Alasdair flicked through file after file and was loosing the will to live with what he was reading. All had been left like this due to simply being short staffed. The force was almost at double its strength now compared to the dates on the reports.

His cousin had been helping with the files to clear some of them but alasdair wanted to clear them before the new inspector came and that was any day now

Alasdair walked off to find Elijah. He was knowledgeable about alot of things and might be able to shed some light on the matter. He found him after not long searching "Elijah, can you shed any light on this?" He said as he placed the folder on the desk

Elijah had been sitting at his desk with what at first could be mistaken for a tea with milk, but was actually a coffee weak with enough milk to make it barely have any color. He looked up as Alasdair entered the room and immediately stood at attention. "Ah, sir!" He was trying to make up for not being at his best recently. There was so much stress on the man lately, and even more on his mind.

He glanced at the file and rose his brow. "Ah, a missing woman? A piece of her clothing was found on the beach by the cliffs. She had no family, so they thought it might have been suicide except.." He frowned. There had been a number of deaths there, but those with family or friends insisted they weren't the type. Very recently a man and woman had ended up there.

"It is very troubling. We retraced her steps, it seemed she had been looking for a maid job. The trail sort of goes cold after that, but we can always ask around." He had an idea on where or who to ask, to at least start.

Alasdair laughed "for the love of god min, sit down i aint the bloody pope!" He knew elijah was nervous and he looked at him "and as I've already said. Lose ranks between these four walls if its just us. If there's officials, or inspector or public the thats different but for christs sake, call me alasdair"

Alasdair listened intently to what Elijah was saying before replying "ok I think we should have a look. I know its probably been done but this is the kind of thing this new inspector is gonna look into and I want the buck to land with me. Not you guys because you were understaffed at the time"

He walked to the rack and put on the last part of his uniform he would require before heading out into the street to uphold the law "come on lad. Let's go for a wander and have a look at all this. I don't fancy sitting here all day do you?"

Elijah nodded slightly and relaxed a bit, but still seemed nervous. "I know, I just... I don't want to seem too unprofessional." He admitted and glanced down. Between the articles that have come out on him in the last two years, and the trouble with some people, he really wanted to at least appear capable at his job somewhat. "Thank you, for all this. We have needed the extra help."

He perked up and agreed wholeheartedly. "Yes!" He finished off the cold coffee very quickly. "I know someone we can start with, if you don't mind. He's ah.. somewhat unusual type. But he hears a lot, so he's good for information. If you can get it out of him that is." He barely ever went to the homeless man, but there had been rare times. Aslan had suggested him once. It wasn't too hard to get the man to talk, but then he'd heard a lot about Elijah and felt he had some power over the particular constable. He wasn't sure how it would work with Alasdair, but didn't hurt to try.

Alasdair squared away the remainder of his uniform while Elijah sorted himself as well "sounds like a good start. We will see where it leads from there." Jamie wouldn't be too far away by now as he was patrolling his beat and would soon be back in the station and be able to man the station while they were away "my cousin should be back soon so the station will be ok and I think Wood is due back aswell"

Alasdair made his way outside of the station. The sun was beating and it was a stunning day. Too nice to be stuck in an office. He knew it would help clear Elijahs head if he got him out of there and focused on something else. "Lead the way Elijah"

Elijah nodded as he trusted the man completely and started to head out, holding the door open for the man to be polite. "The problem is finding him. He could be almost anywhere." He considered the time, it seemed too early he'd be around looking for someone to get him a pity drink just yet. But then if he'd had a bad night. "We will try his regular haunts and work from there. "

He started off and decided to try the market if he was begging and then work his way out towards the pubs. He really didn't want to waste the sergeant's time too much. He was finally in relief as he found the man sitting off to the side on the floor just leaning against a wall and staring up at the sky. "Ah, there he is."

Alasdair followed Elijahs lead "yeah I completely understand what your saying. Let's start there" he followed him to the market and was relieved when Elijah spotted him.

He took Elijah to the side before walking over to him "I'm guessing cash is king here?" He looked at elijah "you lead it and ill follow suit. I've not had dealings with him before so I'm sure how he works. I've got cash on me anyways if we have to use it"

Alasdair walked over towards the homeless man that Elijah had mentioned. He had to hand it to him Elijah had some useful local knowledge

Elijah nodded to Alasdair and started towards the man as he spoke quietly. "Usually, yeah. Money or taking him to get something to drink. But the most important thing is to act nice to him, I mean to a point. Don't try to play it up too much or anything. He's a bit odd, but he is usually harmless, if a bit of a.."He seemed deep in thought on how to describe him. He let the thought die as they came up to the guy.

"Francis, hello.." He said with a smile as he approached. The man looked to them and he glanced towards his sergeant then back. "Surprised you're just sitting out here.. Well, this is my sergeant, Alasdair. He's a very nice man and we wanted to ask you some questions?"

Francis looked from the weak constable to the newcomer. He hadn't been in town long, from what Francis remembered hearing. He had been worried when there were more law people coming in, but so far it hadn't been any trouble. He stared hard, studying the man's face. Slowly an easy smile appeared. Perhaps, if they needed information, he'd get some money out of it.

"Well, nice to finally meet you, sergeant. You've been working hard, I hear." He slowly leaned to the wall as he slid to his feet and stretched his arms. He scratched at the back of his head and then leaned against the wall. "Well, to what do I owe this visit. Was something about information?" He looked back to Elijah before settling his eyes on Alasdair.

Alasdair watched closely as Elijah interacted with Tully. This type was rife around Perthshire and Jamie had also dealt with similar in Strathclyde. There memory would be hazy until the silver was shown. The old adage of the queen's shilling would more than likely be used just now.

He looked straight at him and watched him closely. He stood in a position that he could see Elijah in his poriforal vision. He spoke. "We are looking into the disappearance of a woman a few months back. Any ideas?"

Alasdair watched him closely. Alot of criminals exploited the homeless and used them to cover their actions and or be look outs. Alasdair watched with interest how this would go down