Chapter One

*Knock knock*

Meh. Helena pulled her pillow over her head, covering her ears. She violently flopped her body onto her other side, hoping the knocking would magically stop.

*Knock knock*

Her jaw clenched as her eyes shot open. 'This better be good.' She thought annoyingly. She sat up on the edge of the bed, slipping her feet into her tattered pink bunny slippers. She stalked to the door, looked out the peep hole and upon seeing her visitors, stood up straighter and forced a smile.

*Knock knock*

"Hello?" Helena asks in a raspy voice as she opens the door. "Can I help you?"

"Hello. I am Detective Inspector Lestrade, this is my partner Sergeant Donnovan." He looks down at his notes, "is this the residence of Miss Helena Wells ?"

"Yes.." she eyes the pair cautiously, unsure of what is going on. She knows she's far to clever for them to be here for her. "I am Helena. What is this about?"

It took a lot of work to find you, which is why it took us so long to come see you. I have bad news I'm afraid, early last night your foster brother, Benjamin Cummings, was found dead. You are listed as his emergency contact." Her jaw slacked open and her eyes swelled in fear.

"No! No, it has to be a mistake! How!?" She pleaded. D.I. Donnovan placed her hand on Helena's shoulder to comfort her, but she jerked away. Completely shocked, Helena was incapable of keeping her calm façade that she usually displayed.

"May we come in? We need to ask some questions." Donnovan asked politely. Helena gestured them in and shut the door. "Miss. Wells, we are very sorry for your loss. It appears that Mr. Cummings committed suicide."

"What? That's not possible." She felt the world land on her shoulders. Exhaling heavily. "Ben and I talked just last night. Ben wouldn't do that." Helena feebly phrased together.

"What time did you and Ben," Lestrade says gingerly, as if testing the water, "talk last night?"

Helena raised from her seat and walked over to her breakfast bar to grab her phone. Doing well to keep herself from falling apart, she scrolled to her recent calls list. " He called me at 4:47pm and we hung up at… 5:23pm."

"How did Ben seem when you talked last night?" The way Donnovan said his name felt like acid flicking off of her tongue, to Helena. It felt cold. She's used to cold, but not for Ben. Ben is everything warm. 'Ben was.. everything warm' she thought to herself. " Did Ben give you any idea he planned his death?"

"No. What are you implying there?" Helena spat out, uncaring of the way she sounds to the inspectors.

"What Sergeant Donnovan means is: Was there any indication that something was off during your call? Was he sad? Was he incoherent maybe? Anything out of the ordinary?" Lestrade smoothed over as best he could.

"He was happy. Not just happy, ecstatic. We were talking like we always do, he was sorting his notes, suddenly he shouts ' Blimey I've got it! I found it! I have to go, Hel. I just figured out my story!' and then we hurriedly said goodbye. He was so excited. He gets like that over his articles." She wiped a tear from her eye before she thought anyone could see it.

"Do you have any idea why your brother may have taken the tube?" Lestrade coaxed.

"He didn't drive. He said that anything he needed was a tube ride away. I think he liked the interaction." She sighed. "Why?"

"His body was found in a bathroom in the station. He was found hanged from a support beam." He offered mildly.

"That isn't possible, he was so excited, he had no reason to kill himself. He was a happy man, even as kids, he always saw the bright side." Composing herself, she put her head in her hands for a moment. "What did your coroner find? Were their findings congruent with suicide?"

Lestrade sighed, sitting further back in his chair. "Originally, everything looked in order. However, a consulting detective happened upon his body in the morgue and found evidence to suggest otherwise.."

"Ben was murdered? When was he found?" She attempted to grasp the concept of her little brother being harmed.

"Around 5:45. Given the light you've shed on his earlier actions, I'd guess that he made it from his residence to the tube between the time of your phone call and the discovery of his body, and was murdered soon after arriving…. I know this is a difficult thing to ask Miss. Wells, but would you please come to St. Bart's with us to identify the body."

"Yes, of course." She spoke listlessly.