Chapter 25
"Harry!" Leo's booming voice seemed to cut into their silence like an unwelcome guest. Harry pushed aside his keyboard and stood up, he looked over to the desk opposite, Nikki had barely acknowledged his presence all morning preferring instead to stare at her computer screen. He had a feeling that if he could actually see her report that it would be limited to a couple of sentences that she had spent her morning rewording and deleting. Suddenly remembering the reason for standing up he strode off towards Leo's office.
"I've just had another case come in," Leo began, thrusting a brown folder in Harry's direction. "Oak Field School." Harry took the folder and flicked to the map that Leo had helpfully provided.
"Do you want it?" Harry looked down at the map, the circled area consisted of large fields and what looked like a grand building in the middle of nowhere.
"I don't think you're going to give me a choice." Harry replied.
"I've got meetings with the Senior Leadership team all afternoon, if you want to swap, I'm all in favour."
Harry bit his lip and grinned before shaking his head. Leo smiled back.
"Shame, what I'd do to not have to sit through another meeting about the state of our finances. Anyway, have fun and take Nikki with you and talk to her Harry, I'm tired of her moping around the place." Leo looked back at his desk expecting Harry to make his exit but when he looked back he was still standing looking down at Leo.
"What is it Harry?" Harry paused for a moment.
"Is that wise?" Leo looked at him questioningly, "Taking Nikki with me….It is a boy's school, I'm not sure they see many women."
"I expect half the staff are women, it's a school, not a prison. I should probably be more worried about you and the female teachers..." Harry pointed to himself, with a wide grin and Leo nodded.
"I've got a lot on, Harry. I'm sure you can manage." Persuading Nikki was taking more effort than Harry had predicted. He decided a change of tact was needed.
"Leo wants you on this case." She looked up at him so he seized the opportunity. "He just wants me to keep you company. I think this is Leo's way of stopping me irritating him by pacing around the office."
"We can take my car." She suddenly announced reaching for her coat from the back of the chair. Harry gave an internal cheer, he knew her well enough to know that with his powers of persuasion she didn't stand a chance.
However as they made their way down to the cutting room on their way to exit the building by the back door where Nikki had hidden her car, they were greeted by the sound of a pneumatic drill which was piercing the normal silence of the lower levels of the mortuary.
"What's that?" Harry exclaimed turning back to his companion. Nikki seemed more nonplussed about the racket emanating from the door to the carpark and was leisurely strolling behind him. It was if she was almost oblivious to it.
"They're relaying new cables outside for the new Science centre. Leo said he tried to persuade them to finish at the weekend but they have apparently got a deadline to keep."
On reaching the door, Harry quickly observed that it was open. That was why the noise had been so deafening. He pushed it open and kicked away the stone that was blocking it from closing. Outside the sound was predictably louder, Nikki made her way over to her car that was parked near where the workmen were ripping up the old tarmac. Harry however stopped and glanced over to where the construction workers had pulled up the pavement and excavated a long strip of the carpark ready to lay their new cable.
"I don't think you will be taking your car." He stated. Nikki already had her key in her hand she turned back to him.
"My car is tidier Harry and I don't trust your driving." She pressed the button on her remote and the car flashed into life.
"That may be so, Nikki but it doesn't fly." Harry gestured over to the trench which stretched across the entrance to the carpark.
"Damn" Nikki replied. "They dug that quick."
"Didn't you see the signs?" Harry pointed out the two triangles standing by the gate to the carpark. She shook her head.
"No, I was on autopilot this morning."
"Come on, let's find my car that is safely parked out the front." He began to stroll back into the building, Nikki paused for a second watching the workmen return to their pneumatic drill to begin a second round of drilling. She sighed disappointedly.
Harry's car was as untidy as she had earlier predicted. She had to clear off the detritus of his daily commute before she could even see the front seat let alone sit in it. As she threw the third coffee cup onto his back seat she caught site of an official looking envelope underneath, the address on the back was Hungary and Nikki assumed that it was probably something to do with the trial. Before she could examine it any further Harry swiped in and bundled the rest of his junk into the back of the car. She guessed that he was still unwilling to tell her about what was happening with the trial and she was unwilling to push him, if he wanted to tell her he would.
The car ride down was completed in silence, Harry tried to make trivial conversation but was thwarted by Nikki requesting that he turn the radio volume up so that she could listen to the news and then to some scientists discussing a new drug for controlling the size of tumours. On other occasions he would have enjoyed it too but her current demeanor was bothering him.
"I'm going out with some friends from college later, do you fancy joining us?" She didn't reply, she seemed to be more interested in what was going on outside.
They had by now pulled up outside a large red brick building, it had archways spread across it's facade, Nikki noted that it gave the place a rather austere look. As they pulled up to the officer at the gates they were guided round the corner to the side of the site. There ahead of them was a long line of metal fence panels and beyond was a chaos of building paraphernalia and rising above it what looked like a nearly finished block. The builders had yet to fit the windows but other than that it resembled the other teaching blocks that also occupied the rest of the rear of the school site. Littered amongst the detritus were groups of police officers and an ambulance still sitting with its lights flashing. Nikki observed on further inspection that many of them were staring upwards at the building, she followed their gaze and there on the top floor, stood on the window frame was a black figure.
"Dr Cunningham?" Nikki shook her attention back to see that Harry had wound down the window and a young officer now stood alongside them.
"Yes." Harry answered, he turned to indicate Nikki "This is my colleague, Dr Alexander."
"This way," the officer indicated for them to follow so the two departed the vehicle, she patiently waited by the car as they changed into their white suits and then they let her guide them away from the plethora of vehicles and on through a small gap in the wire fence. "The deceased is just around here." She led them around the corner of the building, across the front, looking ahead of them there seemed to be no sign yet of any body.
"We'll have to go round this way," she continued leading them through a parting in the walls through a grey, unfinished concrete room to an open courtyard in the centre of the building. Within the courtyard the police had set up their traditional white tent and several officers now stood at it's door in a quiet, respectful huddle. The officer pointed them towards the tent and once they were closer she stepped forward to hold back the door. The huddle of people parted as they approached and all eyes were focused on the pair, no word was said.
"Through here, but listen out, one of the stupid boys is still up there, this one decided to take the short route."
Their examination proceeded very routinely, at first glance it seemed to be a simple case of a fall from a height, the injuries all corroborated the facts that they had been told. Once their initial search had been completed Nikki found herself compelled to carefully replace the clothes upon his body hiding his horrific injuries, she brushed his mop of bloodspattered curly brown hair back behind his ears. Harry observed her actions and pondered whether to step in and remind her that this was a crime scene, but he knew that all the information had now been gathered and soon the body would be removed anyway.
Once Nikki had finished tidying the child she turned back to the officer who had stood at the door the entire time.
"Have his parents been informed?" Nikki enquired. The officer seemed to jump slightly, Nikki guessed that she was probably half asleep, it must have been an early start.
"I think the Headmaster was dealing with that."
"We're going to need to get up there and see where he jumped." Harry interjected, "Any idea how long that will be?"
The officer shook her head, "I've no idea, there's another boy still up there and from what I've heard he's pretty adamant this is what he wants to do."
"Not that convinced," He replied, "If he was, he would have followed his mate."
"Let's hope he doesn't." Nikki stood up and began to pack her tools back into her bag.
"I'll see that the boy is transported back to the Lyle." The officer replied sensing that the pathologists were now satisfied, "Before you go, the head teacher asked for you to go and meet him at his office, he has the boy's file for you."
The two did as they were told and made their way back the way they had come. They left the confines of the building site and sauntered over to the imposing red brick building. As they approached a stream of immaculately dressed boys filed out and Harry and Nikki stopped to let them past. They were all dressed in the same uniform that had bedecked the boy in the tent, a neatly pressed burgundy blazer with the crest of the school emblazoned upon it, white shirt and a burgundy tie. Nikki glanced over to Harry, with his shirt untucked and his hair once again moppish and sticking out all over the place, he marked a distinct similarity to his car and the polar opposite to the group they had just past. They continued to watch the boys as they marched around the lawn in the direction of another building, then continued up the steps to the building.
"Wait, Nikki, just give me a moment." Harry had stopped in front of one of the notice boards in the corridor leading to the office.
"What is it?"
"Look at this picture." Nikki stopped beside him. She glanced at the noticeboard, upon it was the faces of the members of staff at the school. She looked up at Harry not understanding why it was so interesting for him.
"This is apparently Sarah Ledgers." She followed Harry's hand until her gaze landed upon a small label beneath the picture of a young woman.
"Yes, that's what it says." Harry looked at her expectedly, "What about her." Harry shook his head then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Nikki tapped her foot impatiently.
"We need to go Harry. He's waiting for us and something tells me he isn't someone you keep waiting."
"One minute." Harry replied, he was now tapping away on his phone. Then he held up the phone alongside the picture. Nikki now realised what he had spotted, there on his phone was a picture of the woman he had recently examined at the Lyell Centre. The pictures showed a remarkable similarity.
"She cleans this school, look…. " Harry guided her eyes toward a small label above the small group containing the woman, ' Cleaned by Pristine and Clean'.
"I thought you said she was a teacher?"
"I think we may have to have another look."