Disclaimer: I don't own Law and Order: UK

A/N: Blame Buffaineto if it's no good. She made me do it!

Devlin's Law


"It's like Murphy's Law, except worse. If the worse can happen, it will and it will happen to us. Then," DS Ronnie Brooks held up a finger as his partner DS Matt Devlin, the topic of his taunting, tried to interrupt. "Then you'll use it as the perfect opportunity to find the nearest unfortunate female. That's Devlin's Law."

"I'm going to take the high road and ignore you." Devlin put his coffee down at his desk and took a seat.

"Oh Mattie boy, you can't ignore me for long, we both know that."

"He's right. It's like a bee in the car. It just keeps buzzing…" DI Natalie Chandler. The Sergeants both looked up at their boss and she nodded. "Anyway, I've got a case for you two, when you're done gossiping like women." She gave a cold smile before continuing. "Body down on the river. Uniform says a local man found it this morning. Pathologist has been and gone and apparently it's only a few hours old." She handed the case file to Brooks before walking away.

Brooks shot Devlin a grin. "Well, let's see if we can prove Devlin's Law out in the field today then?" He picked up his Styrofoam cup of coffee and left. Matt Devlin followed with a shaking head.

*

"What did the pathologist say?" Devlin asked a rather green looking PC who was looking anywhere but at the body. Matt didn't blame him. Even after such a short time in the water, the man didn't look very good. It seemed the trip to shore, which had left rocks imbedded in his pale white skin, was the highlight. Add to that the damage caused before the trip into the Thames and he looked less human and more like a large white prune shrivelled up under another cold rainy morning in England's capital. Matt pulled his cloak tighter against another flushing breeze that, even though he wore almost five layers, crept through holes he hadn't known were there and stabbed at his kidneys.

"About three AM. He says the injuries suggest he was beaten then thrown from a moving vehicle." The poor PC tried to motion to the corpse but the point was lost when he couldn't even bring himself to locate it with his eyes.

Matt let him go find a strong coffee as he returned to Brooks who was chatting with an older PC who looked a lot less green and a lot more pissed off. Trust Brooks to find the oldest guy in the place and start their morning whinge-fest earlier than necessary. "Oh, DS Devlin, PC Moroney." The older uniform nodded a hello. "Pathologist said he's been dead about six hours."

"I know, I spoke to PC…" Matt looked to try and find the PC he'd been chatting to but the young bloke was gone. "Oh, anyway, I know. Thrown from a vehicle he suspects."

PC Moroney nodded. "High speed according to some lower-leg injuries and a fractured wrist. He was definitely unconscious by this stage because it seems he just tumbled into the water without a fight. Won't be sure until the autopsy, but the doc said there was signs of water in his lungs. Classic case of drowning."

"Yeah, but the unconscious river-toss isn't. Cheers Brian." PC Moroney wandered off as Brooks grinned back at Devlin. "We've got on-lookers and you get to talk to some of them."

"If you say 'the nearest female'…" Matt started to warn.

Brooks held up a finger. "Sort of, but calm down Mattie-boy, it's not personal. Brian said there was an older woman seen around here earlier, just wandering along the shoreline, kinda looking." Matt nodded. "Well, she's returned." He motioned behind him to a 40-something woman with blonde hair. She was watching on from a distance, anxiously staring although unable to see the body itself. "Have fun." Brooks tapped Matt's back and walked away.

With a small growl at Brooks, Devlin walked towards the woman. "Hi, excuse me." The woman looked up and Matt smiled. "You were here earlier?" The woman nodded. "Can I talk to you then?" She nodded again. "Can I get your name? I'm DS Devlin." He flipped open his warrant card and the woman's eyes skimmed it before nodding.

"Eva Reucastle." The woman fidgeted. "Who is it?"

"We don't know yet. Do you have any ideas?" Matt asked. She shook her head resolutely, but he didn't entirely believe her. "Is there anything you can tell me?"

She frowned. "I'm sorry, I'm just a sticky-beak, I shouldn't be here." Then, turning, she rushed away. Matt had no grounds to go after her so could only watch her go. He looked to the others to see if any of them seemed to know her, but the rest of the onlookers had ignored her completely. With a shrug Matt returned to Brooks. "Tell the lab to run the name Reucastle on him." Matt handed Brooks a slip of paper. "I'm going to talk to the rest of the witnesses." Brooks just glanced at the paper with a shrug before passing it on.

*

"Over there!" Matt looked up from his pad as a voice called out. He'd been collecting statements for the last twenty minutes with no decent leads turning up anywhere. No one in the crowd had seen anything or suspected anything. None of them knew anyone named Reucastle. Most couldn't even recall the woman that had once stood with them. They were reaching a dead end quick, one that looked likely to remain solid until the lab could get DNA results and a post-mortem done. It was this waiting part that Matt hated most. "What is she doing?"

Matt's eyes followed the yells and points of the onlookers to where a dark green Vauxhall stood parked on the curb, facing the river below. And the driver behind the wheel was none other than Eva Reucastle. Dropping his notebook and yelling for some of the nearby PCs, Matt raced towards the car. "Ms. Reucastle?" The woman looked up at the cries and wound down the passenger side window so Matt could see her better. "What are you doing Ms. Reucastle?"

"It's him isn't it?" Matt frowned. "It's him. Cameron. My husband."

"Who Mrs. Reucastle? What has Cameron done?"

"Your body, it's him isn't it? It's Cameron. I've killed him." She cried harder and Matt took the chance to move closer to the car, his stomach now just in front of the side mirror. "Don't!" Mrs. Reucastle moved the car forward an inch and the side mirror thumped into Matt and he was forced to take a step back. "Come any closer and I'll drive in."

"Mrs. Reucastle, I just want to know what happened. What do you mean you've killed him?"

"I killed him! Isn't that obvious? He's dead because I killed him!"

"Mrs. Reucastle, we suspect your husband drowned." She stopped crying, stunned. "He was alive when he went into the river, but he was unconscious."

"He was alive? I thought… I thought he was already dead?"

Matt sighed. "Tell me everything Mrs. Reucastle. What happened to him?"

"I pushed him. I didn't mean to but he was grabbing me. Grabbing my arm and hurting me. I pushed him away and he fell back, fell down the stairs. The stairs at the front of our unit. They're concrete. He was bleeding from the head, I thought he was dead so I, I came here in the car and pushed him into the river. I saw it on The Bill. I've seen it done. I just thought it would be over then."

Matt tried to get his head around the admission of murder. "He was hurting you?" She nodded. "Then it was self-defence." He knew murder would stick, the dumping part was proof to that, but any ways of getting her from throwing herself into the drink after her husband was a good idea. "He was abusive was he?" She nodded again. "You can tell the CPS that. They'll take that into account." She sobbed. "Mrs. Reucastle, you were pushed into a corner by a violent man and you tried to protect yourself. Come with me and I'll sort it out." He leant into the window, thinking he was home safe, but it was premature as she pressed down on the accelerator and the car shot forward, spinning Matt who was half-inside the window. He fell to the ground and heard a sickening crack, looking down at the hand he'd used to cushion the fall. He'd broken a finger. And it hurt like hell. But it all came second to the sound that followed. A large splash. Mrs. Reucastle had driven herself in. Without thinking, Matt jumped in after her, adrenalin causing the pain in his finger to go away. He swam with his eyes open despite the burning of pollution, and saw the car ahead of him, sinking quickly. He swam faster; thankful the passenger window was still open. Mrs. Reucastle was inside, thrashing as she tried to undo her seatbelt. She'd clearly re-thought the suicide halfway through. Matt wouldn't be sure later what happened because it was all over in seconds, but one second he was going through the window, the next he was back out again, dragging Mrs. Reucastle with him. They reached the surface where two PCs stood on the gravel waiting with towels. They waded in and met Matt halfway, gathering the now coughing and spluttering Mrs. Reucastle and leading her away to a nearby police car. Brooks joined Matt as he bent over catching his breath, his wet shirt clinging to him and his shoes heavy with the weight of the water in them.

"There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity Mattie-boy." Matt looked up, expecting a lecture. But Brooks was grinning. "That was most certainly bravery." He held out his jacket. "Take this before you get pneumonia."

Tugging off his wet shirt, Matt took the jacket, but not before his shirtless torso was appreciated by a wolf-whistle from the crowd. Matt blushed and pulled on the jacket quickly, zipping it up tight against the wind. "Cheers."

"We should get you back to the station." Brooks grabbed another towel from a nearby PC and threw it at Matt who caught it happily, rubbing his hair with it. "So you can beautify yourself for the witness statements."

"Ha ha." Matt muttered, his teeth chattering. He'd completely forgotten about the finger. "Oh, and the broken finger."

"Oooh, a war wound, that will go down well with the ladies." Brooks teased. "You better get to the hospital then."

"I'll be fine. Station."

"Well, if you're not going to listen to me you can just stay here and prove my theory correct." Brooks grinned.

Devlin frowned. "What?"

"I said 'you can just stay here and collect… witness statements.' Yeah, that's what I said."

Devlin shook his head. "That's not what you said."

Brooks gave a grin and a shrug. "What can I say Mattie boy? Devlin's Law… it's a proven." Then, giving one last triumphant grin, Brooks turned and walked away from the shivering DS.