Henrik Hanssen watched as Serena Campbell took a seat at the oval table, glancing up at the projector as she did. She seemed frazzled, nervous even. He continued to observe her for a few seconds before Professor Elliot Hope drew his attention back to the screen of the projector.

"Glad you could make it, Ms Campbell," Elliot welcomed her warmly before continuing with his presentation on the pioneering work from Hertzig device that he had created.

Serena was obviously not paying attention. She was fidgeting and unable to sit still. Henrik could sense the nervous tension coming off of her body and clearly so could Michael Spence who was sitting beside her.

"Everything okay?" He whispered and received a quick nod from the woman in question.

Henrik was glad to see the two of them were getting along. He had had his reservations as to whether they would ever be able to settle their differences.

There was a knock at the door and Elliot paused, watching as Chantelle Lane poked her head into the room. "I'm so sorry to interrupt," she said sweetly. "Ms Campbell, the police are here to take your statement," she said, looking a bit confused as to why they needed to speak with her.

Serena just nodded and excused herself from the room as quickly as possible without making eye contact with anyone.

"What the hell was that about?" Michael asked as soon as the door was closed.

Serena took a step back, relieved the police had left and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes for a few seconds. They felt heavy and were stinging, as though she'd been up all night. Technically, she had been. She could fall asleep right there if not for the tight knot in her stomach. She actually felt physically sick.

"Ms Campbell?" Jac Naylor approached from the staircase.

She nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Sorry," Jac quickly apologized, slightly taken aback. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, no," Serena managed to croak. "I'm just a little jumpy today."

"Is everything alright?" She came to stand in front of the older woman.

"Everything's fine," Serena answered with a tight smile.

"So that whole drama with the police this morning was nothing?" Jac asked with some sarcasm in her tone.

"Absolutely," Serena answered, masking her expression.

"Okay," Jac nodded, clearly not buying it.

"I'm needed on AAU," Serena said, turning to leave.

"If you're sure you're okay," Jac watched her head up the stairs. There was clearly something very wrong. The woman was as tough as nails, but she couldn't hide her anxiety. Or her blood shot eyes. Either she had had a long booze filled night or something had happened. She felt the urge to find out. Contrary to what she had heard about Serena, she had only ever been kind and gracious to her.

Michael waved Serena over as she stepped onto the AAU. "I need a second opinion," he said.

She was happy to be distracted and immediately headed over to him.

"Mr Anderson here," Michael motioned towards the short little man sitting on the stretcher. He had pinched, almost rat like features and was heavily tattooed with piercings. "Says he experienced severe stomach cramps – to the point where we thought it might be appendicitis but it appears to have disappeared. I'm trying to get him to go for a scan in any case but he claims there's no point. Would you please help me explain to him that if it is in fact appendicitis, that it is extremely important to get it checked out?"

"It's important," Serena replied, looking at the man. She was a bit disappointed by the simplicity of the case. "If your appendix bursts, you could die."

"I'm fine now, thank you, Ms Campbell," the man answered, his eyes fixed on her.

Serena felt her blood run cold and had to physically restrain herself from backing away from the patient. "How do you know my name?"

"Can we speak privately?"

"Uh, no," Michael interrupted. "You came in here because of an emergency and I am your doctor today."

"I really think you should hear what I have to say," he looked at Serena who nodded in agreement.

"It's okay, Michael," she said.

"Serena, he's my patient."

"Michael," Serena said. "It's fine."

Michael observed her for a second before returning to the nurses' station, watching them closely.

"Who are you really?" Serena turned her attention back to the man in front of her.

"Let's just say I'm the messenger," he whispered. "Adelaide wanted me to tell you that he's been thinking of you and your friend; James Williams."

"How nice for him," she said sarcastically.

"He's had thirteen years to think of you," the man ignored her. "And nothing else. He wanted me to tell you that he's coming to see you."

"Am I supposed to be surprised?"

"I don't know what you did to him, but he is mad as hell," the man got to his feet and leaned in as close as he could to her. "If I were you, I'd be afraid."

"Hey," Michael called to him. "Back up."

The man lifted his hands in defense and smirked as he strolled to the exit.

Serena just stood there watching him disappear through the doors.

"What was that about?" Michael came to stand beside her.

"It was nothing."

"It didn't look like nothing. And what was with the police this morning?"

"My neighbours had a break in," she lied.

"And the police had to make a special trip to come and see you for that?"

"I heard noises and they needed my statement," she watched the suspicious look in Michael's face.

"Right," he said.

Serena had worked through lunch. Her stomach couldn't handle any food. She feared if she consumed anything, she would end up bringing it back up within seconds. Her hands were trembling slightly and she felt light headed, but kept putting it down to stress.

"Ms Campbell," Henrik Hanssen joined her at the nurses' station where she was updating one of her patient's files.

"Mr Hanssen," she greeted, glancing up at the man and then finishing writing her thoughts on the paperwork.

"I haven't had a response to my earlier email," he said, watching her frown.

"I'm sorry?"

"The email regarding the surgeon's conference?"

"I haven't checked in a while," she answered with a hint of irritation.

"I do require an answer. I've been requested to send the names of everyone attending by the end of office hours today."

Serena dropped her pen and looked up at the tall Swede. "Where is it and when?"

"In three days time and it's in Glasgow."

"That's too short notice," she answered without even thinking it over.

"I'm not sure whether anyone else can go and we do need someone representing Holby there."

"Well, I can't go," she tossed the patient's file onto the stack of other folders.

"Ms Campbell?" A nurse called from the other side of the station.

"What?" She heard herself snap.

The nurse flinched. "Uh, there's a phone call for you from St James."

"Okay, thank you," she said, giving her an apologetic smile.

Hanssen watched her take the phone and answer. He wasn't finished with her yet, so he waited patiently for her to finish, wondering what St James would be calling her for? Hopefully not to offer her a job. As tough as she could be, she was a great asset to Holby City.

"What?" He heard her whisper, noticing her body tense up even more. She fell silent. Moving very slowly around the station, he tried to get a look at her. All the blood had drained out of her face and she looked quite ill. "Thank you," she said as she replaced the receiver.

"Ms Campbell, are you feeling alright?" Hanssen heard himself ask, moving closer towards her. She didn't answer, just clung onto the counter with one hand and leaned against the wall with the other. She suddenly turned and headed towards the store room. She didn't even bother to close the door entirely, she didn't have the energy to do it. Instead she reached out and held the cupboard to steady herself. She felt as though someone had physically pulled the rug out from underneath her and that she was falling.

"Ms Campbell?" Hanssen stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. He was aware of the connotations that came with being alone in a darkened storage room with another member of staff, but at that moment, he was more concerned for Serena's well being. He had never seen her look that pale before. "Is something the matter?" He asked, moving closer to her.

"James Williams is dead," she heard herself say and the thought made her want to be sick.

Hanssen had heard that name before. He was a general consultant at St James and he was certain he had heard that the man had worked in America for a few years before returning to the UK. "You worked together?" He asked, but had already gathered as much.

Serena nodded.

"I'm sorry," he replied gently. "How did he die?"

"He was murdered," she answered. The word tasted bitter in her mouth.

"Murdered?" Hanssen said with surprise.

"Yes, that's what I said," she snapped.

Hanssen wasn't sure why the staff at St James had felt Serena needed to know about the untimely demise of Mr Williams, but it had obviously rattled her. "If you need to take the rest of the day off, I'm sure Mr Spence and Mr Levy can cover for you."

"I don't need the day off," she answered, turning to face him. "All I need is . . . to get back to work."

Hanssen could tell by the look on her face that there was something much deeper, but he decided it was not his place to press her for information. "If you change your mind," he said gently. "You are more than welcome to do as I suggested."

"Thank you," she smiled, brushing passed him.

"Ms Campbell?" He called just as she opened the door. "Does this have anything to do with the visit from the police this morning?"

She observed him for a moment before answering. "The hospital is covered," she answered. "Don't worry."

"I'm asking out of concern for you," he said sincerely.

"I need to get back to work," she turned around, leaving him in the dark.

The rest of the day had passed as quickly as it had started. Serena had barely had time to come up for air. She didn't want to think of James. The staff nurse at St James had said that he had been strangled in his garden. She couldn't help but wonder if that had taken place before or after Adelaide King had killed her cat and left its mutilated body outside her front door with an arrow written in its blood pointing to her house. The police had taken the threat seriously, but she hadn't mentioned Adelaide. Up until she had met his little 'friend' she wasn't even entirely sure that he had had anything to do with it.

She stepped out into the cold midnight air, thanking her lucky stars that her daughter was in Canada with her grandparents. She wouldn't be able to hide her concerns from Eleanor.

She started making her way to her car which she had parked towards the back of the car park seeing as Michael Spence had stolen her parking space. Her heels crunched on the frosty patches that had formed.

Reaching her car, she pressed a button to unlock it and tossed her handbag into the passenger seat, still deep in thought as she climbed into the driver's seat. She sat still for a moment, trying to remember the last time she had spoken to James. It must have been nearly five years ago. They had always gotten along famously, but work and their personal lives had caused them to grow apart. She could still remember how hard he had laughed when she had told him she was moving back to the United Kingdom. He had said she would find it difficult to go back to working within the NHS. He had been right. She reached around for her seat belt, pulling it over and clipping it into place before turning the key in the ignition.

"Ms Campbell," came a deep voice from the back seat.

Serena froze, glancing into the rearview mirror.

"Aren't you going to say hello?" The voice hissed.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered.

"I'm here to destroy you like you did me," he said as he reached forward, wrapping his hands around her throat and squeezing as tight as he could.

Serena felt her throat close and tried desperately to pull his hands away from her, to no avail. He was much stronger than she was. She could feel her vision start to blur and reached down to press the horn of the car, desperately trying to draw attention to them. She could feel darkness start to take cold of her as she struggled to breathe. Pressing down on the clutch, she shifted the gear into drive and stomped down on the gas as hard as she could.

Henrik Hanssen had finally finished for the day. He stepped out into the cold air just as Antoine Malik did. "Mr Malik," he greeted.

"Mr Hanssen. Heading home?"

"Absolutely. It's been a long day. How have you been managing on Kellar?"

"We're a little short staffed, but not too badly. We had a bit of an interesting case today."

"Oh?" Hanssen turned to look at him.

"Yeah, there was this . . ." Malik paused as he heard a loud screech of tires and noticed a car race passed, heading straight for the security booth. He watched helplessly as the car ploughed head first, smashing into the concrete wall. "Oh my god."

Hanssen dropped his brief case and was running at full speed along with Malik to the car. The front of the vehicle had been smashed in and the windscreen was shattered. He pulled the door open, shoving the air bag aside before pausing as he realized who was in the car. "Mr Malik!" He called. "Get a stretcher!" He reached down to hold Serena's head still. She was not moving and blood was gushing from her head.

"Serena!" Malik called, watching in horror as her blood poured over Hanssen's bare hands.

"Stretcher!" Hanssen called as a group assembled to gawk at the accident. As Malik ran to get help, Hanssen could have sworn he heard movement at the back of the vehicle, but his focus was on Serena. Little did he know that the devil was escaping.