Arriving at the mortuary, Alan still couldn't believe what he had heard about Brooke. The pathologist came out,

"Sorry to have kept you waiting this long. Come on through." The body lay on the cold silver table.

Louise Hunt had naturally blonde hair. Not as blond as Annie's was, but enough to remind Alan and Helen that Annie nearly once lay there too.

"Cause of death, a subdural haematoma, from a blunt force trauma. As you can see, the force was strong, which is why the rear side of her skull has caved in."

"Any weapon?"

"I would say that no weapon was involved, a pair of hands has caused the amount of damage, an attack of rage, enough strength to account for this wound. I would say the killer grabbed her head here." He pointed around the top of the head,

"And then forced her head into the wall, before she fell to the ground."

"Right," Alan replied,

"Did you find any traces of DNA?"

"Yes. Under her fingernails, there were skin cells and they're off to the lab for analysis. On her head, the attacker seemed to have nails long or broken enough to have left scratches on head where she was grabbed. Everything has been sent to the lab."

Helen nodded as she said, "Thank you. If you find anything else, please let us know."

Xxxxxx

Back at the station, Alan set up his board with the photos and names of the victim and her family.

"Right. Louise Hunt is our victim. She seemed to have been killed by a blunt force trauma, leading to a brain bleed. There was no weapon, just the attackers bare hands."

He pointed to a photo of Louise's husband. "Her husband, Tom, has returned from his trip, so we need to go and visit him. I'm sure Skye has already told him everything, but we should find out more. Louise's children have already been interviewed and are staying at the eldest daughter's student flat in the centre of Eastvale."

Ken raised his hand with a question.

"Yes, Ken?"

"What about the vehicle?"

"Ah yes. The Greenmans-the neighbours-reported seeing a silver Audi. Apparently it looked new, so we will chase that up. Also, Louise has a stepson. We're not sure where he is at the moment so we will be asking Tom later. Thanks everyone." Alan returned to his office, where an email had come through while he had done the brief. It wasn't news he had been hoping for; there was no chance of getting a match to the skin cells until tomorrow. There was also a confirmation email that the missing stepson was still in France, and had been since the dates Molly Hunt had given them, so that meant one suspect was ruled off their list. There was a knock at the door. Ken came in with some camera footage photos.

"Boss, one of the houses has CCTV that covers the road from their house. It gave us a clear picture and a partial number plate. ANPR are putting a trace on it now, and being an Audi it may narrow down search. Also, Louise's work, would you like us to go over it?" Alan nodded.

"Do we have any idea on where she worked?"

"We're going to speak to her husband."

"I'll head over there now." He grabbed his coat and left with Helen to drive into the centre of Eastvale.

Xxxxxxx

The flat was newly built, and upgraded modern with a large open plan kitchen diner and living space, more like a family flat then a student one.

"Mr Hunt, thank you for agreeing to talk to us. We are just going to ask you a few routine questions, just to get a better background. Just quickly, through Molly, you mentioned you were away quite a bit, why were you round at your neighbours?"

"My shift at work was cancelled, I had the rest of the day free, I went round to see mum, but she wanted some time to get the house sorted so I went to see Skye instead."

"Right, Mr Hunt, where did your wife work?"

"A solicitors firm, in the centre of Leeds."

"Did she ever mention anything, any problems there?"

"She did want to leave, I remember that pretty well, she had issued a complaint against one of the senior team, but I can't remember the name. It was all a long time ago."

"Was there anything unusual, any unexpected visitors, or any known enemies you may have made?"

"No, I'm sorry Mr Banks, I really can't help you."

"Alright, thank you for your time." Both Alan and Helen stood up and left. Once back in the car and driving, Alan began to speak.

"The crimes must be connected somehow, they must be."

"Alan, your getting too wrapped up in the coincidence timeline, your instinct can't always be right."

"But what if they are, what then? What about Brooke , what is her life going to be like if she ever wakes up? She could have long lasting effects, what's going to happen to the quality of her life then? What if she can't even remember? The memories or about Annie? What happens then?!"

"You need to be with her. After we get back to the station, go to the hospital," Helen replied.

Once they were back in the station, Alan gathered the team around.

"I know what events have happened in recent days, and I want you all to know that our priority should be this case. I would like to quickly thank you all for being so concerned about Brooke's, and for your support, I know how much Annie would be grateful if she were here to say these words herself. At this moment, I cannot give any amount of certainty on Brooke's state, you may know that it has been touch and go, and that's all I know right now. So we are going to call it a night, and tomorrow we will come back, and work on this case, and if the two crimes are in anyway connected, we will catch and put away whoever put Annie's daughter in hospital. She's not just our colleague, she's our friend, and we all know if nothing how persistent she is. She is ruthless, amoral, ambitious, a team player, and she would stop at nothing to protect her own, as we do ours, so let's do her proud." Alan left in a hurry after his short speech, so that he could be with Annie and Brooke, and also to hide the emotion that he felt: the sadness on how much Annie really did mean to him. He began to drive over to the hospital, but could he really handle the responsibility if anything were to happen?

Xxxxxxx

Over at the pub, the team gathered around a table, all with a drink chatting about the events, but Helen silently slipped out the door and walked to her car, and began to also drive to the hospital.

Xxxxx

When she arrived, Alan was sat, silently crying at Brooke's bedside, while Annie was lent over, head by the side of Brooke. For slight painful moment she assumed the worse, but when she walked through, the machines were still beeping, showing the fight Brooke still had left in her. Alan looked up as the door shut,

"Helen, shouldn't you be at home? You were up here all last night."

"I'll be fine."

She thought she saw some movement but put it all down to a trick of the eye, on how much she was hoping for Brooke. Annie had hold of Brooke's hand, a cannula in the centre.

"How is she?"

"They said the swelling has gone down, they've taken her off the ventilator so she's breathing for herself."

I just don't think I could handle the heartbreak..." Annie's sentence broke off, as she focused her eyes on Brooke's hand. It wasn't just their imagination, her hand began twitching.

"Get a doctor, quickly." Helen poked her head out the door and signalled for a doctor to come, then she went and stood at the side of Brooke. Alan wiped his eyes, and a small smile on both their faces slowly appeared as her eyes began to flicker, and she began to slowly wake up. It was a few seconds before Brooke made eye contact with the people in the room. For about thirty seconds, her eyes were open and scanning her surroundings silently, but she was awake, and that was a moment that they had been hoping for.