Disclaimer: I still don't own it…

A/N: Last chapter for a while now. See bio for return date and what's coming up next…

Chapter Twelve;
Helps Me Help You

"He's right about me." Jessica's soft voice broke the stony silence between them, causing Beth to look up and Max to shift a little so he could hear better what the teen was about to say. "My real name is Alinna Taggart. I have four brothers and my parents who all live in Sun Hill in Hartland House on the Holbeck Estate." She sighed. "And the family business is drugs. Dad runs a shipping business from the mainland, brings drugs in on his trucks through the tunnel. We have a man on the inside at border security, lets the trucks through."

Max nodded. "I suspected as much." Beth glared harder. "What? This is the breakthrough we wanted."

"We, as in you. We, as in me and Jess, just want to get out of here alive." Beth turned her attention back to the girl. "Your family are all drug dealers?"

"Couriers, dealers, runners… everything really. The family that deals together stays together." Jess gave a soft laugh, pitying herself. "I have four brothers – Thomas, Patrick, Reni and Nicholas. Three have been arrested f…"

Max cut her off. "Four now. We arrested Nicholas, that's what led me here."

Jess sighed. "Oh well, it was only a matter of time." She shook her head. "Probably showing off his wears to someone. Nick had a habit of doing that, big wigging himself. Always got him in trouble with dad." Jess' eyes then met Max's, a strange sense of imploring in them, like she was about to say something he needed to listen to carefully. "But sergeant, Beth is right too, I'm not involved. You have to believe me when I tell you that."

Max frowned. "In all due respects Miss Taggart, I have heard that more than enough from people who were proven to be guilty, that I don't really believe it on face-value, no."

Jess nodded. "Okay, well, hopefully you'll believe me when I tell you why. It was two years ago when the family business got my best-friend killed." Beth gave a soft, dramatic gasp, but Jess ignored it, continuing the story. "His name was Jack Archerfield. I went to school with him at Canley Comp; we shared history and geography classes. Not the smartest kid in class, bit of a clown really, but he wasn't a failure. Not trouble either. Didn't even have a rap sheet when he was killed."

"So how did he become involved?" Max asked, the memory of Archerfield's death coming back to him. A young dark-skinned boy shot on the Larkmead, linked to drugs but no proof. His killers were never found. Max hadn't been on the case himself, but he liked to have his head around everyone else's cases and a murder case was definitely worth snooping into. DS Moss had called him annoying but he called it thorough. You never knew where links could pop up in Sun Hill, and right now that theory was being proven very correct.

"His mum was on the estate, a single mother who had to work double shifts just to feed him and his little brother. He knew I had a lot of money, wanted to know where I got it from, how come he never saw dad actually go to work. At first I told him dad ran a shipping company, did it all from home, but Jack wasn't dumb, knew there was something else. One day I came home and he was talking to my dad about some 'work experience'. That's what he called it, 'work experience', like it was a real job." Jess gave a soft scoff. "I should've told dad there was no way, but he knew Jack well and dad isn't the type to turn down a bit of help, so he gave Jack a few runs. Dad gave him some pills or bags, told him to go off and come back with the money at the end of the day. Dad didn't care where his people went, that was their own problem, as long as they brought the money back. Course my brothers knew the patches not to sell on, but me and Jack didn't, didn't realise what a bad idea the Larkmead was 'til we got there. It was Jack's second day selling, he'd done well day one and taken home £400, he was ecstatic. So he decided to go harder, thought if he could sell his first batch in a few hours he could get some more before nightfall and make a mint. Think he was striving for £1,000. Naturally selling hard means having to get a lot of attention, a lot. With that comes rivals." She sniffed. "It was about four and we were at the back of the Larkmead, near the swings, and this bunch of guys come towards us yelling 'hey you' and all that. Jack tells me to go, says he'll take care of this, so I run and hide behind this skip down an alleyway. I can't see a thing but then, all of a sudden… bang." She gave a cough as she forced back a sob. "That wasn't it though. Two more, just for the fun of it I think, then I heard them run past me and came out. There he was, lying there, still alive but I knew I couldn't anything. I grabbed and ran for it before your lot turned up."

"So you took the drugs and the money?" Max asked, knowing full well she had.

"I didn't want you to think it was just another damn drug dealer killed and deserves it." Beth made to say something but Jess shook her head. "Don't say it's not like that because it is, I know it is. So I took the drugs and money so you would investigate who shot Jack, my friend, not the drug dealer's body on the Larkmead." She coughed back a few more sobs but she was shaking now and Beth hugged her, telling her it would be okay.

"Jess, I need your help, on both who shot your friend and to put away your father."

Beth frowned. "Can't this wait? Sh…"

But Jess cut over her. "I'll help you DS Carter, with both, but you need to do one thing for me first." Max gave a small nod. "I need you to get us all out of here alive, then I'll help you put away anyone you want." Then, wiping her eyes, Jess crawled away to cry a bit more. Beth didn't go after her, it clear Jess wanted to be alone.

Max just sighed into the dark room. "I'll try."

The Parts We Hide returns in 2010