Whatever Happened to Sarah Hawkins?

"Does this get us any closer to finding Sarah?"

"Yes and no. We have a description of the man who traded the car, but when we checked his driver's licence we found that the name didn't match the number. The car yard owner said the he accepted the licence as valid proof of identity and ownership. There was not enough time for the car to have gone through a chop shop, so it was unchanged from when Sarah bought it."

"Does that help?"

"Yes and no. It would suggest that this was a premeditated crime and not just some opportunistic theft, unless we can prove that this was a stolen to order job and the thief had been tracking that particular car we are no nearer to finding the culprit. We are paying visits to known offenders as we speak, we may get a result soon."

"I certainly hope so."

"I'll keep in touch with developments as they happen." He said as he left.

"Are you still hopeful of Sarah's return?" Reggie asked.

"Yes. If it was nothing more than a car theft, even if it was one that went wrong, there is still hope."

"I wish that I could find a man that could love me as much as you love Sarah." Reggie seemed to somehow more subdued than her usual self.

"I'm sure that there is someone out there for you." She turned her head and I thought I heard a sob. "Come on Reggie, where's the bright and bubbly girl that I know and love?" If I thought that would cheer her up, I was very much mistaken. She stood and rushed from my office.

I sat there stunned at this for several minutes, and then went to the lunchroom to see if she was there. There was no sign of her.

"What have you done to Reggie?" One of the other office girls, Jenny according to her name tag, asked.

"What do you mean, I've done nothing to her."

"You must have done something, she's sitting in the loo blubbering away, something about it being all her fault."

I was puzzled, what was all her fault? Oh my God, what does she know about Sarah's disappearance? "Can you go and get her, drag her out if necessary, I need to talk to her."

It took forever, at least ten minutes, before a teary Reggie shuffled out of the toilet behind Jenny. I reached for her to give her a hug, but at first she pushed my hands away. Then suddenly she fell against me and wrapped her arms around me. "James, it's all my fault, can you ever forgive me?" She sobbed into my chest.

"What's all your fault, Reggie, you're not making sense." I held her to me for several minutes, a point not missed by the other staff that had come in to see what was going on.

"James, Do you remember about a month ago I mentioned that I had broken up with this guy I'd been seeing for a couple of months?"

"Yes, you were miserable for all of ten seconds, if memory serves."

"The reason that I broke up was that he was freaking me out with his jealous rages. I would only have to glance at another guy and he'd fly off the handle. I couldn't handle it. Then he began to really freak out about you and me. I didn't tell him that I was in love with you or anything, he seemed to work that out for himself from what I told him of my work.

"He got really angry one night when I was late for a date, we had worked back for half an hour finishing that Matheson job, but he accused me of fucking you. That was the end, I told him to fuck off and walked out on him. He rang me dozens of times over the next couple of days until I threatened to go to the police."

"What does this have to do with Sarah and her disappearance?" I was beginning to fear the worst.

"I must have mentioned to him that any feelings that I might have for you would come to nothing because you were totally and hopelessly in love with the most wonderful girl. That didn't help, he just said that I could never love him because of you. He hit me several times, and after that, and I had decided that enough was enough, and began to look for a way out of that relationship."

"What makes you think that he might have something to do with this?"

"At one time, early in our relationship, he asked me if I was thinking of buying a new car. He has a brother in the trade who, he said, could get me a good deal on any kind of car that I liked. I knew what Sarah drove and, for a joke I told him that was what I wanted. He said that this would take a little time, but that he could get one for me, it might take time and would probably have to come from interstate, but he could do it. Don't ask me how he could do this, but he was confident that it could happen."

"I need to speak to Montgomery about this. Come on Reggie, back to the office, we don't need an audience for what we're going to have to do."

I sat her down in the other chair in my office while I rang Montgomery. "Reggie, listen to me." She looked into my eyes for a hint of what was to come. "If I wasn't in love with Sarah, if I had never met her, I could quite easily have fallen in love with you." She was just about to say something but I stopped her. "You are a lovely girl and a very good worker, I couldn't ask for better. I really enjoy working with you, you're bright and efficient, and fun to be with, we can say things to each other that would get us in trouble if anyone overheard us, and it doesn't bother us. We flirt outrageously, and until now I didn't think it a problem, even now I don't think that it will be, unless we let it. I don't want to lose you, but, if you don't think that we can work together, then we should decide what to do. I will leave the decision up to you."

"James, darling James." She ignored my shocked expression, she had never called me that before. "I want to go on working with you, but I want you to know that, when Sarah is back, and I hope that she is, soon, I won't do anything that could come between you and her. What I am going to say to you now, I hope that you don't take the wrong way. If Sarah doesn't come back to you, I will be here for you, and, should that happen, in the fullness of time I will live in the hope that you and I can get together in a relationship that would be every bit as good as the one that you have with her. If she does come back, then the three of us are going to have to sit down and talk this through. If she has any problems with you and me working together, as we have in the past, then I will walk out of your life completely and totally. Is that a deal?"

I was saved from answering by the arrival of the police. "Well, Mr Symonds, what is the earth shattering information that you have for us?"

"I will let Reggie tell you, it's her story, her theory."

"Well Reggie, we'd better start with your full name."

"Regina Anne King."

"Queen and King*, interesting, your parents must have had a strange sense of humour. Go on."

"A couple of months ago I broke up with my then boyfriend, because of his jealous rages, and the fact that he beat me a few times. From something that I said he worked out that I was in love with James. Before you ask, we are not lovers and I have known for ages that my love would never be returned because he was hopelessly in love with Sarah. We are just very close friends and he is the best boss a girl could ask for. Anyway, something he told me rang alarm bells when you were telling James about the discovery of Sarah's car, and how you suspected a dodgy deal between interstate car yards to move cars around and sell them before they are discovered to be stolen. Apparently my boyfriend, ex-boyfriend's brother is involved in some way in this racket. I figured that he could be punishing me and James probably, for destroying our relationship, and has used Sarah and her car to do that."

"You might just have something there. We have been investigating this gang for some time, and when the Melbourne police checked the compliance plate on that car, they found that the engine number matched Sarah's, but the compliance number didn't. It would appear that they are producing bogus compliance plates and attaching them to the vehicles. They would pass all but the most thorough scrutiny. Where can we find this ex of yours and his brother?"

Reggie gave them her ex's name and address, but she didn't know where his brother lived or worked.

"Don't worry, we'll find them, and hopefully find Sarah as well." They left us.

"Okay, the excitement's over, back to work."

"Slave driver."

"Where were we?" I asked looking at my schedule.

"I was just about to get us coffee and bring it in here and flirt outrageously while we drink it, and pretend that nothing has happened to upset the working equilibrium."

"Off you go then, don't stand there gasbagging." She did something that she had never done before, she kissed me, it was on the cheek, but it was still a kiss. "Thanks Boss Darling."

Evening, Day 5:

We worked our way through our tasks until late in the afternoon when they were completed. "Okay, that's it for the day. Home time." The phone stopped us, its ringing sounding louder than usual. "James here."

"Mr Symonds, Detective Sergeant Montgomery here. We have recovered Sarah, she has been taken to hospital for observation, the preliminary indications are that she is dehydrated and under-nourished, but otherwise un-harmed. She has asked for you."

"I'm on my way." I hung up. Reggie looked at me, there was genuine relief on her face.

"Can I come with you? I want to come with you."

"I don't know whether that's a good idea. Why don't I see how she's feeling first."

Montgomery was standing outside her room talking to another policeman when I arrived. He stopped me from going in. "Mr Symonds, we have arrested Reggie's ex-boyfriend and his brother on charges relating to the used car scam, and we're just waiting to take a statement from Sarah before laying charges over her abduction. Theirs was a sophisticated operation, we found a large number of blank compliance plates, a stamping press and embossing press set up to produce bogus plates. It would have been only a matter of time before we caught up with them, they couldn't expect to get away with it forever. Sarah is weak and is sleeping. I have been told to let you in, but all that you will be able to do is to sit beside her until she wakes. Okay, in you go, you're a lucky man."

She looked so peaceful there, her eyes closed and breathing deeply, her chest rising and falling with each deep breath. There was a tube attached to her arm and to a bag on a stand beside the bed, a monitor beeped in the background. I leaned over and kissed her gently on her soft lips. "James, I love you so much." Her eyes were still closed. A smile spread across her face and they opened. "Kiss me again." I obliged for all of thirty seconds before the medical team rushed into the room. The monitor was going ballistic.

"What's happening here?" The doctor said.

"My Darling kissed me, that's what's happening." A smiling Sarah whispered.

"Oh, that all?" He smiled at me. "She had been asking for you non-stop until we got her to sleep. I thought that it would take an earthquake to wake her for at least another two hours."

An hour later Montgomery had his statement and had gone off to lay further charges against the brothers. Sarah and I headed for the main entrance. "Taxi Sir?" We turned around and there was Reggie, holding the door of her car open for us. I was just about to say something but Sarah got in first.

"Reggie, I have you to thank for me being back with my man. You can drive us home and then the three of us are going to have a long talk."

It was a quiet trip home, I had never thought that I would see the day when Reggie could be quiet for more than five minutes, let alone fifteen.

Sarah sat on the sofa and I stood. "I'll get us a drink, I hope red wine is okay."

"You sit, I'll get the drinks." Reggie said. "And no hanky-panky from you two."

We had been sitting in an uncomfortable silence for several minutes before Sarah spoke. "Reggie, I know how you feel about James." Reggie was shocked. "Don't worry, I'm not jealous, because I know James, and I know him well enough to know that he would never have betrayed me, and our love for each other. Your relationship with him is totally different to ours, and I understand it fully, I can even thank you for keeping my man happy. There were times there when I felt real despair, and do you know what kept me going? The thought that if I didn't survive the ordeal, he would find happiness with you. That kept me going, not because I didn't want that to happen, but because I knew that, should I not make it, he could be happy again, but with a different person, one that would love him."

"You are right." Reggie said. "What you and James have is different to what our work relationship is. Having said that, I don't want to lose that, but if it is going to cause a problem, then I will give up my job rather than hurt the two of you."

"There will be no need for that. I think that I can trust you, both of you."

It was much later that we decided that Reggie was in no condition to drive home and, as she had driven us home in her car, she was going to have to pick me up in the morning, that was if I decided to go to work that is, and that she should stay the night. She slept in the spare bedroom, and before you jump to conclusions, we did not have her in our bed at any time, not did either or both of us join her in hers.

That four months ago, and things have changed. Sarah and I are married, and Reggie was her Bridesmaid. I'm waiting for a call from Sarah, she's seeing her doctor this morning to confirm what the home test kit has told her, that she is pregnant with our first child. Reggie has a new boyfriend, a nice guy as it turns out, and I don't know whether to be jealous or flattered, he is very much like me. Anyway, she is happy with him, but things between us have changed, at least for the time being. "I'm not going to carry on the way that I used to, at least until I get to know him better. If I don't think that it will cause any problems between us, it will be back to normal. If I think that it will, we will just have to have a professional working relationship. Agreed?"

"Agreed." I told her.

Author's Note: For those of you who don't get this statement, 'Regina' is Latin for Queen, e.g. Queen Bessie the 2 of Buckinghuge Palace, is officially EIIR or Elizabeth II Regina.