Part 8

Holly knew she was in the right area when she turned the corner and police squad cars filled the street. She pulled up to the cordon and was scowled at by a uniformed officer as she lowered her driver side window.

"Lady the road's closed if you can't see that." He told her gruffly.

Holly kept her smile in place as she showed her ID. He glanced at it before grunting and waving her through. "Pleasant." She muttered to herself as she drove on and pulled up at the first space available.

Grabbing her things from the back of her car she remembered to clip her ID badge to her jeans and went to find out where her body was.

Once she mentioned she was the pathologist looking for the body her progress was hastened by fingers pointing her way. She was directed first to a building and then up a staircase until she was impeded by a uniformed officers stood in a doorway.

"Body?"

"Ah," Chris glanced at Dov who stood next to him. Dov shrugged so Chris turned his attention back to the patiently waiting woman in front of him. He eyed the box she was carrying. "In here." He moved to let her pass.

"Thanks." Holly gave them both a smile and cautiously entered the residence. A forensic team were already at the scene collecting evidence. She recognised a few of them as she came into the main room and found her body.

And Gail.

"Hi." Holly said to the blonde stood beside the body.

Gail turned from Luke to see Doctor Holly Stewart setting her kit down and kneeling next to the body of Kevin Reynolds.

"What have we got here?" She asked although her focus was mostly on the body she was unsure how to act at scene with Gail, surprisingly they'd never even discussed the possibility before. Holly didn't even know if Gail wanted her to acknowledge that they knew each other.

It was stupid. They should have talked about this before. Now Holly had no idea if she was going to upset Gail or not by trying to keep this professional.

In the meantime Holly just looked to the lead detective. Luke Callaghan. She'd worked with him on two other cases. He was safe ground right now because so far in her dealings with the homicide detective he acted like she'd always been part of the forensic department. Never even offered her a welcome or commented about her being new to the department. He just wanted her to do her job and provide him with what answers she could give.

"A two bit drug dealer by the name of Kevin Reynolds, shot once from the looks of it." Luke explained. "We've got a witness going to the station right now. Should be an easy one this time."

Holly hummed and eyed the body. It did sound like a relatively simple case for her. The cause of death did indeed look like a gunshot to the centre chest region. Death would have been in a matter of seconds. But there wasn't a lot of pooling blood around the body suggesting it wasn't a through and through. She'd have to retrieve the bullet. That would also provide a possible match if the detective was able to locate a suspect and gun to make comparisons with.

"Anyone touch the body?" Holly asked as a matter of course. EMTs hadn't been called but if there was another possible contaminant source on the body other than the killers she needed to know.

Traci smirked. "Oh, just the killer."

Holly scowled at the tone of the officer. Drug dealer or not this was a murder case and the deceased deserved a little respect.

"Not funny." Gail muttered to her partner even as Luke hide his own smile. She rolled her eyes at them then cleared her throat to draw Holly's attention. "I touched his neck, just to confirm he was dead when we got here."

Holly nodded but still felt confused because she was clearly missing something. As she glanced around the room even forensic technicians collecting evidence around the scene looked amused.

"Okay, what don't I know?" She asked giving Callaghan a look to fill her in.

"That Gail's went on a killing spree?" Traci commented earning more than a few giggles from those in the room.

"That's enough!" Holly yelled, glaring at her colleagues until they quietly went back about their jobs. She stared hard at Luke. "Explain." She hadn't dared look at Gail yet needing more facts. She didn't understand what was so amusing about an officer having to use their weapon.

Luke closed the wallet over that he was holding and tossed it to a slightly stunned looking Traci Nash. "Can you take that down and run it through the CPIC?" The information centre would let them know if Kevin was currently wanted for anything.

Gail shifted her stance as Traci shuffled by her. "Well this is awkward." She muttered to herself more than happy to leave Luke to do the actual explaining, which Holly seemed to be running out of patience for.

"That witness that we have, he got a look at the shooter." He explained to Holly. "He was in here with them actually, before he jumped to the unit below to get away from the shooting."

Holly nodded spotting the gun currently in an evidence bag on the floor beside the detective.

"When he was found by the responding officers he said that it was a cop in here doing the shooting, even gave us a name." And with that Luke pointed to a spot behind Holly. "Said she was called Peck."

Gail scowled. "You know I didn't do this right?"

Luke stood up and put his hands on his hips. "Oh I know, for one I woulda thought you'd be a better shot, two the witness didn't ID you as the shooter and three Traci and control have you in your squad a couple of blocks away when the report first came in."

"That's only at number three?" Gail couldn't help but complain.

Luke shrugged. "You're a Peck."

Now Gail glared at him but Luke just glared right back at her.

"What I'd really like to know Peck is why there's someone out there shooting drug dealers with your uniform on?" He asked.

That stole all of Gail's anger. "Oh." Yeah. Her uniform. She had three, one she was wearing, one that was at the dry cleaners, and the other she thought was at Chris' and would require a very uncomfortable conversation on her part to get back.

"I… I don't know." She replied to Luke not really up to explaining that her ex-boyfriend had packed her things for her when he'd kicked her out to a room full of people she had to work with.

Luke stepped closer to Gail. "Well you better find a way to explain it before the brass get wind of this." He gave her a look and lifted his eyebrow.

Gail swallowed at the realisation that once this was written up the second it was reported that a police officer, whether fake or not, was involved she'd be lucky if SIU weren't hunting her down for a few questions of their own.

Luke watch Gail's shoulder's slump a little and even had it in him to feel sorry for her.

"I can keep this quiet right now and if we get lucky we might have this solved quick enough that no one from head office has to get involved." He told her softly.

Head office.

Superintendent Elaine Peck is what he meant.

Gail snorted. "Why don't you just read me my rights?" It would have been safer than having to deal with her mother finding out about this. Talk about being the Pale Fail. "I'll go quietly."

Holly glanced at the pair in concern wondering what was going on.

Luke laughed and gave the blonde a pat on her shoulder. "Come on you can come interview our witness with me. See if we can get more of a description on the shooter."

Gail shrugged. Solving the case wasn't going to stop her mother's anger.

"Doctor Stewart, we've got some blood over here." One of the techs spoke up.

They all eyed the spot on a cabinet top located on the other side of the room from the body.

"That's too far away from the body." Holly muttered as she stood and inspected the smudge.

Gail's eyes lit up as she turned to Luke. "The scaredy-cat witness didn't have a scratch on him Luke."

"Okay." Luke grinned happy they were getting somewhere. "Maybe Kevin shot back." They hadn't checked the weapon on the floor to see if it had recently been fired. But he could get the forensic team to take care of that.

Holly watched over a colleague as he collected a sample they could get a DNA match from. "I'm going to need Gail down at forensics when you can spare her." She muttered to the detective as she kept her eyes on the technician.

If this evidence proved without a shadow of a doubt Gail wasn't involved then Holly wasn't taking any chances with it. She took the boxed swab and ordered another to be collected as well as she sealed the first one up and placed it in her own kit bag after scribbling the details on the outside first.

Luke pondered that request as Gail waited beside him. "Okay, we can leave our witness to sweat right now." He decided. "I'll have Epstein and Diaz canvas the building, see if we can get anything else to go on."

"There was a couple of cameras in the lobby, don't know if they were for show or not but…" Holly mentioned to the detective as she stood back up.

"I'll have Traci check in to that as soon as she gets back." Luke replied to Holly feeling much better about the situation than he had a few minutes ago. He turned back to Gail. "You're still going to have to explain how the shooter managed to get your uniform."

Gail nodded. If that was the worst outcome she could deal with it.

"In the meantime go with Doctor Stewart and try to play nice, then come find me at the station." Luke said before leaving the room to give Dov and Chris their new orders.

Holly eyed the blonde for a moment then packed her bag and told one of her assistants to transport the body back before asking another to check if there was anything to confirm return fire.

Then she put her hand to the small of Gail's back and guided her out of the residence. "Let's go Officer."

xxxxxxxxx

Gail drummed her feet against the steel of the bench she was sat on top of. She liked this room. It was cold and sterile. No germs.

"I could live here." She said with a smile as Holly looked in a set of drawers nearby.

Holly grinned as she approached with a little rectangle box. "The dead live here Gail."

Gail shrugged. "It's quiet." She answered back.

Holly, already wearing gloves, opened the box and then the plastic containing the swab. "Now say ah." She instructed before inserting the cotton bud end into Gail's mouth and running it over the inside of her cheek.

Once she had enough cheek cells on the swab Holly sealed it away again and scrolled the details quickly on the side of the box.

"You believe me right?" Gail asked quietly not quite looking at Holly. She knew what the swab was for and didn't know if she should feel hurt or not by Holly's need to collect evidence from her that was already in the system.

Gail figured that being a Peck was counting against her on that one. If she could get another officer to lie that she was in the car with them, how easily would it be for her personal details to get mixed up in the system and come back without a match? If she had done it. Which she hadn't.

But there were a lot of Pecks in high places and Holly was at heart a science nerd. Gail got that having collected and tested the evidence herself would allow Holly to believe whatever came back was 100% accurate and untampered with.

She just didn't know what this was doing to their friendship.

Holly smirked and moved back over to Gail, letting her hands drop onto the benchtop either side of Gail's knees. "What I know is someone dressed as a cop, with the name Peck, was seen shooting at the deceased and a witness that got away." Holly explained. "Said witness is a possible drug dealer that jumped out of his fellow alleged drug dealer's apartment. What I know Gail, is that when this guy realises he may be facing charges himself he could get really fuzzy about the details that he's provided up until now. And suddenly you do look like the shooter."

"And my word's not good enough?"

Holly offered a smile. "The evidence will speak a lot louder." She replied knowing that even without a witness the DNA testing from the blood at the scene would conclusively prove whether or not someone else had been in that apartment today. But that was science and not all cops liked to have that be their only answer in a case. "At least until you catch the perp."

Gail stared at Holly, having waited with surprising tolerance for the doctor to get to her point. A point that Gail was hoping concluded with Holly knowing she was innocent, even without the science to back her up.

"You smell good."

Holly paused and straightened. By the shocked look she was getting from Gail she guessed that comment hadn't been made consciously, but it made her smile anyway, especially as she watched a blush work its way up Gail's cheeks.

"Thank you. But flattery won't stop me from running those tests Officer Peck." Holly teased.

Gail scowled.

Holly giggled and took a moment to step back from Gail, giving her friend time and space to recover her composure. "I'll have the results in a couple of hours."

"So I'm free to go?"

Holly eyed the blonde as she hopped down. "That depends, is this you making a break for it?"

Gail snorted and adjusted her jacket to sit better. "Maybe." Because the moment Superintendent Peck found out about this her life would be over anyhow. She might as well enjoy what little remained of her freedom.

"Maybe? Then maybe I should call your supervisor, have them send over a unit to bring you in." Holly said unable to let it go. She didn't think Gail had anything to do with the shooting today but she was enjoying teasing the blonde.

"That's not funny." Gail replied. Just the image of Dov or Chris coming to take her to the station made her feel ill. It was bad enough already knowing she'd have to deal with Elaine, she didn't need to give the rest of her so-called friends more ammunition to use against her.

"So tell me, how did this person get hold of your uniform?" Holly asked. That was the question that had really been on her mind. The blood couldn't have been Gail's because Gail wasn't injured, but the uniform had Peck on it according to the eye witness which meant the uniform was real. And if it was real it had to come from Gail. "Did your apartment get broken into?"

"Oh no, that conversation is going to require alcohol." Gail told her friend with a quick shake of her head. She was already going to have to explain that back at the station, and then maybe again to her mother. There was no way she was doing it a third time without mind numbing liquor and lots of it.

Holly pondered that then took in the slightly guarded look on her friend's face. "Okay, well I should be done here by six or seven at the latest, meet you at the Penny?" She offered knowing it was Gail's usual haunt having picked her up from there a few times already.

Gail winced. Going back to 15 was going to be hard enough without having to deal with it off shift as well. No, Gail definitely did not want to go to the Penny later.

"Or we can go somewhere else." Holly added seeing the less than thrilled look.

Gail's cell phone going off interrupted them and a large part of Gail was grateful for the distraction. "Peck."

Holly shoved her hands into her lab coat pockets and waited for the one sided conversation to end.

Gail ended the call from Luke and tucked her cell phone away. "That was Detective Callaghan, the footage from the lobby clears me without the need for your sciencey mumbo jumbo. We now have a face we can try and get an ID on, Luke wants me back for the interview with the witness." She explained.

Holly nodded wondering if her offer for that drink was just going to be ignored by Gail.

"So I should probably head back." Gail walked towards the door then paused in the entryway, turning back to look at Holly. "I might not be done with this until late," Never, if Elaine caught up with her. "But if you still want to…"

Holly nodded quickly. "Call me, I'll come get you."

"It could be really late." Gail reminded the doctor.

Holly shrugged. "I'll be here doing my sciencey stuff just in case you need it."

Gail smiled a touch before scowling and sighing dramatically. "It's a sad day when the word of a respected police officer isn't good enough anymore."

"The public aren't very trusting these days Officer, but they do like science." Holly answered back with a smirk. And it was true, even eye witness testimony didn't help convince juries of a suspect's guilt as much as having DNA evidence at the crime scene that could link back to the person on trial.

Gail scoffed at that and started to leave. "Yeah, well I hate people."

"Should I withdraw my offer if that's how you feel?"

Gail stopped in the hallway and glared at Holly who was looking far too pleased with herself.

"I am a person." Holly added as the glaring continued.

With a disgusted noise Gail spun around to continue on her way. "You don't count Doc." She muttered loud enough to be heard.

With a shake of her head Holly watched the blonde go before going back to her work. She didn't understand the woman much, but she was enjoying trying to figure her out.

Because Gail hated people, but not her.

And because Gail thought she smelled nice.