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I remember standing at the top of a hill, in a park, on a grey day, much like this, taking a moment before entering the scene of the crime. Little did I know then, what scene of which crime it was. I remember watching the young blonde cop, her back to me, fidgeting like a small child who has been told to stand and wait, before I took a deep breath and ducked under the yellow tape to collect my evidence. I had been working for the Toronto Police Forensic Science Department for just about ten months back then. Being fairly new at the time, the other forensic pathologists got to go investigate crime scenes while I mostly remained behind at the lab. I remember thinking "Lunchbox? Really? What a clueless jerk!". That was before I turned and saw her eyes. Nothing could have prepared me for the lightning bolt that struck from the blue. I remember trying to collect myself, saying some hopelessly technical word vomit, flirting, and kicking myself for not being able to school my reaction to her better. How could I have known that fate would have brought us here?
I am standing at the top of a hill, overlooking a wooded area where the remains of three bodies have been found. The young cop on perimeter duty takes a step forward to block my path as I go to duck under the yellow crime scene tape.
"Excuse me Ma'am, you're not allowed down there!" He says, crossing his arms and getting up in my face.
Before I can respond, I hear her voice coming up the hill.
"Hey Genius! What do you think you're doing?"
He turns to see Gail glaring at him with her arms crossed over her chest.
"I'm just guarding the access to our crime scene like you told me to, Ma'am." He asserts.
"This is a senior member of our forensics team, Rookie! How is she supposed to do her job, with idiots like you getting in her way?" Gail moves right up into his personal space.
"I'm sorry Ma'am, " He says to me, "I didn't know."
"Isn't it obvious?" She points at what she likes to call my lunchbox.
He shrugs and steps out of the way mumbling some vague apology, clearly intimidated.
"Well, now you know!" She barks at him.
"Thank you Officer Peck! I think I can take it from here." I smile at her, and try to keep myself from laughing out loud.
"Anytime Dr. Stewart! Just let me know if there is anything else I can do for you." She says crisply. She licks her lips, and adds, leaning closer, "Anything at all…" in a low, soft voice.
Visions of what we did last night flash suddenly through my head, making it hard to think of anything else. She smirks at the flush creeping up my cheeks. I swat playfully at her with the map I am holding.
"Would you care to show me where the bodies are located, or do I have to make use of my Extra Sensory Powers? Maybe I should just guess." I ask arching my eyebrows at her.
"You could have just asked nicely." She replies with a scowl.
I smirk expectantly.
"Ok fine." She swaggers into the trail below. "Coming?"
I follow closely behind as she steps off the trail and into a clearing by what looks like an old garden shed. My team is already on the scene, marking the positions of the bodies and taking samples. One of my people waves me over to what looks like a compost heap.
"Hey Holly! I think you will find this interesting!" Jen says with a smile. She points at the ground where what appears to be an adult human scull is still half buried.
I lean over for a better look when I realize Gail is still right behind me.
"Oh, Jen, this is Gail. Gail. Jen." I make an off-handed introduction without getting up.
"Uh hi! So you're Gail!" I hear Jen say cheerfully over my head.
"Uh yeah. I'm Gail." She says sounding somewhat apprehensive.
"That's great!" Chirps Jen, completely oblivious to the dirty look Gail is sending our way. "I've heard so much about you!"
Jen is a petit lab tech who always reminds me of a pixie with her perfect mocha skin, spiky black hair, brilliant green eyes and delicate features. I used to think she was fragile, until she kicked my ass in a Kung Fu class one night. We were both studying that, and Kendo at the same Dojo for a while. That was before I met Gail.
She turns back to me without waiting for a response from Gail, "So check out these marks, here and here." Jen points at what appear to be slash marks, careful not to touch the bones yet. "I mean, I know it's hard to say until we can get this back to the lab, but this looks newer and this one here looks like it started to heal."
"Whoa Nelly! Jen! You may be on to something big!" I exclaim. "So according to this," I hold up the initial report, "Only one of the bodies has much remaining soft tissue, the other two are mostly bones, suggesting they may have been left here at different times."
"That's right Holly-San!" She gets up and makes her way across the clearing to a large clump of ancient Rhododendrons, under which the body of what appears to be the body of a partially decomposed young woman. "My best estimate is that this body has been here for at least eight months."
"Thanks Jen! I'll just have a look at the last body before I take all of the samples back to the lab to begin analysis. If you can get me a genetic sample from her before I go, I can begin processing her DNA as soon as I get back to the lab." I say with a smile.
"Ok then Holly-San," Gail says in a pointed tone behind me, "If you don't need me, I'll, um, just go back to interviewing the witnesses, if you don't mind."
She is so cute when she's jealous! I will have to tease her about it later. "No, go right ahead Gail. See you back at the lab?"
"Uh yeah, I guess so." She replies without turning back around.
It's late when I get back to the morgue. The victims are just being laid out on tables when I make the call.
A familiar voice answers the phone "Homicide."
"Hey Traci, it's Holly. I'm running the DNA from all three bodies, and our Entomologist thinks they were all stored in doors, like in an old basement with a dirt floor, until recently." I say quickly.
"Thanks Holly!" Traci replies cheerfully, "Gail is on her way to pick up whatever you have, though she said something about stopping for Phó on the way. God, I wish somebody would pick me up something to eat!"
"Thanks Traci!" I grin into the phone "Oh, wait, here she is!"
I turn to see Gail struggling with the door to my office, large paper bag in hand, notebook held in her teeth. I can feel my face light up as I open the door and take the bag from her. I lean in for a brief kiss saying, "Mmmm… Gail, you sure know how to get a girl's attention!"
She has been back to full active duty for two weeks, and things are going well. She huffs at me as she removes her gloves and coat.
"Who's Jen, Holly?" She asks before I have time to say anything else.
I place the bag of soup on my desk and turn with a smile. "Jen is someone I work with. And she's a friend, though we don't get to hang out much anymore."
Gail fidgets, looks at the ground, and then back up at me. " Is she, did you, where you guys….?"
"No, Gail. We were never a couple, if that's what you are asking." I say with a smile.
"Then how come you've never mentioned her before?" Gail glares at me.
"I don't know. I mean we used to do martial arts together at the Dojo downtown, but then I stopped. And she has a new girlfriend. And for that matter, so do I." I smile at her, "So we really only see each other at work now." I explain, "I guess I never really thought about it, because I assumed you already knew each other."
"Oh." Gail looks concerned. "So why haven't you told me about your exes? I mean you know about mine."
"Well… first, you said you didn't want to know." I say opening the bag and pulling out the soup, "It's not like I am trying to hide anything from you."
"Oh." She says again looking at the floor.
I sigh, and come around my desk to pull her into my arms. She stands there, but doesn't hug me back.
"Gail," I say kissing her softly on the forehead, "We can talk about this tonight at home if you would like. Why are you feeling so insecure all of a sudden?"
"I donno." She hugs me fiercely then, and I realize she's trying not to cry.
"Gail, what's wrong?" I ask as we hold on to each other.
"I donno, I'm just tired I guess." She nuzzles my shoulder.
"Ok, well, as long as I can get an early start tomorrow, I can get out of here just as soon as my interns finish the tox screen and the x-rays on these victims. So, with any luck, I should be off by seven." I sooth her back with the palms of my hands, "Why don't we have a quiet evening alone at home."
"Ok." She looks up at me, "I would like that."
I kiss her again. "Now let's eat before I am reduced to a quivering mass on the floor by the delicious smell coming from that soup!"
"Wait!" She demands taking a step back "You do martial arts? What are you, some kind of secret Ninja?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." I quirk a eyebrow at her. "If you're good, maybe I 'll show you some of my secret moves." Her eyes go wide, and I can't help but smirk at her reaction.