Disclaimer: I own no rights to Silent Witness or any other the characters. It all belongs to the BBC
Author's note: This is in no way connected to 'Stray' this is just an idea that came to me when I was listening to my 'Phantom of the opera' CD
Prologue
"Hello my pretty" the voice was there again, she tried to place the source of the voce but it was pitch black and her senses were blinded
"Who's a pretty girl" it hissed in her ear and she tried to resist the urge to vomit as the rising sick built in her throat. She shook her head wildly but this just made the voice cackle
"I'll always be here my pretty, and you'll never get rid of me. Wherever you go and whatever you do I'll be there and don't you forget it. Your brother tried to get rid of me and look what happened to him" the voice was teasing her now, toying with her mind
"I'm always here" the laughter was getting louder and it was almost deafening "I'm always watching you…"
The blackness crept over her again and she succumbed to it
"Let the games begin my pretty and remember the rules have changed…"
"Doctor Alexander, home office pathologist" Nikki flashed her badge at the young police officer who nodded curtly and held up the cordon tape for her to duck under. She surveyed the scene she had entered; Nikki was standing in a fairly large park, there was a large white tent in the middle and around it were police officers running backwards and forwards.
"Bloody chaos isn't it" a voice came from her left and she turned to see a middle aged man in a suit sighing loudly "They just don't make officers like they used to. I'm Detective Tom Matthews" he introduced himself with a smile
"Nikki Alexander, forensic pathologist" she said
"You'll be wanting to see the body" he said motioning towards the tent "It's not a pretty sight I can tell you that"
"I'm sure I'll cope" she smiled
"Rather you than me, I can hardly watch an episode of casualty without hiding behind the sofa" he said sheepishly
"And yet you join the murder squad" she teased, Nikki liked this detective, he seemed kind enough and didn't have the attitude problem that half of the metropolitan police force seemed to have
"Touché" he smiled as they both grabbed plastic suits to cover themselves up before they entered
"So what happened here" Nikki said pulling the zip up on hers
"Early morning dog walkers found them…."
"…There's two" Nikki interrupted "But you said 'body' as in singular"
"There were two" Matthews nodded "The dog walker found the pair of them, a young girl and a boy, lying naked in the middle of the field, legs and arms bound. He called an ambulance and one was pronounced dead and the other one was barely alive. They've taken her to hospital but it's not looking good"
"Do we have any identification yet?" Nikki said grimacing at the tale of events she had just heard
Matthews shook his head "The girl was unconscious and neither of them had anything on them" he said as they made their way into the tent
Nikki winced when she saw the body; it was a young boy barely recognisable from the cuts and bruising all across his body. His neck was at a ninety degree angle and Nikki could see various points of trauma across his body. His bare skin was stained in his blood and she could see parts of bone breaking through the skin
"Poor lad" the detective sighed "The girl wasn't in a healthy state either. She was barely alive when the paramedics found her"
Nikki shook her head "Who could do something like this"
"Exactly the question we want to know" he sighed "There's something else you ought to see" he said leading her to the body
As Nikki drew closer she could see the dried blood on the boy's chest had actually formed to make a pattern
"What is that?" Nikki asked out loud, she crouched down and in a gloved hand examined the chest more closely. On closer inspection the chest had been burned and the crusted blood had congealed around the wound
"He's been branded" she said looking shocked, the detective nodded sadly "Memento mori" she read out loud
"How's your Latin?" he asked her but she shook her head "Memento mori" he said "Remember you will die…"
Author's note: How's that for a first chapter? Should I carry on?
