Well, dear readers, we come to the final chapter. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoy.

The Ring

Gene veered out of the way and felt something sharp skim at the skin beneath his ear. Alex cried out in shock but the cut wasn't deep, it had barely drawn blood…

He caught Farrant's knife arm again, causing him to simply transfer the knife into his other hand, but Alex was ready for that and snatched it out of his hand. She threw it as far away from her as possible and Gene wrestled Farrant to the floor. As Gene snapped handcuffs around his wrists, he said, "Michael Farrant, I am arresting you for a list of crimes so long that if they were a shopping list, every one of Bolly's posh friends would be crippled with debt."

The camera that they had tried to take to the gallery was still in the Quattro, so Chris was sent to get it once everyone in the house was under arrest and taken away. Whole filing cabinets were removed, as were the notebooks and papers on the desk and, of course, the drugs. Chris snapped away in the makeshift labs. At last, there was evidence against them and overwhelming evidence at that.

Over the next few weeks, forensics reported that Alex's DNA could be found all over the inside of the Transit, the alibis that her captors gave for the night of the Mayhew fire only involved each other and consequently would fail to stand up in court.

The filing cabinets revealed the motive for Mayhew's murder: a series of letters from Mayhew asking for money in return for his silence on the drugs. Several other similar letters from other people were found too, all though none were dated after the Mayhew fire. It seemed the fire, complete with the calling card of partially destroyed furniture, had done its job.

"Shame forensics took my dress away," Alex mused.

She was leaning against the Guv's desk facing the windows that separated his office from CID, now currently empty. Gene handed her a glass of whiskey and she sipped it, taking just enough to cover her lips. Gene gulped his.

"It was expensive, you know."

"It looked it," said Gene, generously. He held something out to her and she took it. "New cover. Mud-stains go out of fashion, did they?"

Alex smiled, and took her new warrant card. "I suppose it doesn't matter but whilst you were digging up my so-called grave, did you find a ring?"

Gene had forgotten about the ring. He downed the rest of his drink, set the glass down and opened the top drawer of his desk.

"You mean this?"

The sparkle of the ring matched the sparkle of her eyes and he had a sudden urge to take her hand in his and push it onto her ring finger. Instead he held it out and she took it, placing it in her pocket.

"Gene?" Alex said after a while.

"Mmm?"

"Did you really think I was dead?"

There was no sparkle in her eyes now. She looked serious and almost- afraid. He got up from behind his desk and walked round to her.

"Yeah, yeah I did. Thinking I was going to find your body…" his voice cracked and he looked down at the floor. Don't start bloody crying.

Alex reached out and touched his face with her hand, a gentle caress.

"I thought I was dead," she said, her eyes so bright that Gene was worried that she would start crying, "Standing in my grave…"

"Stop it," he said, reaching out so now he was touching her face. She dropped her hand to his arm. "You aren't dead, you hear me? You aren't dead. You're alive…"

On alive, he leaned forward and pressed his mouth to hers. They kissed slowly and deeply and sweetly. They weren't undercover. This wasn't staged to make an untrue story believable or to score points over the other in a game of one-upmanship. This was Gene and Alex, Alex and Gene, replacing a kiss that had been false with one that was True.