Another update from me! Thanks again to everyone who has been reading, following, favouriting or reviewing, I really appreciate it and would love a little word to know how you are finding the story so far :) This will probably be the last update before christmas, so let me wish you a happy christmas and I hope you get to enjoy it with friends, family and loved ones.
Harry groaned as he reached for his phone, silencing the shrieking alarm that had woken him. Why did the morning after the night before seem so much worse than it had done five years ago? Come to think of it, how had three glasses of wine effectively ruined him for the next 24 hours? Worst of all, he grumbled as he pulled himself from his bed and headed for the shower, loathing every step, he had volunteered to get up early so that Nikki could sleep in. Where was the justice?
The first jet of water from the shower was icy and Harry felt goose bumps all over his body as he stepped into the spray, shivering for a few seconds and letting the cold water bring him into the day. It wasn't long before the water warmed up and Harry could wash himself, letting shampoo and shower gel run down him in thick soapy rivers. Feeling a little better when he stepped out of the shower, he dried himself, his damp hair sticking up in all directions and chose something to wear; the usual black trousers and a shirt ought to do it. A few minutes later, with a coffee in hand, his thoughts drifted again to his colleague and what she would have been doing, right at that moment. No doubt she would still be tucked in her bed, still asleep, completely oblivious to the cold and damp morning that had already started outside her bedroom window. No, she would be still covered with a thick duvet, only her hair splayed across the pillow and the soft sounds of her breathing – not quite snoring, she would insist – showing any sign that anyone was in the bed at all, rather than it just being a mound of bedding…
Harry had to force the image of a sleeping Nikki out of his mind. It wouldn't do at all to be thinking about her like that.
The weather had not improved by the time Harry had finished his coffee and headed out the door, grey sky matching his bad mood about the early morning and slight hangover, and he grumbled to himself all the way to the car. Once he started the engine, he was greeted with the sound of softly-spoken news presenter on BBC Radio 4. He wondered briefly why his radio was even set to that station in the first place – of course, he remembered that Nikki had wanted to listen to that documentary about the Roman Empire last time he drove with her – before changing the station to his preferred local pop music station. It was too early for anything that required brain power anyway.
The drive was uneventful and he listened to the news as he pulled up to the university campus – continued tension in the middle east, a fire in a listed building with three people in hospital, a local cat that had chased a fox away from the owner's garden – nothing interesting to catch his attention. After parking the car, he decided to head to a nearby café on the campus to buy breakfast and, of course, the second of many coffees he could expect to enjoy that day. I really must get on to Leo about that coffee machine we talked about, he though. The instant coffee they had in the office was really not up to scratch. A few minutes later, with a bacon sandwich and coffee to-go, he entered the Lyell Centre and wasn't surprised to see Leo already there.
The two men greeted each other; "Morning Leo."
"Hi Harry. You're in early?"
"Yeah I'm going to pass Nikki's report to the detective, he should be here in another hour. I wanted to save her the early morning, she had a bit of a rough day yesterday."
"Excellent. Can you handle things here for a little while? I'm going next door, see about that research project that's going on."
"Of course. I'll call you if there are any problems."
Leo left, and Harry settled down with his sandwich, whilst casting his eyes over Nikki's report. There was nothing unexpected, from what Nikki had told him the previous day, plus her account of the post mortem was as meticulous as always. By the time his breakfast was finished, Harry was fully familiarised with the house fire case that Nikki had been working on. The victim was a female, aged in her 30s, likely cause of death was smoke inhalation, and the body was extensively damaged externally, due to the fire. From the pathologist's view, this was a fairly simple case. Fire victims always seemed to be very similar.
The idea to text Nikki to wake her up came to Harry. Grinning as he reached for his phone, he quickly typed out "Morning Nikki, enjoy your lie in, I'm not jealous at all x" and hit send. Perhaps he wouldn't have to be alone in the office for too long if she woke up, he though as he turned back to the work he had come in early to do.
He was interrupted from the report by the fax machine, which came out of standby mode and started to print the incoming fax. He rolled his chair slowly towards the machine, and was pleased to see that it was from the dentist that Nikki had contacted the previous day.
"After comparing the x-ray from the deceased with the records we have on file, I can be reasonably confident in confirming that the victim is a Mrs Melanie Cooper."
So the victim of the house fire had been one of the two people who was registered to live at the address where the fire had occurred. Not entirely surprising, thought Harry. It did beg the question about where the other occupant of the house was. And why they did not seem to care that their wife was dead. Did they even know? Harry decided to make sure to ask these questions of the police when they came by to discuss the report.
It was another half hour before the detective inspector arrived, accompanied by Andrews, the fire inspector. Harry felt a sort of jealous glee when he caught sight of Andrews, suspecting that the man had only joined the detective in order to meet with Nikki again. Sure enough – after a polite greeting, the first question Andrews asked of Harry was "Where is Dr Alexander?"
"She wasn't feeling too well last night, I'm afraid, so I offered to come in for her and present her work. She did the post mortem yesterday afternoon."
"Do we have an ID on the body?" DI Johnson asked, gruffly.
"We do," Harry replied, handing over the fax that he had recently received. "The dentist that the occupants of the house are registered with just faxed this over. Dental records seem to match the x-rays taken during the post mortem, so I think we can be safe in identifying the body as Melanie Cooper."
Johnson and Andrews both nodded, Johnson looking visibly happier that a positive identification had been made.
Harry continued: "Nikki – Dr Alexander – identified the cause of death as smoke inhalation; she has noted soot and ash deposits in the lungs, as well as an increased percentage of carboxyhaemoglobin in the blood, both of which support the theory that the victim died of smoke inhalation."
Andrews nodded in understanding, but the expression on the face of the Detective Inspector prompted him to explain further.
"When there is a house fire, there is a lot of carbon monoxide gas produced. This is what kills most people in a fire. It binds to red blood cells so that oxygen cannot bind, then the blood cannot take oxygen to the tissues. This is what causes the eventual death – if oxygen is not getting to the brain, it will shut down pretty quickly."
The DI nodded this time, appearing satisfied with the short science lesson Harry had given him.
"The burns, although deep, didn't cause too much damage to the internal organs, so it can be confirmed that the victim was largely fit and well and had no health issues that contributed to her death."
"Thank you, Dr Cunningham. Could we take a copy of the report? It's very useful, especially the identification."
Harry handed it over; Nikki had, of course, already printed two copies.
"What next?" asked Harry.
"Find the husband. He is the prime suspect at this point. We are trying to use mobile phone data to see when they were last in contact and see if we can get a location from him."
"Sounds good. I was wondering where the husband was, if I am honest."
DI Johnson nodded, and stood up making to leave the office. "Pass on our thanks to Dr Alexander, this report is some good work."
"Yes," agreed Andrews. "And I hope she is feeling better soon, it was a shame she couldn't be here."
"I'm sure she will appreciate that," replied Harry tightly, resisting the urge to hit Andrews right in his smug face. Although, when the men shook hands with Harry before leaving, Harry didn't resist the urge to squeeze Andrews hand a little harder than was perhaps necessary.
Soon after they left, Harry was feeling somewhat bored. At the time, Nikki's fire case was the only open case the three of them were working on – it was unusually quiet – so Harry had little to do that day. He could go over the notes for his upcoming court testimony for the umpteenth time, but that case had been so simple that he didn't even know why they needed his evidence in court for a conviction. A simple drink driving incident that was being dragged through the Crown Court, rather than being settled? He shook his head a little thinking about it.
On impulse, he decided to text Nikki again, try and hurry her into the office a little quicker, to keep him company.
Oi sleepyhead, I am bored, requesting your presence urgently x
He sent it quickly, hoping it didn't sound too desperate, before heading to find Leo and see if he needed any help with supervising the postgraduate research project. Hopefully, that would kill time until Nikki arrived.
However, when the two men returned to the lab over an hour later, satisfied with the progress with the research, Nikki was still not there.
"That's not like her," Leo commented, lightly.
"Hmm," agreed Harry, a slight sense of worry starting to wash over him. Leo was right; to Nikki, a late start normally meant 9am, half past at the latest. But not getting into work until midday? That was not like her at all.
Harry's phone yielded no answers, his text had not received a reply.
"I think I will ring her," he called to Leo. The older man nodded in response.
Gripping his phone tightly, he listened as a pre-recorded message informed him that the number he had called was not in service. Not in service? Trying again gave him the same result. Why would Nikki's phone be turned off? Why would anyone turn their phone off in this day and age?
"Any luck?" Leo's question interrupted Harry's thoughts.
"No, her phone is not in service," said Harry, frowning at his own phone.
"Maybe her phone ran out of battery in the night? Would explain why she's late, if her alarm didn't go off."
"Hmm, maybe." It did sound plausible to Harry's rational side, but something in his subconscious was making him worry all the same.
Leo sensed the concern in Harry's noncommittal reply.
"Look, Harry, if she's not here in half an hour, call her again, and if you still can't get hold of her, you can go to her place and see where she is. It's just a good thing we're quiet today!"
As Leo finished speaking, Harry's phone suddenly started ringing. Leo gave him a look which said "See, I told you" and retreated back to his office.
Harry answered the phone without checking the caller ID: "Nikki? Where are you?"
The answering voice was female, but it definitely wasn't Nikki.
"Erm, no. Sorry, is this Dr Harry Cunningham?"
"It is, who is speaking?" asked Harry, perplexed.
"My name is Claire Wilcox, I am one of the junior doctors at the Royal Free Hospital. I'm calling because you are listed as the emergency contact for a Dr Nicola Alexander?"
"What's wrong with Nikki?" he demanded, his voice rising and obviously worried.
"Dr Cunningham, I think it would be best if you came to the hospital right away."