Chapter 20: What You've Done To Me

Harry released a long groan as he woke up the next morning. It was still early, his alarm hadn't gone off, and he couldn't work out what had suddenly made him wide awake. He was just dropping off again when he heard it; a bang from out in the hall. Sitting bolt upright, Harry accidentally elbowed Charlie who looked at his owner in disgust, not happy at being woken up.

There was more shuffling from outside Harry's bedroom door, and he could see a small chink of light filtering into his bedroom. This time Charlie heard it too, and he ran to the door and started barking. The noises stopped suddenly.

Panic gripping Harry, he climbed out of bed and swallowed hard as he quietly walked across his bedroom. Hoping he appeared more confidant in his pyjamas than he felt, he slowly turned the knob before flinging the door open.

Blinking in the bright light, it took Harry's eyes a few seconds to adjust. When they did he thought he was hallucinating.

"Nikki?" he exclaimed.

For Nikki was stood in the doorway of her old bedroom, biting her lips nervously. "Hi," she said meekly. Harry ran a confused hand through his hair.

"What on earth are you doing here at five in the morning?" he asked, still in shock and wondering whether he was dreaming.

"I wanted to come back and get a few things that I left behind," she told him, not quite meeting his gaze. It was only then that Harry registered the cardboard box on the floor at her feet.

"And you thought now would be the best time to come?"

Nikki shrugged. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a key, which she then passed to Harry. "Here's my key to this place. You should probably have it back, it's not like I need it anymore," she said.

Harry took the key, his fingers brushing against Nikki's. She gasped involuntarily, her fingertips lingering slightly against his knuckles. Feeling his eyes prickling at this sudden contact with Nikki again, Harry cleared his throat and pulled away. There was an awkward silence, which Nikki eventually broke by leaning down and greeting Charlie affectionately. Harry just stood there, uncertain of what to say now. Nikki was fussing over the dog, who was ecstatic to see her again.

Eventually she straightened up, picking her box up at the same time.

"I should probably be going," she said, signalling in the direction of the front door with her thumb.

Harry nodded. "Did you get everything you came for?"

"Yes. I'm sorry for waking you, I was hoping just to get in and out without anyone knowing," she confessed with a small smile, but her grin faded when she saw the expression on Harry's face.

"You didn't want to speak to me, did you?" he asked her, trying to sound angry rather than hurt. "That's why you broke in here at five in the morning!"

"I didn't 'break in', I had a key-" Nikki started to protest, but Harry cut across her.

"Why, Nikki? You know all you had to do was pick up the phone and ask to come over. There was no need for sneaking around!"

"I know. It was a stupid idea," she muttered, looking down into the contents of her box. This was all getting too much for Harry. Nikki was right there, close enough for him to just reach out and touch. He ached with longing, but knew he couldn't do anything; they'd gone beyond that stage now. Not trusting himself not to do something stupid, Harry said, "Perhaps you should leave; you're confusing Charlie by coming back."

Nikki nodded forlornly, bending down to stroke the dog one more time. "Bye bye, Charlie," she muttered, ruffling his head and pressing a kiss into his fur. When she straightened up, Harry was surprised to see that for the second time in twenty-four hours, Nikki held his gaze steadily. Her eyes were shining with guilt, although Harry didn't know whether it was over him or Charlie.

"I'm sorry, Harry," she breathed sadly, so quietly that Harry almost didn't hear her. A lump formed in his throat, preventing him from speaking so he nodded instead. "I didn't mean to ... I didn't want to ..." she seemed unable to explain.

Clearing his throat, Harry said, "I wish you'd finish your sentences." He gave her a tiny, sad smile, trying to tell her that yes, he was hurting, but he didn't want her beating herself up over it. Nikki smiled back slightly, a flicker of understanding flashing across her face. There was a slightly uncomfortable silence, until Nikki broke it by saying, "I'll see you at work in a few hours."

"I suppose you will," Harry replied, his voice marginally cooler than normal. Picking up her box, Nikki walked away from Harry. He didn't follow her, and twenty seconds later he heard the door shut quietly.

He ran his hands over his face vigorously. That was so bizarre; he couldn't believe it actually happened. Nikki had snuck in at five in the morning to get a few bits, just because she didn't want to see him. Part of Harry was angry. The other part knew that it was time to say goodbye.

*

Upon arriving at work, Harry walked over to his desk and immediately retrieved his paperwork from the previous day. He read through it for the millionth time before throwing back onto his desk with a sigh. There was nothing anywhere that could put Wallace at the scene of the murder. Just as Harry was about to give up completely, Leo walked into the room. He smiled at Harry and changed direction to walk over to him.

"Good morning," his boss greeted cheerfully.

Harry just grunted in response. Leo frowned. "Are you hungover?"

"No!" Harry protested. "I told you I wouldn't drink last night, and I didn't."

"So what's wrong then?"

"I am losing the will to live, Leo. How are we supposed to get this guy if there is no evidence to say that he did it?"

Leo sighed and shook his head. "I don't know, Harry. We haven't got long left to find out, either."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, a crease forming between his eyebrows.

"The police can only keep him in custody for another twenty-four hours. At eight o'clock tomorrow morning he'll be free to go if they can't charge him with murder."

"Shit!" Harry exclaimed, slamming his pen onto his desk frustratedly.

"I'm really sorry, Harry, but I don't think there's much more we can do," Leo told him gently.

"Of course there's more we can do, Leo!" Harry cried. "There's always something more that can be done! And if you won't help me then I'll just have to do it on my own!"

He stood up abruptly so that he was eye-level with Leo and glared at his boss. Leo didn't flinch, however.

"Will you stop biting my head off, Harry," he said calmly. "None of this is my fault. And of course I'm going to help you. You know that."

Harry sank back down into his chair, now feeling guilty on top of everything else. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

Leo just nodded before grabbing Nikki's chair and wheeling it across to the other side of Harry's desk. He then pulled the Victor Alexander file towards him.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"There must be something, somewhere, that we're missing," Leo mused thoughtfully. "No killer is that perfect."

"Well this one obviously is," Harry replied mutinously.

Leo ignored him, just gazed down at the papers in front of him. "Let's go and look at the crime scene again," he said eventually. "Come on, I'll drive."

Harry, buoyed by this newfound enthusiasm, wasted no time in getting to his feet and pulling on his coat. He took the lead as he quickly marched from the lab, despite Leo's protests to slow down. But Harry finally felt like he was getting somewhere, like progress was being made. That was, until he rounded a corner and collided with an oncoming Nikki.

The sudden close proximity that neither of them had felt for nearly a week meant that Harry's feet were stuck to the ground. He couldn't move. Nikki seemed to be the same, just gazing up at Harry with something that looked like shock, confusion and – dare he say it – longing, etched on her flushed face. He was close enough to be able to smell the gentle flowery fragrance of her hair, something that he'd missed a great deal. All he had to do was move his head forward just a few inches and he'd be able to feel her lips on his once again...

Internally scolding himself, Harry tried to rid himself of these thoughts. Unable to take it any longer, he placed his hands on the tops of Nikki's arms and gently moved her away from him. This seemed to snap Nikki out of her daze and she cleared her throat before turning to Leo, who'd just caught up.

"Where are you going?" she asked her boss, seemingly determined not to look at Harry.

"To a crime scene," Leo replied, without a trace of hesitancy.

"Oh. Both of you?" Nikki frowned.

"Yes, both of us," Leo said simply.

"Oh," Nikki repeated. She suddenly looked up and her eyes connected with Harry's. His breath caught, causing his throat to constrict painfully. He opened his mouth to say something, but didn't know what.

Then he felt a hand on his elbow, and Leo started to drag him away.

"We'll see you later, Nikki," the older man said.

As soon as they were in the car park and out of ear shot from Nikki, Harry said, "What the hell are you doing?"

"You told me that you wanted to get over her, Harry," Leo said sharply as they climbed into his car.

"I do! I am!"

"Well obviously you're not! You both need to either get back together, or move on; and as I don't see the former happening anytime soon, then I think you need to work on the latter, don't you?"

"Wow, Leo, don't hold back," Harry muttered sarcastically, tugging his seatbelt across himself ferociously.

"I'm sorry, but you need to face the reality of your situation!"

"Leo, I miss Nikki so much that it physically hurts! I drank myself to sleep for three nights and laid wide awake for the last two. I've not only lost the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, but my best friend too! She and I exist in a state of total silence now, with the only words we do say being either forced or," he turned to look out of the window, a small smile on his lips, "incomplete sentences."

Leo puzzled at this last bit, but when he saw how genuinely upset Harry was he sighed, immediately softening.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I know you miss her, and I know this is not even remotely easy for you. I just want everything to go back to normal."

"Yeah, well. You're not the only one. Let's just get to this crime scene, shall we?" Harry said, changing the subject. Leo smiled at him before turning to key in the ignition.

*

"This is it?" Harry surveyed the scene with a look of utter disgust on his face.

"This is the place," Leo confirmed.

Harry slowly stepped down the alleyway. It was the worst place imaginable to be left for dead. The bins were overflowing with sloppy, stinking bags of rubbish. There was a general odour of urine about the place, and fumes from the restaurant's generator filled the air. Harry spotted a small piece of tin foil on the ground next to a syringe, a tell-tale sign of drug abuse. Harry grimaced as he stood on something that turned out to be a used condom, and flicked it aside with the tip of his shoe. It landed on what looked suspiciously like human faeces. It was either that or a bloody big dog. Oh, how he hoped it was a dog.

Of course, the SOCOs had long since left the area, so technically it wasn't a crime scene anymore, but there was still this flicker of hope inside Harry that refused to be extinguished. He didn't even know what they were hoping to find.

"Where was Mr Alexander found exactly?" he asked Leo.

Leo stepped forward, and for the first time Harry noticed the brightly coloured plastic cones that he was holding.

"Right here," he said, dropping a yellow cone at a particular spot. Harry tried to picture Mr Alexander where the marker was, but that made him think of Nikki, so he stopped. "There was a blood splatter on the fence here," Leo continued, pointing to a spot, "but it looks like the rain has washed it away now..."

"What are we even doing here, Leo? What on earth are we hoping to find?" Harry sighed.

"I don't know," Leo said. "But getting out of the lab and seeing all this again might do us some good."

They examined every inch of the area, spoke to the chef when he came outside for a cigarette, and even re-enacted the shooting, but got nowhere. An hour later and Harry was cold, tired and annoyed.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I was really hoping that this would get us somewhere," Leo said wearily.

Harry groaned and kicked the wall in frustration. However, far from relieving his anger he now had a sharp pain in his toe as well.

They went back to the lab, annoyed and dissatisfied. Nikki was sat at her desk, but she barely glanced up when Harry sunk down opposite her. However, he found that he didn't care. He was beyond caring now.

He plucked the case file from the bottom drawer in his desk, and once again began to read through it, even though he practically knew it off by heart. He stared down at the cover page inside the folder. Victor Alexander ... cause of death: gunshot wound to the head.

What was he missing? There was something about that final sentence... Then it hit him gunshot wound! Harry abruptly stood up from his chair, gasping in realisation. Even Nikki looked up at him. Grabbing the folder, Harry marched straight over to Leo's office. He entered without knocking, roughly shutting the door behind him.

"Gunshot," he said loudly, dropping the file in front of a startled Leo. "He was killed with a gun!"

"Yes," Leo said slowly. "Are you feeling alright, Harry?"

"He was murdered. With a gun. So where is it?"

The question hung in the air like the elephant in the room. Leo raised his eyebrows.

"Well... They couldn't find a gun. They searched Wallace's flat and other properties that he's associated with, but nothing.

"What about gun residue on his clothes and hands? Any injuries from a recoil? Anything like that?" Harry asked frantically.

"No, Harry. It was a few days before they even suspected Jermaine Wallace. By that time he'd disposed of his clothes, ditched the gun and had a shower. I swabbed him when they arrested him, but there was nothing on him," Leo explained.

Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair. Then he froze, thinking.

"What?" Leo asked. "Harry, what is it?"

"Where does he live?" Harry asked quietly, more to himself. He grabbed the folder from the desk and roughly rifled through the pages until he found the details of Jermaine Wallace. Then he rushed around to the other side of Leo's desk and grabbed his computer keyboard.

Leo just watched in bemusement as Harry typed in the address onto Google and a map appeared on the screen. Harry traced the roads with his finger until he found the council estate he was looking for.

"There, look!" he said suddenly, twisting the screen around so that Leo could see. "There's a lake right there beside the estate. If he was going to get rid of the gun, surely that would be the place that he'd do it!"

"Harry... That's a bit of a long shot. There are a million other places that he could have dumped it between the restaurant and his flat," Leo said placatingly.

"Yes but, Leo! Come on! This is the strongest chance we've got," Harry persisted, moving back to his original spot opposite Leo so that he could make eye contact with him.

"Even if it is there, we can't do anything," Leo argued.

Harry began to get frustrated. "Yes we can!" he cried. "Leo, at the touch of a button you can have a forensic dive team in that lake within the hour!"

"It's a big lake, Harry, and we don't even know if the gun is in there."

"Yes, but what if it is?" Harry argued hotly. "We have," he checked his watch, "twenty-one hours and thirty-seven minutes until Wallace walks free. This could be our only chance to get him, Leo. Think of Nikki. She needs us to catch the guy who murdered her father."

Harry waited with baited breath as Leo watched him through narrowed eyes, obviously weighing up his options.

"Fine," Leo said eventually. "I'll get the team down there. But on your head be it, Harry. If you don't find anything, then you'll have to explain to the coroner why you wasted all the resources."

"Okay," Harry said, shooting Leo a grateful smile. "I'll get my kit sorted and get down to the lake. Are you coming?"

"I can't now; I have other work to do. I might pop by and see how you're getting on later though."

"Right then, I'll see you later. I'll let you know if I find anything," Harry told him, making to leave the office.

"Bye. Oh, and Harry? Don't get your hopes up too much," Leo warned.

Harry nodded. "I won't. I promise. But I am going to find this gun."

Right, I know I said on my LJ blog that this chapter would be different, and called 'How To Say Goodbye', but it just got waaay to long. I mean, this chapter is only half of what I have written and it's over 3,000 words! So I thought I'd split it into two chapters, which threw a spanner in the works, I'm telling you! However, I promise that I shall have the next chapter up tomorrow sometime, without fail!
Mind you, tomorrow is actually today now, seeing as it's past midnight... Ah, I shouldn't have stayed up so late! I was really struggling with this chapter, I must have just lost track of time.
Let me know what you think, it's not very good, I know.
Charlotte xxx