Chapter 4

Author's note: Will be a bit icky, autopsy coming up! Hehe. Btw, I am not a science person at all, so please do not criticise me if I get the reasons for death wrong and the scientific points all mixed up. As always, please review! :) Happy Reading!

Nikki stared at Susan Frost for a second, silently promising to do her best to find her killer. Then she started.

"Her hair is damp," she said observing and feeling the copse's hair. "Probably not from rain, she was in a bin bag, for at least 8 to 12 hours."

"So she drowned?" questioned the inspector, who was observing from the observation room. She felt that she couldn't stomach actually being in there with Doctor Alexander.

"I don't know, but judging by her hair texture it is possible, but I will have to take a look at her lungs to know for sure," said Nikki, and then she proceeded to cut open the copse's chest.

After observation of the lungs, Nikki finally said, "She didn't die before hand. The water in her lungs indicate that she was still alive at the point of submersion."

"So she was drowned?" asked the inspector again.

"Yes, she drowned. But not in a river. These bruises on her arms and shins show struggle that can only be created by something harder than the human body. She hit herself against something hard, like a sink or floor. I predict that she was drowned by force in a sink or something of that kind. The huge bruise under her neck indicates the pressure of the sink on her throat, and there is a hint of a bruise on her forehead, probably where the tapes digged into her skin."

"Forgive me Doctor Alexander," interrupted the inspector, " but it seems that you have already assumed that this is a case of murder. Just because a copse is found in a bin bag-"

But Nikki wasn't listening. She was frozen, staring at Frost's wrist. Harry moved closer to the glass frame, before saying, "Nikki?"

Frost's wrist had been so cleanly cut, so fine that no blood could be seen apart from a fine line of brown. The blood had clearly been wiped away neatly, and like a pocket, Nikki suddenly understood with horror what it was. With trembling hands, she pulling open the wrist, and carefully with a pair of tweezers removed- a piece of paper wedged in Susan Frost's wrist.

Later on…..

"Horrible, foulest and yet quite childish isn't it?" said the inspector as she observed Harry and Nikki peer over it. It read….

You silly blind journalists,

not knowing when to stop.

How many will it take I wonder,

till all will let it drop?

"How odd," murmured Harry, the first to look up.

"Yes," replied Stefanie, but she was looking towards Nikki, who wore a frown upon her forehead.

"What's the point of it," said Nikki with emotion, before placing the plastic bag on the desk with disdain.

"Exactly," said the inspector, "and yet that really is all we have, apart from a small lead which I will explain about."

This much Harry and Nikki both knew from Leo; Susan Frost was a minor journalist who had worked for the Daily Mail for just over a year. A young woman with not a whole lot of experience, she nevertheless built up a reputation as being rather ruthless in getting information from people. A hard worker and one not easily to give up, she had come to Berlin to get material a something; the "something" was what the police couldn't find out about. Upon contacting the Daily Mail, they stated that no Susan Frost was employed at the newspaper company. And yet her records shows that she was from the Daily Mail….. However Harry and Nikki were not to concern themselves about that; that was not their problem, and they had promised each other previously to not get mixed up with the foreign police and their cases; "Stick to each other and remember what it is that you are supposed to do. Do it and then for God's sake, leave the rest to them," Nikki remembered Leo telling her on the phone the evening before.

"We have only one lead," continued the inspector, "but in case you do find something more from Frost, it might be useful to know some background information."

Stefanie paused, and for a brief moment Harry could here the hustle and bustle of Germans working, working and working. Would Nikki be happy here? Would she have people teas-

"Dr Cunningham?"

"Err, yes, sorry, it's been a long day," said Harry, giving a carefree smile, but Stefanie didn't seem to buy it, though she carried on.

"She was clearly working for someone else, using the Daily Mail as a cover story, should she have to "leg it" as you British say. I believe that she was following a lead concerning Mark Hews, who worked as secretary to the British Ambassador. We are collecting him right now for questiong-"

Suddenly Rauch's "Handy" went off, and as she took it, it was clear that it was bad news.

"Ich kann das nicht glauben," murmurred the inspector, cutting the phone.

"Bad news I'm afraid," she said with a sigh, "Mark Hews is dead."