Darkest Before the Dawn
Summary: When a body washes up on the banks of the Thames, the team face one of their most challenging investigations yet.
A/N: Please note that this will touch on mature themes – not sexual ones, but this is a story about violent death, after all. It will likely be quite graphic in its descriptions. It'll also have good doses of angst and Nikki/Harry-ness along the way.
Reviews are heartily encouraged. In fact, they make my day…
One
It was early. Big Ben had not yet struck the hour at five, and a cold, grey mist was rising from the Thames to join a colder, greyer sky. The tide was out and the winter water was icy and sluggish. On the south side of the riverbank, below the silent and disused bulk of Albert Bridge, the day was dawning badly.
Detective Inspector Saul Ash pulled his gaze from the water and forced it back to the corpse at his feet. He found that he could not look at the mass of rotting meat that had at some point been a human torso for more than a minute or so at a time. Longer made him want to vomit, an activity that the rookie constable who had first attended the emergency call was herself currently engaged in. Ash could hear the unmistakable sounds of retching from the river's edge. At least the young woman had been thoughtful enough to make sure she disgorged the contents of her tortured stomach downstream, and therefore away from his crime scene.
A chill that had nothing to do with the early hour settled in Ash's bones. Murder was a bad business always, but this – this was something else. He swallowed bile again as his seasoned eyes traced the lacerations carved into the narrow ribcage and the jagged edges of skin where the victim's shoulder had once met an arm. Now, there was nothing there - nothing but a cross-section in bruise and bone, an obscene insight into human tissue.
He heard footsteps behind him, crunching over the pebbles of the shallow beach, and turned to see Reuben Salter approaching. His fellow detective tucked his notepad back into the inside pocket of his jacket as he came to a standstill beside Ash, a frown on his face.
"Nasty one, this, guv."
Ash nodded, looking over Salter's shoulder toward an old, grey-haired man in dirty clothing, sitting in their unmarked car. Ash jerked his chin. "So, what's his story?"
"This is one of the places he comes to kip. Got a bit more than he bargained for this morning. Saw it wash up on the beach. Gave him the fright of his life, poor old sod."
"You think he's harmless?"
Reuben shrugged. "He's too weak to pee straight. Can't see him being responsible for this. Whatever 'this' is…"
"Alright. Try to get him into one of the shelters. Keep tabs on him, just in case."
"Right you are." Ash saw Reuben swallow hard as he looked down at the rotting torso. "Bit of a shocker, isn't it? Haven't seen one this bad before. Have you?"
Ash nodded slowly, squinting out over the water as the first rays of weak winter sunlight danced along the wash. "Yeah. I have. Not for a while, though."
"It looks on the small side."
Ash looked back down at the corpse. The young day was already hanging heavy on his shoulders. "That's because it belonged to a child. Time to call forensics, I think." Ash saw Salter reach for his mobile, and decided it was time he checked on the rookie. He turned back before he reached her, calling over the wind.
"Better tell them it's a bad one," he said. "I think even they'll need a warning over this."
-X-
"Are you sure you're OK, going on your own?" Harry watched as Nikki searched for something in her drawer. The clock had just passed 6am, and she hadn't even had a chance to take her coat off. "They said it was a bad one."
She glanced at him briefly as she continued to rifle, eyebrows raised. "You mean there's a good sort of death? Dr Cunningham, have you been holding out on me all these years?"
Harry shook his head, failing to hide his amusement. "Actually, I think there probably is. But now is not the time. Anyway, you know what I mean. For the police to think it worth a warning, it's got to be bad."
Nikki paused, stuffing whatever it was she'd been looking for into her bag. "I thought you said you had a report to finish?"
"I do. But it's just a report. It can wait…"
"Would this be the report that was due last week?"
"Might be."
"The report for the case that's going up before the CPS tomorrow?"
"Possibly…"
She smiled, a sharp flash of beauty in the sterility of their office. "I'll be fine. For you to be here, this early… I can only assume Leo threatened you with a particularly severe penance."
Harry grimaced. "He did mention something about nightshift for a year."
"Well then, there you go," Nikki said, slinging her bag over her shoulder and turning on her heel. "Can't have all those young women out there deprived of your company for 365 days on the trot, can we?"
She was gone before he'd had a chance to think up an appropriate retort. Harry stared down at his keyboard with a sigh. Then he stood up and went in search of coffee.
-X-
By the time Nikki arrived at the site, the police were there in force. She flashed her credentials and pulled her car in as tight to the kerb as possible. Albert Bridge had been closed for years, but that didn't stop the weight of traffic flowing past it toward Vauxhall. She opened the boot and pulled out her protective gear. Below, on the bank of pebbles that passed for a beach at low tide, the edges of a white polythene tent flapped in the winter breeze.
"Doctor Alexander?"
Nikki straightened up from pulling on her shoe covers. "Yes?"
The deep voice that had addressed her belonged to a man who looked as if he were touching 6' 5", with shoulders more than broad enough to match his height. He held out a hand, which dwarfed hers as she shook it. His wide face was sombre, his eyes dark and expressive. "Detective Inspector Ash. Sorry to get you out so early."
"Don't worry," she said, pulling her bag from the back seat and pushing the door shut. "That's what I'm here for."
"You'll probably wish you weren't once you see what we've got for you," Ash said, as he led her down the gangplank and on to the pebbles. "We also don't have much time – the tide's going to turn in an hour, so we'll have to move the remains before then."
Nikki nodded, watching her step on the slippery stones underfoot. "Pity we didn't get here sooner, then."
"We called you as soon as possible, Doctor," the DI said, mildly. "And I know you people don't like to be influenced by first impressions that aren't your own, but I don't think this is the primary crime scene. We've got a witness who saw the body wash up."
Inside the tent, sound was oddly muted. The police had rigged up a set of lights, which glinted harshly off the wet pebbles below. Nikki had to look twice before she could identify the lump of flesh in the centre of the covered space as human. It didn't even look mammalian. Her hands shook slightly, involuntarily. She clenched them.
"God."
"I don't think God had anything to do with this, Doctor Alexander."
Nikki didn't answer, kneeling instead beside the torso. The stench was appalling, a combination of snails and rotting faeces. DI Ash crouched beside her.
"It's a child, isn't it?"
She nodded. "Yes, or a very young adult. Of African or West Indian extraction." Nikki looked at the pelvis, and felt her stomach shift uneasily at the sight of the bones poking through the cavity where the legs should have been. The genitals were gone, too. "Male. Age… uncertain at this point. Possibly around 12, 13."
Ash pointed at a series of cuts along the ribs.
"Boat propeller, do you think?" he asked.
Nikki reached forward with one gloved hand and touched the decaying skin. It slid wetly beneath her touch. It was loose: the body had been in the water for at least 12 hours. She could see two ribs, visible beneath the cuts. "I don't think so. They seem too close together."
"What, then?"
She shook her head. "I can't say yet." She tipped the remains away from her slightly, taking a closer look at the transected right shoulder. "You haven't found any of the missing limbs? The head?"
"No," the detective told her, his deep voice quiet in the muted hush of the tent. "Doctor, I can't imagine this is anything but murder."
She glanced at him. "You know it's too early for me to say."
Ash nodded, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Yes, I know. But if this is murder…"
Nikki took pity. "I think you're right about this not being the primary crime scene," she said. "I think the body washed here from elsewhere. After the PM, I might be able to narrow down exactly where."
"Can we move him, then?" The DI pushed himself to his feet, holding out a hand to help her up. His hand was warm in the chill air. "I've got a fingertip search team ready to move in. If we leave it until the next tide, there'll be no point."
"Give me a few more minutes," Nikki said, reaching into her bag for her camera. "Then – yes."
There was a rustle of plastic as Ash left. Nikki stood for a moment, staring down at the remains of someone's son. She blew out a breath, trying to dissociate herself from what she was looking at. It was the first thing she'd been taught. Take a mental step back. Distance yourself.
She'd never really managed it.
-X-
[TBC]
