AN: For Alice....

PART SEVEN

It was with a heavy heart that DI Swanson had made her way back through the trees to the rapidly expanding crime scene. One child had now become four and she seriously began to wonder at her first assumption, making Ianto Jones responsible, the forensic pathologist on site had actually called in an archaeologist to assist in the excavation of the bodies. Tents had been erected and almost a kilometre square of woodland sealed off with tape and sentries to keep the public and the press out of the way. It always disturbed her to think how quickly the news hounds would sniff things like this out. She began to hope that this was in no way connected to the disappearance of Mica Davies and Ianto Jones' abduction of twenty years previously, but realised they were unlikely to be that lucky. Her gut churned guiltily at the thought that the Davies girl was probably already dead. She sighed, she'd left the Met to get away from crap like this. The icing on the cake was the mysterious injuries that Jones had sustained between the crime scene and the hospital, she didn't want to believe the Ambulance drivers had been responsible, but there was no other reasonable explanation. The two paramedics were currently being interviewed by D.S. Hislop. She strode over the battered down undergrowth in the direction of the first tent and grumbled to herself when she felt the splash of rain on her face. Great, just great.

She ducked her head as she stepped into the tent taking in the scene that more resembled an episode of Time Team than the grisly goings on of murder. She stood by the edge, not wanting to come further in, she had seen enough death and children were always the hardest ones to come to terms with or remain objective about. Two white overcalled men were bent over the dirt, one with a camera in hand and the other carefully placing something into a Gwent Police evidence bag. The man with the camera looked up and offered a faint smile.

"Detective Inspector." His Scottish bur hadn't been softened by ten years in Wales.

"Dr Jenkin, anything more to report?"

The middle aged man, carefully placed his camera down onto a tray that was sat beside him and he stood up and arched his back. The balding Scotsman had matured well and had the added advantage of being a fitness freak who was still damn hot at 50. Shame he was gay really.

"We're going to be here for a while, we've four complete pre adolescent skeletons and what looks like two more incomplete.... possibly three."

Kathy sucked in a breath. "Shit, do you have any idea of time span?"

"Not yet, once we've had some of the evidence analysed.... maybe, but experience tells me we're looking at the earliest dating back to the 70s."

"Christ Almighty. Genders?"

Jenkin took a moment to gather his thoughts. "The first two definite girls, there was enough left of the clothing to determine that, the third one, probably a boy.... the others? Won't know for a while yet, but it's looking like the youngest was about 5 or 6. We've found no weapons, nothing else significant but all the material is being sifted and everything is being bagged so we won't miss anything."

"It's going to take a long time to go through it all though?"

"Aye, lass it is..... I think the most recent body could that Mary Coulson a girl who went missing from Abergevenny two years ago, the clothing matches as I recall....... Is this connected to the wee Davies girl?"

Kathy sighed. "I hope not."

"Aye, me too."

"Well, I'll let you get on. Can you get one of your team to give me an update later today?" She knew how busy Jenkin was likely to be.

"No problem, don't worry Kathy you'll have our absolute best work on this."

She hitched a smile. "I always get your best. Thanks Stephen."

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He was cold again. The sound of the rain hammering down was the only sound. He hurt all over and wondered yet again why his mother hadn't come to save him. It was dark too, he didn't like the dark much. He wondered what he had done wrong and why the bad man had yelled at him and hit him and he was hungry and wanted a drink.......

Ianto discovered that he couldn't move much. He was too afraid to anyway and had never felt so cold in his life. He gazed about the darkened room not really sure where he was. He could hear a familiar regular beeping coming from somewhere and he knew he should know what the sound was, but it eluded him. He tried to move again and realised his face was squashed into a cotton pillow and that he was laying on a hard and uncomfortable bed. His vision slowly focussed and he could make out a figure hunched into a chair, arms folded over a broad chest.

"Jack?" His voice scraped painfully over a dry throat and he sounded rather more like a frog than anything. The figure moved and warm hands suddenly connected with his icy skin.

"Hey there, how are you doing?" The soft accented tones were as warming as the fingers brushing at his cheek.

Ianto swallowed and once again tried to shift his position. "Oh.... hurts. What's going on?"

There was no answer. "Ssshhh, just rest. You can talk in the morning, go back to sleep now."

It took him some moments to register the fact that it was a woman talking to him. Ianto was too tired to object to the suggestion and his eyelids shuttered down again.

"Night, mam." He murmured.

"Good night Ianto."

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Jack grumbled all the way back to the SUV, a weevil hanging limp over his left shoulder as Toshiko trotted ahead of him and opened the back of the car. The rain poured down and a chilly night time breeze had settled in from the North East. The unconscious weevil was rather unceremoniously dumped and locked into the containment cage. Jack brushed down the shoulder of his coat and sighed at the dirty mess, Ianto would moan like crazy when he saw it next. Somehow Jack found the thought somewhat disquieting. It felt odd being out on a weevil hunt with Tosh, this part of Torchwood's work was usually exclusive to just him and Ianto these days, a chance for them to be together alone, to talk and share the adrenalin rush of the chase. Jack relished those times when Ianto truly came into his own. He sighed as he settled at the steering wheel and took a brief glance at his watch, 2am. Keying the ignition he checked to make sure Tosh was buckled in before gunning the gas.

Owen was at the Hub when they got back. It seemed he almost never left these days and he appeared to be engrossed in something at Tosh's computer when his two team mates came in. He gestured to them.

"Check this out, latest from DI Swanson." He moved aside to show Jack the email.

Captain Jack Harkness and Team,

I am not normally in the habit of involving Torchwood with Police work, but we've had a major development on the current case pertaining to Ianto Jones' discovery. 6 bodies have so far been found, all of them children. A rough estimate puts the first victim at about 40 years ago. The remains are still being excavated and our immediate priority is to identify the victims so we can try to make some sense of what has happened.

The two medics who brought Mr Jones into hospital have been questioned and I see no reason to charge them with assault, I am more inclined to think that what happened to him is more in line with your kind of work. He remains a murder suspect, but I'll be honest in agreeing with you that I do not believe he is the one responsible.

I'd like to think that we can work together on this. Our absolute first priority is to find Mica Davies alive, so far our local searches have turned up nothing. I still believe that Ianto Jones is the key to finding her so I'd like interview him again as soon as possible.

It's obvious we have a child serial killer on our hands. I am sure you will appreciate how quickly we want this wrapped up, any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated, before we have another body to deal with. Please call me in the morning.

DI Kathy Swanson

Gwent CID

Jack leaned back in Tosh's chair. And thought for a moment.

"Owen pull up all the data we have on missing children from over the last 40 years, keep the search to under 7s and only from Wales."

Owen nodded. "Already started, though I went with under 9s."

"Good, thanks. Tosh I want you in the morning to contact the SOCO's, we may be able to identify some of the bodies with our face recognition and re-construction software. Whatever help they need to speed things up make sure they get it."

"Ok I'll go straight there in the morning. If it's ok I'm going to go home to get a few hours sleep. When is Gwen due back?"

"The day after tomorrow, she'll be able to help when she gets in. I'll drop you home then stop by the hospital to see how Ianto is doing."

Tosh arched her eyebrows. "At this hour?"

Jack flashed her a smile. "Torchwood remember?"