It was a bright, clear Monday morning; the sun was gleaming on the dewy grass, and Harry Cunningham was late.
Extremely late – beyond standard 'traffic excuse' late. The sort of late that can only be justified by distant bereavement or car breakdowns.
In short, the kind of late that calls for a truly brilliant excuse. Luckily, Harry had just such an excuse at his disposal, carefully honed on the journey over.
Its principal focus was on a power failure in his car park, which had led to an inability to pass through the barriers until the engineers arrived.
However, he had decided that this alone did not account for the – he checked his watch and groaned – fifty-three minute delay in his arrival at work, and had compounded this original factor with the revelation of a jack-knifed lorry in the road.
This, he felt, might suitably qualify for such terrible lateness, and excuse him from a verbal beating from his superior once he arrived in the office.
*****
He made a show of jogging swiftly from the car park at the Lab, just in case Leo had his eye on the CCTV, and arrived at his desk affecting just the right amount of wheezing and penitence. He was just relaxing into his seat when a voice behind him caught him off guard.
'So nice of you to join us, Harry.'
Leo stepped out from the doorway of his office, from where he'd been observing Harry's elaborate show. Harry winced in preparation for the blow.
'Had a nice lie in did you?'
Harry turned and prepared to launch into his now well-practiced explanation. 'No no no, you see, there was this powercut and my car...'
Leo silenced him with a wave of the papers in his right hand.
'I don't have time. I'll hear your ingenious excuse later, of course, but right now I need you and Nikki to do me a favour'.
Harry felt he had been in some way wrong-footed, and tried again. 'No, but, there was this lorry, and it was in the middle of the road...' he spluttered.
Leo raised an eyebrow. 'Could you please just go and fetch Nikki? And quickly, please' he said tersely.
Harry stood confused for a moment, then made an awkward little nod and turned away, feeling he'd rather dodged the bullet on that one.
His boss, meanwhile, shook his head exasperatedly and made a mental note to buy Harry a particularly noisy and obnoxious alarm clock for his next birthday.
*****
Harry eventually managed to locate Nikki in the changing room.
He took full advantage of her positioning with her back towards the door, and quietly crept up behind her, placing his hands over her eyes.
'Guess who?' he whispered.
'Someone in desperate need of a functioning watch?' came her tart reply.
Harry frowned as she swivelled round on the bench.
'You know,' she continued, lacing up her brogue heels absent-mindedly, 'I think you might even have set a record today. Never in the history of this department has anyone been so late. It's medal-worthy. I trust you have a suitable excuse?
''Of course.' he retorted, seating himself on the opposite bench.
'Many. I had the incredible misfortune not only to encounter not only a disastrous powercut leaving me almost completely marooned, but also a stranded truck causing me even further delay and upset. The whole experience has been extremely traumatising.'
Nikki nodded, progressing to lacing the other shoe in silence. She paused.
'And the truth?'.
Harry smiled and sighed.
'Had some friends over, got pissed, and fell asleep in the bath.'
Nikki smiled, looking him dead in the eye. 'Have I ever told you you're the classiest man I know?'
*****
Ten minutes later the three were once again convened in Leo's office.
Harry wasn't sure whether it was Leo's low gaze or the dark advancing clouds outside but he had a horrible premonition that this wasn't just a normal departmental meeting.
Leo sat back in his chair and fixed them in a stare.
'How would the two of you like to go on a little escapade?' opened Leo, with false cheer.
Harry and Nikki exchanged glances.
'An escapade?' enquired Nikki, furrowing her brow.
'Yes, a little trip. The two of you have been posted to a case down in Devon'. There was a pause.
The pathologists were a little confused – their boss seemed to be unusually reticent about details.
Harry raised his hand, like a small child in a classroom. 'Sorry, Doctor Dalton, what do you mean, 'posted'?'
'Well' Leo shifted in his seat slightly 'the Department down there's a little stretched at the moment, so I offered our.. well, your services to help them out for a bit. It's been quiet since you finished the Mortimer case and I felt we could lend a hand'.
Nikki looked up – Leo's tone was unconvincing, suggesting an ulterior motive.
'Leo, what's going on? Are you sending us away?' she asked, confused.
Leo shook his head, looking withdrawn. 'No, no, it's nothing like that...'
'Then tell us!'.
For a moment, Leo looked pensive, even dejected, but eventually he roused himself a little and leant forwards over the desk.
'Look, I don't want to lie to you.. they asked me for help on this case but due to unforeseen circumstances I'm unable to lend my services'
'So either you know the victim or the suspect?' Harry interjected.
Leo sighed and picked up a brown folder, passing it to the two Pathologists.
'Steve Hebden, 26, Accountant from Totnes. Went missing two days ago. He was found late last night, and well.. you can see from the photo what kind of a state he's in.'
Nikki glanced at the accompanying picture and winced.
'Severe mutilation. Based on the severity of the attack, the police suspect there may have been as many as three separate attackers, as the initial evidence shows that all the majority damage was done within a ten-minute timeframe.'
Harry perused the notes carefully, briefly referencing the photo.
'We'll take the case, of course. But this doesn't explain why you're passing it onto us'.
Leo inhaled slowly before speaking.
'He's my godson.'
Nikki took his hand 'Oh Leo, I'm so sorry. Were you close?'.
Leo nodded. 'His Dad was my best man.. I've known him since he was this high' he said, motioning.
He tried to compose himself, taking a deep breath.
'His dad died back in 2000 - heart attack, very sudden.. I helped Steve through it, doing my godfatherly duty, you know. He was such a lovely kid.'
He choked, and his eyes filled with tears.
'When they called last night I.. I couldn't believe it.'
Harry leant across the desk and grasped Leo's shoulder. 'Nikki and I will do our very best on this case. I promise, we'll find out what happened'. Leo placed a hand on Harry's outstretched arm and nodded in gratitude, unable to speak.
This is my first ever fanfiction.. well, really my first proper foray into creative writing. So please be as critical as you can be (within reason ofc). I've written a plot outline for the rest of this, but having read a fair few others I know that feedback can impact heavily on the writing process so it's still a pretty fluid storyline. Will be getting some nice Harry/Nikki bits in later, but I have to admit I'm going to really focus on preserving their banter. Thanks very much for reading! L xx