11:02pm

At around ten, his team were getting restless with the lack of progress being made into finding Ruth, feeling useless and wanting to go home. So Harry let them go, knowing that there was nothing they could do on the grid now anyway. It was too late. Far, far too late. Ruth was probably already… dead, and had been for hours. Even when thinking to himself, Harry shied away from the word. Dead. So horribly final.

Sitting alone in his office, Harry braced himself for what he had to do. He'd made this phone call for other agents in the past, but he'd hoped dearly that Ruth would never be one of them. He picked up his phone on the grid, and made the call that he had hoped he would never have to make.

"What do you want?" came a low voice of someone who was clearly sleeping.

"Mark, it's Harry Pearce," he said.

"What do you want this time?"

"Do you still oversee the unidentified bodies for the mortuary?" he asked.

"For one borough in London," Mark said. "Yes, but there's more than one morgue in a city this size, you know that."

"Yes, I know," Harry said. "But you have access to the database?" He was fairly sure Mark hadn't moved on, but he needed to check.

"Yes," Mark said after a pause. "Who are you looking for?"

"A woman, Ruth Evershed, though I doubt she'll have anything that identifies her." Harry sighed, then took in a shaky breath before continuing. "White, brunette, forty years old, five foot four."

"Have you got a picture?" Mark asked.

"Yes, I'll send one over to you," he replied. "Mark, it's very important that we find this woman."

"Are you sure she's dead?"

Harry closed his eyes before replying. "Almost sure. I just… Look, I'll send you a picture."

"Okay," Mark said. "I had a brunette brought in yesterday who could fit your description…"

"No," Harry said. "It will be today. Or after today. She was… Yesterday she was here."

"Okay, I'll keep an eye out."

"Thank you, Mark," Harry said fervently. "Thanks for the favour. I appreciate it." They said their goodbyes and Harry put the phone down. He stared around the empty grid and he broke down. She'd gone. One day and it was over for her. She'd died. Lucas had killed her and he hadn't been able to do a thing to stop it. He sobbed into his hands, thinking of the blue eyes he'd never see again, the face he always turned to, the woman he longed for with every part of his being. She was gone and it was final. And he shook and cried, realising that he would now be permanently and forever alone.


More soon, and thanks for the reviews so far.