossip, but a look from Thorne sent her on her way.

"Martinez, Thorne, SCPD," Bayley said. "You are Robert Holcroft?"

"I am. How can I help you, ladies?"

"You can help us by coming down to the station with us to answer some questions," Bayley said.

"In relation to what?" Robert asked, although was pretty certain that he knew.

"In relation to a murder," Bayley said. "Come on, let's go."

"If I don't?" he asked.

"You'll be coming on way or the other," Bayley promised him. "So, the thing we need to determine is how it happens. You can walk out freely to help us with our enquiries, or I can arrest you in front of your colleagues as an accessory to murder. The latter will look bad for you here, and it'll look bad for you with us. That's not what you want."

"Sure, I'll come to the station with you," Holcroft said after a moment, trying to act like it had been his intention the whole time.

"After you," Bayley said, motioning for him to lead the way. She received a slight nod of praise from commander Thorne for the way she had conducted herself.

"Are we going to offer him a deal?" Bayley asked commander Thorne. They were looking at Robert Holcroft through a two way mirror as he sat alone in an interview room, looking thoroughly down on his luck. He had been left alone for half an hour to stew, fretting about his predicament and what might be about to happen to him.

"Yes, I think we will," Thorne decided. "You can tell him if he confesses to supplying Campbell with the Tetrobiazipene, and testifies to that effect, he will face no charges."

"Alright," Bayley nodded. She started to feel nervous. It was now time for her to go into the interview room and show her boss the tough side of Bayley.

Walking around to the interview room door, Bayley took a deep breath. She stopped outside the door for a moment to get her face and her attitude set, then marched into the room.

Holcroft looked up at Bayley, but she didn't give him a chance to say anything. "Right, here's where I'm at with you," she said sternly as she sat down opposite him, her back to the two way mirror through which her performance was being judged. "I know you stole a quantity of Tetrobiazipene from Stamford Industrial Products. I know you gave it to James Campbell, and I know he used it to poison and murder Dana Brooke. So, you're looking at a long jail term as an accessory to murder. However, there is a deal I'm prepared to offer you. It's good for sixty seconds."

"What deal?" Holcroft asked sullenly.

"A full confession, and testimony when this comes to trial. In return, you walk. You'll probably lose your job for the theft, but you won't do time."

"You honestly expect me to stand in court and snitch on my friend?"

Bayley looked at her watch. "That's up to you. Thirty seconds."

They sat across from each other, looking into each other's eyes. Bayley made sure she looked firm and determined, whereas Holcroft was clearly wavering.

Bayley looked at her watch again. "If I walk out of this room, you're done. Ten seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six."

"Alright," Holcroft said, leaning back in his chair as he caved. "Alright, I'll take your deal. But I don't want to lose my job. I want nothing said to them about this, and I want no charges brought against me, like you said."

"Done. Now tell me everything," Bayley instructed.

"Right then, Cole, Flair, go and cut Fernandez and Antonius loose," commander Thorne ordered. She and her team were in the Intelligence Division office, after Bayley had extracted a full confession from Robert Holcroft. "Martinez, you and I are heading over to the hospital to give Sleeping Beauty the good news that he's going down for murder."

My first day working with the division and I'm going to help close a case, Bayley thought. She could hardly have asked for a better start.

"There's only one more thing I want to know," Thorne said as they made their way down the stairs to the Batcave.

"Why he did it?" Bayley guessed.

"Precisely. We've all worked for people we don't like. Don't you dare say anything," Thorne said, raising a finger to Bayley, who laughed at the joke.

"As if I would."

Thorne managed to crack a smile. "As I was saying, we've all worked for people we don't like. What I don't get is why he didn't just quit. Why kill her? Maybe he's just mental? Or maybe he thought he would somehow get famous because of it? 'I was there when Dana Brooke was poisoned.' That kind of thing."

"You could be right," Bayley said as she walked around the SUV to the passenger's side.

After getting into the vehicle, Bayley took out her phone. It had just occurred to her to let Sasha know how her first day was going. She found a text message waiting for her from Sasha herself, asking how she was. Bayley quickly typed out a response.

I'm great, babe. Hope you are too? I'm working the Dana Brooke case, which you may have heard about. Don't say anything to anyone, but there was foul play. I'm on my way to arrest the murderer right now.

Bayley liked how good the message made her sound, knowing that Sasha would be seriously impressed. And so it proved to be when a reply came back a couple of minutes later.

That's amazing, Bay! You're so good at what you do! Tell me all about it tonight. Love you.

Bayley smiled. She delighted in regaling Sasha with work stories, sometimes exaggerating details a bit for effect. Sasha lapped it up, to the point that she got turned on by it on occasion. Bayley wondered if she might get lucky that night.

The drive to the hospital took just over five minutes. Thorne and Bayley were met at the front entrance by detective Rollins, so that he could show them to James Campbell's room.

"How's our not so clever poisoner doing?" Thorne asked as they approached Rollins.

"Awake, but pretty drugged up after the surgery," Rollins said. "Flair and I haven't spoken to him; we've been sitting just outside his room. So the satisfaction of telling him he's under arrest can go to you."

"You're most kind," Thorne said graciously.

Bayley smiled at the exchange. She was genuinely enjoying working with these people. The way they interacted was befitting of people who meant something to each other, no matter their rank. She hoped to be part of that dynamic herself sooner than later.

"How has your first day been?" Rollins asked Bayley as they walked along a hallway, past various patient rooms and a nurse's station.

"I've enjoyed it. It's been an interesting case, and we've solved it so quickly. Luckily, a lot of murderers are idiots. People tend to think killers are all masterminds because they watch TV shows."

Rollins laughed. "Right. Thank god real life isn't like that. We'd have to walk around shooting off corny one liners, and we'd probably be sleeping with each other."

"You're not my type," Bayley said dryly.

They rounded a corner, and detective Flair came in to view, sitting on a cheap plastic chair outside of one of the patient rooms.

"Here we are. Let's give him the good news," Thorne said. Greeting Flair with a nod, she entered the room without hesitation.

Bayley followed the boss into the room. They found their killer in quite a state. His broken leg was fully encased in a cast, and there was extensive bandaging around his head, covering most of his blonde hair. His blue eyes looked glazed from the pain meds that he had been filled with. When he spoke, he sounded groggy. "Who are you?"

Commander Thorne, SCPD Intelligence Division," she said, stepping up to the bed. "James Campbell, you're under arrest for the murder of Dana Brooke." She continued, reading him his rights.

"I haven't done anything," Campbell protested weakly.

"I've got chemical analysis, a coroner's report, and witness testimony that says otherwise. Enjoy your time in hospital if you can, because you'll probably be spending the rest of your days in prison. You see, Robert Holcroft told us all about how you came to him looking to get your hands on something tasteless, odourless and highly poisonous. Where you went wrong was the amount of it you tipped into that cup of coffee. You gave her every last drop you had, didn't you? You gave her so much that she died in the car before you got to the meeting you were going to, where you probably hoped to pin the poisoning on someone there."

Campbell didn't respond in any way.

"Why did you do it? Why go as far as killing your boss?" Bayley wanted to know.

"No comment," Campbell mumbled, closing his eyes.

So, he's going to be one of those people, Bayley thought. He would likely say nothing of value until his trial, where the evidence gathered would be more than enough to put him away for many years, no matter what he did or didn't say in his defence.

One case, one good result, Bayley thought as she looked at the murderer they had just arrested. She hoped the ratio would continue for a long time to come.

THE END

A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter, and to everyone who supported this story.

There will be a new Intelligence Division case coming soon. What do you think it might be?