Chapter Three: I Know What You Did Last Friday

It was Friday night, the end of another working week. London bustled with people going out to clubs, partying the night aware. Drinks were being poured, drugs taken and people bumped up against each other in a noisy dark room in an attempt at dancing. However, for the Lyell Centre team, partying was the thing furthest from their minds. Clarissa, Jack and Nikki had all said a gloomy farewell to each other that evening after their respective shifts had ended. The empty promises to meet up and go for drinks long forgotten. The grief too fresh in their hearts to brave Friday night in London as the part atmosphere seemed to just mock their pain.

Nikki tossed and turned in bed that night. Sleep was elusive yet again and her restless slumber was plagued by nightmares. Or rather The Nightmare. It was only the one nightmare constantly replaying in her head, seeing Leo so full of life, then Leo moving away from them, telling her to stay back just before he…

The phone rang and Nikki started in fright. Groping for her phone, she swore as her hand knocked over the glass of water that had rested precariously on her bedside table and had now spilled its contents all over her duvet. She mumbled into the receiver as her brain tried to take in all the information about the crime scene she was being called to.

Pushing back the wet duvet she internally hissed as her feet touched the cold floor. Shuffling around her room, trying to find some clothes, she glanced over at her clock. The digits lowed back at her, almost mocking her lack of sleep.

1:31am

Nikki wasn't sure whether the nightmare was in her dreams or her waking life anymore, but she struggled on anyhow. Pulling a thick warm hoody over her head, her brain slowly slipped into pathologist mode. The mental gears in her mind were wiring over the details she had been given, the sorrow in her heart temporarily muted, but she knew it would be back. It always came back.

Jack slumped down in the changing rooms of the MMA gym he trained out. Spitting out his mouth guard he rested his head against the wall breathing in the smell of the gym; a pungent smell of sweat and rubber from the gloves and mouthpiece he wore for the fights. It was so familiar to him and oddly soothing.

He had won this time. Just. He raised his hand to his head and felt a warm sticky substance at his left temple. A quick glance in the mirror showed him the results of his pyric victory. A new laceration to add to his ever increasing collection. Still he had won that fight and that was all that mattered. He had shown the others how tough he was and he had gotten the release he was so craving. It was all he ever fought for. Nothing was going to change that.

Endorphins flowed through his body allowing the pent up anguish to be released. A sense of calm flowed through his body and for a moment he was at peace. The chemicals in his body were soothing the minor injuries he had sustained. The sorrow in his heart temporarily muted, but he knew it would be back. It always came back.

Clarissa pulled another heavy textbook towards her and softly sighed as she breathed in the scent as she breathed in the reassuring smell of the books. Scanning the pages, she attempted to take in the information she was reading. This was her safety zone; science was so familiar and comforting to her. In a world of chaos and uncertainty, science showed her there were patterns and meaning to even this most entropic of circumstances.

She froze as she turned over the page. It was about the Oak Processionary Moth, and Clarissa was immediately transported back to her first meeting with Leo. They had gotten off to a shaky start but had soon bonded. Both respected the other in terms of intellect and moral standing.

Clarissa pushed the book to one side. It was too painful right now. She turned to another textbook and immersed herself in its contents. The sorrow in her heart temporarily muted, but she knew it would be back. It always came back.

Nikki slowly drove up the dark country lane, thankful for glow of headlights from the entourage of emergency services vehicles that lay up ahead. As she was directed to the makeshift parking area she started to survey the scene.

From what she could mark out in the gloom she was on a winding country lane surround by fields and woodland. The air was damp with the smell of the rain that had fallen earlier and water pattered softly to the ground as it ran off the tree branches. A pungent mixture of wet earth and tarmac filled the air. A cow lowed gently, to the left of her and Nikki assumed some of the fields were owned by farmers. Agriculture felt so foreign to her and she wished Jack was there to help her. His time spent in Yorkshire had given him a fairly in-depth knowledge of farms and how to deal with farmers, although most of his anecdotes seemed to revolve around recollections of falling in mud and animal faeces.

She pulled her kit out of the boot of the car and attempted to get into the white forensic suit. It took three attempts before she managed to get her legs in the right holes and she cursed her lack of sleep for impairing her coordination. Nikki walked up to the cordon and flashed her badge at the office guarding the tape and was immediately directed to a smartly dressed woman whom Nikki assumed was the detective assigned to the case.

"DI Rachel Harris," the woman said extending her hand

"Doctor Nikki Alexander," Nikki nodded "Pathologist,"

"Sorry to have to call you out at this time. We think it's an open and shut case. Probably just a drunk that went too far tonight, there's a pub ten minutes down the road after all, but we have to follow protocols" Rachel shrugged as a way of apologising

"It's fine," Nikki said softly, shrugging off the detective's apology.

Attending a crime scene in the early hours of a wet and gloomy morning was better than trying to sleep. She could keep her mind focused this way. She didn't have to remember…

"I heard about Professor Dalton," Rachel said awkwardly as they walked up the road "I'm sorry. He was a good man and he'll be missed,"

Nikki nodded trying to swallow back her tears "The body?" she asked, changing the subject as she felt the tears well up in her eyes

Rachel nodded to an area where the woodland met the road "A local farmer came across him as he was coming down to check on one of his pregnant cows," the detective pointed over at the body.

Nikki moved over and crouched down before the corpse. The victim was a male, she estimated him to be in his late twenties. His wet brown hair was stuck against his forehead and his blue eyes stared back at her, although they would never see anything again. Examining it closely, she sighed as she came across a stab wound in the centre of the chest.

"What are you thinking so far?" Rachel asked, clearly eager for information

"I won't know anything conclusively until after the post-mortem," Nikki said giving the official pathologist line "But the stab wound seems consistent with a knife wound," she said examining the wound closer

"Do you think that's what killed him?"

"Possibly, though I won't know for certain until I open him up. But at this stage its certain a very strong possibility," Nikki replied as the Detective scribbled down the speculative information in a notebook "Do you know if anyone else apart from the farmer disturbed the scene?" Nikki asked suddenly

"Not that I know of," Rachel frowned "Why do you ask?"

Nikki moved the victim's arm slightly and pointed to the ground underneath him. Rachel crouched down next to her. On the ground lay a smooth piece of glass in a rut in the ground.

"That looks like a footprint to me," Nikki said pointing at the shallow rut

"What's the glass?" Rachel turned to Nikki who shrugged in response "I'd better get forensics down here. Looks like this one isn't as quite as simple as we thought,"

Nikki stood up and stretched her aching back as she smirked at the thought that Jack would soon be drawn out of his warm bed to join her in the damp morning. She was also, though she would never admit it, glad for the presence of his familiar company. However, her spirits were soon dampened when she skidded in the freshly deposited cow faeces that sporadically lined the lane.

"I knew you couldn't get enough of me," Jack grinned when he finally arrived "Is that why you dragged me out of bed to get me into a secluded wooded area so you could be alone with me. Doctor Alexander, I never took you for that type!"

Nikki could tell he'd been cage-fighting by the bruising on his face. She disapproved of course, as a Doctor, but she supposed everyone had to deal with grief in their own way. Goodness knows she'd spent many an evening staring down at the bottom of an empty wine bottle, so she wasn't going to judge.

"Very funny," Nikki said sarcastically "Can we get on, please?"

He mock saluted her as she led him towards the body. Jack noticed a not-unattractive suited woman standing by the corpse whom Jack assumed, and it was soon confirmed to him, was the detective on the case.

"Jack Hodgson," he introduced himself "Forensics,"

Nikki crouched down and pointed to a spot on the ground "This was where the body was before we removed it, but you can see a partial footprint on the floor there,"

Jack nodded "Good spot. The rain seems to have washed it away a little but there still seems to be enough of it there to retrieve some information," he said taking photographs "It looks small, possibly female by the size of it,"

"We also found this," Nikki said passing over the small piece of glass she had found which was now wrapped in an evidence bag to preserve it "We're not sure exactly what it is,"

"It's not clear glass," Jack said trying to peer through it "I would say it's almost like a lens of some sort. I can't tell what type exactly but I'll have a look at it when we get back to the lab, I might be able to get some trace evidence off it if we're lucky,"

"We could do with some of that," Rachel sighed "The sooner we get this wrapped up, the sooner we can all go back to bed. I bet you two have better things to be doing than spending your Friday nights at a crime scene,"

"We're used to it," Jack grinned "It's almost fun. Who needs alcohol when you have corpses and mysterious pieces of glass?"

"I think you've taken one too many blows to the head," Nikki quipped

A few hours later and Jack and Nikki had finished what they could at the crime scene and were heading back to their cars. As they got closer to the cordon, they could hear raised voices.

"I know that voice," Nikki frowned deep in thought and as they got closer she was able to fit a name to the voice "Jonathan Williams," she said suddenly noticing the man engaged in an angry conversation with an exasperated looking police officer.

"Who?" Jack quizzed

"The man who was at the lab the other day," she explained

"Oh, the conspiracy nut?" Jack asked and she nodded

"I wonder what he's doing here?" she said as passed the cordon.

"Who knows," Jack sighed "It's a full moon tonight," he said looking up "It must bring out the crazies, or maybe you attract them" he said and Nikki gave him a playful shove

"I'm telling you it's all linked. The lay lines that go across the forest floor," Jonathan was gesticulating wildly "I know what's going on. You police are too close minded to understand…"

He stepped back and bumped into Nikki who fell back onto the ground.

"Careful," Jack warned the man as he helped Nikki up. But the man just mumbled something about lay lines disturbing his sense of balance, which Nikki assumed to be an apology of sorts.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked Nikki once she had gotten to her feet

"Fine," she said checking herself over for any injuries and was pleased to find there were none

"Come on," he said, placing a hand on her back and guiding her towards their cars "I'll buy you breakfast and you can tell me how you managed to get cow dung on your suit," he grinned as she shot him mock scowl.

Neither of them noticed the lone figure standing at the edge of the woods, masked with the shadows that still lingered despite the early morning light. And neither of them noticed as that figure seemed to disappear back into the woodland without leaving any footprints on the marshy ground.

Author's Note: Longer chapter to make up for the slightly longer chapter last time. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favourite this story. I hope you're enjoying it! By the way, I re-watched the Leo-Death scene in 'Greater Love' and cried all over again. I think Leo wasn't only a father figure to Nikki, but to all Silent Witness fans!