Part One

Two voices. Two figures. One scream. One body.

Footsteps echoed around as one figure departed the area rapidly, heavy breaths reverberated around the corridor as the shadow retreated away from the scene into the bright, staring lights of the ward.

Back in the darkened theatre, glimpses of light flashed around the room as the doors still swung open and closed, open and closed slowly.

She lay face down on the floor, her eyes wide in amazement but her body relaxed. Her hair lying softly on her neck. From the side she didn't look dead.

"Rigor mortis has set in. She's been here a few hours. How did no-one notice she was missing, it's not like she was just a face in the crowd?"

Detective Inspector Clark Fitzwilliam stepped carefully around the body. A stunning young woman lay dead on the cold floor of her own operating theatre. Her reign over the department well and truly concluded. Bending down to rest on his feet he looked closely at her face. A smile hinted on her lips but her deep green eyes were wide with fear. He shook his head sorrowfully and stood back upright.

"Always the pretty ones" he shrugged, walking back towards the door. "I trust you've sealed off the ward to the public, no-one in or out. Mind you, it's got to be someone working here, not like you can just walk into an operating theatre aimlessly, can you?"

He nodded at the Scene of Crime Officer walking through the doors towards the ward. Before his question could be answered his phone rang. He ducked quickly under the police tape emblazoned across the doors to the theatre and pressed the 'send' button.

"Fitzwilliam" he barked into the phone. "Ah I see, thanks for letting me know."

Walking back into the theatre he motioned to his second in command, a petite brunette, Lois McCall. The Lois Lane to his Clark Kent he liked to joke. Backing away from the body she walked over to him, an expectant look replacing her frown as she tore her gaze away from the dead woman.

"As if murder wasn't bad enough. You'll never guess who her husband is…" he trailed off, raising an eyebrow provocatively towards his colleague.

Her jaw dropped slightly and her eyes widened. "Not…? I thought I'd seen her somewhere."

"Oh yes. So I want everything done by the book, down to the last full stop and the last… well everything. No problems, no inefficiency. I want him…"

"Or her." Lois interrupted quickly.

"Or her" Clark corrected. "I want whoever it was caught soon as. This is not a case I want to become a sticker. This is all we need." He rubbed his forehead with the base of his palm, kneading the frown lines into obscurity. He stuffed his hands back into the pockets of his trousers and walked back over to the body. He felt so disrespectful calling her 'the body' but until they got a definite positive identification from someone they couldn't give her an identity.

Clark heard a new voice behind him, speaking to one of the uniformed officers on the door. He turned around to see a young woman in a nurse's tunic standing talking to DC Kadie Johansen, one of his team, and another young officer he didn't recognise, with some urgency. Moments later Kadie approached Clark and Lois and explained that the nurse had taken a phone call asking if the supposed victim had left work.

Clark walked over to where the young nurse stood and gestured to her to step out of the crime scene.

"Can we have a quick word with you Miss…?" he paused, waiting for the pretty blonde to supply him with her name.

"Holroyd" she said quietly, "Georgina Holroyd."

"Miss Holroyd" Clark finished.

She nodded slowly, unsure of whether she wanted to be dragged into another murder enquiry. She remembered warily the last time the police were called to a major incident, during the spree of murders on the ward by Kelly Yorke. But this was different. This was personal. She moved further away from the door, guided by the policeman who had yet to introduce himself to her. Over his shoulder she peered into the dimly lit room, lit only by the systematic flash of a camera, presumably capturing the images of the victim.

"So tell me about the phone call." Clark prompted her.

She averted her gaze from the theatre back onto the police officer in front of her. Shrugging her shoulders briefly she began to explain.

"I was working at the nurse's station, just filling in paperwork when the phone rang. He asked if his wife was still here as she hadn't arrived home, they had a dinner date at a friend's or something, he didn't go into details." She paused for breath, looking slightly puzzled. "I just said that her shift had finished early and that as far as I knew she'd gone home."

Clark fished a small, black, leather-bound notebook out of jacket pocket. He wrote down the brief details as she said.

"Ah what time was it you took the call?"

"Just now, say ten minutes ago. I just briefly checked the office and made sure she wasn't still working, and then came here to tell you."

"And you say that her shift finished early, what time was early?"

Nurse Holroyd shook her glossy blonde hair. "Well I only came in at around half past eleven this morning myself, my shift started at two but I had some paperwork I wanted to catch up on. As far as I gathered she wasn't here then, the other team was in; I did ward rounds with Mr Langworth at about half past eleven."

Clark nodded as he wrote down the series of events. "And you didn't tell the husband anything?"

Georgina shook her head again. "I didn't know what to tell him so I figured that nothing was best. Is it definitely her?" She glanced into the theatre again and tipped her head toward the door suggestively.

"I can't say for definite yet. But thank you for the information. Can you please ask everyone to remain on the ward until we've had a chance to speak to them properly and take statements? I understand there are officers there already but it's imperative we ascertain exactly what's gone on."

Clark nodded to the nurse as she assured him it would be done and then turned to go back onto the ward. He watched her smile flirtatiously at the officer on the door to the corridor then round the corner. He re-entered the theatre and walked over to where DS McCall stood, her eyes once again transfixed, watching the SOCO examining the scene.

Having worked with DS McCall for the previous five years he knew only too well of her fascination with crime scene investigation. He disturbed her focus and asked for a quick peek at her notes, knowing full well that they would be more organised and legible than his ever could be.

As he expected they were, of course. He scanned the notes, 'Encounter site, murder site and body dump site all appear to be the same, operating theatre 3, Auraton City Hospital' he carried on, reading details of the victim next, 'type of crime – unknown' she had written clearly.

He stared down at the body of the victim. Her clothes looked untouched aside from the deep maroon stain embedded into the fibres of her pristine white shirt. The colour was the only indicator of any interference. She had no visible wounds, but something had killed her.

Clark continued through the notes. 'Scene condition – organised'. He looked around. Lois was right, not a single thing was out of place, no evidence of a struggle, nothing to even indicate a murder had taken place. 'Well planned / Opportunistic?' was the next heading Lois had inscribed. As yet she hadn't filled in her thoughts.

Tapping Lois on the shoulder, Clark nodded towards the door, walking out of theatre and seating himself on a cold, plastic chair a few metres away. He handed Lois her book back and she quickly replaced it in her pocket and repositioned her hands, together in front of her, resting them on her knees.

"Good observations there Lois" Clark commented, "Quite the wannabe expert aren't you" he jested, smiling warmly at her. "What do you think about it, premeditated or opportunistic?" he enquired, valuing her opinion as though he hated to admit it, she had a strong tendency to be right in her instincts.

She pondered the question for a moment before composing her reply. "I think…" she paused deliberately. "I would imagine it to be opportunistic considering the location. However my gut feeling says intense premeditation."

She stopped again, looking up at her senior before continuing quietly. "Did you see her face? She was stunning, a real air of natural beauty but if you look closely she had blood all around her mouth, as if someone had made her drink something, or someone had cut the inside of her mouth. And because she has no obvious injuries, it's impossible to determine how she died just from observations."

Clark nodded in agreement. "The pathologist will determine cause of death. We should be able to get rid of the body shortly. SOCO have nearly finished so we can get her out and start finding out who did this and why."

Lois ran her hands through her short dark hair, not dissimilar to the victim's. "Will they do it here, or down at the police mortuary?"

Clark shrugged his broad shoulders. He looked back into the theatre where they were beginning to move the body.

"Bit close for comfort keeping her here don't you think?"

Lois nodded, unsure of her thoughts on the matter. In a way it would be fitting to have it done here, where she worked, but Clark made a valid point. She died here, would it be safe to keep the body in a place where the murderer could still get to her in theory.

"I just don't get who would want to kill her? I mean sure she had professional adversaries, but surely their disputes wouldn't be serious enough to result in cold-blooded murder?"

"You've just got to look at her though. She's beautiful, she's successful, and she's powerful. She's in charge. Who wouldn't want a piece of that?" Clark summarised thoughtfully. "Men want to have her, and women want to be her. I've seen her around, police balls, professional dinners, that type of deathly boring function. You couldn't help but notice her wherever she went. You could tell Michael hated it, he was intensely jealous. I guess someone needs to tell him."

"I'll do it if you like" Lois offered. "I can take Kadie with me she's had FLO training in the past, she'll do until we can sort out a permanent officer to do it won't she?"