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Warning: This chapter is slightly more graphic, but that's due to the crime scene and general nature of the crime.


Jess climbed out of the back seat and followed Ronnie and Matt up to a uniformed officer. As Ronnie spoke with the officer, Jess looked at the bombed building. The weather was comfortable, but the sight of the building sent a shiver through Jess.

It was, or had been, a small store, set in between several larger stores. The windows had been shattered out on the sidewalk, presumably by the force of the explosion. The inside walls of the small building had been mostly destroyed by the bomb, leaving the infrastructure blackened, but hopefully still strong. The surrounding buildings were relatively unharmed, with only a slight amount of fire damage to the outer walls.

Jess's stomach twisted as she looked at the building. She knew people had been inside when the bomb went off, and the images of families being informed of the loss kept flashing through her mind. She had broken the sad news to scores of family members, but it never got easier...

"Jess?" Ronnie's voice broke through her thoughts.

"Yeah?" Jess turned to look at the men.

"We need to put these on." Ronnie pointed to a bench.

Jess saw several smock-style overalls, protective booties, facial masks, and rubber gloves.

"The scene hasn't been cleared, yet," Ronnie continued. "So we need to be protected when we go in."

"All right..." Jess nodded and reached back to tighten her ponytail.

The three detectives began to put on the protective material. Matt turned to Jess as he pulled on the overalls.

"You okay?" he asked quietly.

"I'm fine," Jess replied as she smoothed out her overalls.

Matt nodded, but still kept glancing at Jess as he put on the gloves.

Once the detectives were completely ready, they walked up to the building. Matt and Jess wore their masks under their chins, despite being warned about 'dangerous fumes'.

An officer gave them a nod, and they entered the building. They were hit by the sudden thickness of the air, and the smell was almost unbearable. The heavy cloud of death could be easily detected, both in scent and sight.

"Oh my..." Matt held a hand up to his mouth and nose.

Jess looked around, fighting back a wave of nausea. There were several bodies strewn around the room. Or at least, the charred remains of the bodies...

"Body count is six, so far," an officer reported. "But there could be more bodies buried under all this rubble, so watch where you step."

Jess was walking toward a wall when her foot sunk into a weak spot in the floor. She fell forward and into the wall. A section of the wall crumbled down and she fell to the floor, throwing up ashes and dust all around her. Jess could hear parts of the ceiling fall to the ground, then she felt something land on her and she was pinned to the ground. She tried to move it off, but froze when the dust started to clear and she could see what was on top of her.

A corpse had fallen and landed on her.

Matt and Ronnie gasped when the dust cleared and they saw Jess pinned under the corpse.

"Matt!" Jess cried out. "Get it off...now! Please!"

Matt pulled the corpse off of Jess and she rolled away. She moved to a sitting position and Matt knelt down beside her.

"Jess, are you okay?" he asked, his eyes filled with concern.

"I-I...think so..." Jess replied shakily.

Matt stood up and held out his hand to Jess. She took it and slowly stood up. They walked over to where Ronnie was standing.

"Are you alright?" Ronnie asked.

"Yeah..." Jess looked at the officer. "Sorry about that..."

"Just glad you're okay," the officer replied with a nod.

"I think the corpse had it worse than I did..." Jess managed a small smile.

Matt looked at Jess. She seemed calm, but there was a panic in her eyes that alarmed Matt. The scene was getting to her, and the rest of them, and the shock of getting tackled surely didn't help. He looked at Ronnie and caught his eye. Matt nodded toward Jess, and Ronnie gave him a small nod.

"I think I need some air..." Matt announced.

"You and Jess go outside for a bit," Ronnie said. "I'll finish up with the uniform."

"Right." Matt turned to Jess.

She seemed lost in thought as she looked around the room.

"Jess," Matt said softly.

Jess seemed to not hear him.

"Jess." Matt touched her arm. She jumped slightly and turned to look at him.

"Yeah, what?"

"Let's go outside..."

Jess nodded slowly and followed Matt out of the building. Matt could see the change in Jess the moment they walked out into the fresh air. She removed her mask and gloves and set them on a bench. Matt did the same and followed her as she walked over to the car. Jess leaned against the car hood and sighed.

"Well, my first crime scene here in the UK," she began. "And I completely screwed it up..."

"I think you did pretty good," Matt said as he moved next to her. "I mean, you did get tackled by a corpse. And a rather nasty-looking one, at that..."

"I shouldn't have gone near that wall." Jess turned to look at Matt. "I know better than to walk around a bomb scene, especially one that hasn't even been searched. I know the protocol! I know how these things work! And I handled it like a rookie... No, I handled it worse than a rookie. A rookie would have the common sense to stay put! But I-"

"Jess, stop." Matt put his hands on her shoulders. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"But I..." Jess gasped softly. "Oh, listen to me! I'm at a crime scene where at least seven people lost their lives. And all I can talk about is me..." she shook her head. "I feel like a selfish brat...I'm sorry..."

Jess sighed and turned back to look at the building. Matt smiled slightly and put an arm around her shoulders.

"You did great," he said. "And I think you're going to make a wonderful partner. Just one thing you need to learn..."

"What's that?" Jess looked at him.

"Not to wrestle with the bodies. At least, not a crime scene..." Matt winked and gave her teasing grin.

"Very funny..." Jess grinned and shook her head.


Poor Jess... The next few chapters will have some good action, I think. :)

Still trying to familiarize myself with British slang, so I probably messed up some things... If there's any errors, please PM me. :)