The Torchwood Murders - Chapter One

Author: Milady Dragon

Disclaimer: I don't own it, and that's a shame

Author's note: This is starting The Torchwood Murders, the Dragon-Verse version of "The Keep Killing Suzie". There were some serious scientific errors in this episode that got to me, and I corrected a bunch of them. I mean, DNA cannot tell is someone smokes!

24 November 2007

Jack parked the SUV with his usual reckless abandon, and it was only due to years of practice that Ianto didn't grab onto the stabilization handle – or the 'Jesus Fucking Christ, Harkness!' handle, as Owen was fond of calling it – to keep from having the seatbelt choke him to death as he was thrown forward. It was a sheer miracle that Jack had managed to avoid the various pandas and other official vehicles that were parked outside the rather nondescript house that was the address Detective Inspector Swanson had given him when she'd called to report an incident that might be Torchwood-related.

Ianto unhooked his belt then left the SUV just after Jack, and he knew Owen was just behind them. Toshiko had also come, but she was staying in the SUV, in order to run various scans and searches on the scant information the DI had given him during their short phone conversation. Gwen was back at the Hub, doing a bit of training on monitoring the team while they were onsite, even though she'd been miffed about being left behind.

Swanson had sounded strained; and as Ianto approached her he could see that she looked about the same as she'd sounded. There were tight lines around her eyes, and her back was so straight Ianto had to wonder if it hurt to stand like that. She crosser her arms as they approached, tucking a file folder under her elbow to hold it in place.

"At last," she snapped. "You took your time."

Jack gave her a flirtatious grin. "I'm sure it was worth your wait, Detective Swanson."

Swanson rolled her eyes. "Jones, can't you control him?"

"What have we got?" Ianto asked, in order to avoid actually answering that question.

"Three victims, although the first was yesterday," Swanson reported, opening the folder that she'd been holding. "That one was Alex Arwyn, murdered at his home on Oakham Street. He was twenty-eight, single, a real estate agent." She passed the folder to Ianto, and both Jack and Owen crowded in to see it as well.

The photos were gruesome. Blood was everywhere, and the victim lay in a large pool of it. It looked as if he'd been butchered.

"Today, we get two more," Swanson went on. "Mark and Sara Briscoe, both thirty-three, married. He's a surveyor and she works in education."

"What's that on the wall over the body?" Jack asked, taking one of the photographs, in order to get a closer look. "Is that some sort of writing?"

He gave the photo back to Ianto, who squinted at the area Jack had indicated. Yes, it did look like someone had tried to write something, and the dragon wondered why the killer hadn't finished whatever it was. He certainly doubted it had been the victim, that poor soul would have been too badly injured to try anything, even if he'd still been alive at the time.

"Work in progress," Swanson answered. "Come on in and see the finished thing."

The detective led the way into the house, past several other coppers and SOCO as they worked to gather evidence. The interior was nicely decorated, and Ianto appreciated the taste of whomever it had been who'd purchased the furniture. The lounge was neat, he noticed as they passed through toward the hallway leading into the rear of the home.

He could smell the coppery tang of blood as they approached the crime scene. It was thick in the air, like a fog over everything. Ianto could tell that Jack could smell it as well; the man's 51st century senses were a bit stronger than the humans of this time, but not as strong as Ianto's own, even in his ephemeral form. He swallowed to keep from gagging on it.

Swanson must have noticed; she gave him a tiny, sympathetic smile.

The bedroom was a disaster. The place had been trashed, even as the owners lay on the bed, deep rusty blood staining the sheets. It was obvious that the victims' throats had been cut, and that they had bled out. Various crime scene techs were about, gathering more of what might be evidence and taking pictures of the pair of corpses.

But it was the wall that drew Ianto's attention.

Written in great swaths of blood across what had once been off-white paint was the word, 'Torchwood'.

"Shit," Owen swore. Ianto agreed with him,

"Looks like someone's trying to get your attention," Swanson said.

"They've got it," Jack growled. The expression on his face meant trouble for whoever had done this.

Owen passed out gloves, and Ianto put his pair on. He couldn't help but stare at the two bodies, wondering if they'd been somehow killed because of something Torchwood was involved in, or if they'd just been unlucky enough to be chosen as victims for a random murderer. Either way, it made his blood boil. He couldn't understand the need for certain humans – and various aliens – to deliberately murder others. Of course he understood killing in war, or for vengeance, but this…no, he didn't think he'd ever quite get it.

"We found a few of what we think are the killer's hairs at the scene of yesterday's murder," Swanson went on. "The results should be in soon."

"Good," Jack answered. "We'll need those. Ianto, could you and Detective Swanson clear the room? Some of our equipment is strictly need to know."

The dragon was glad Jack had asked him, because the blood smell was starting to get to him. He didn't usually have a weak stomach; after all, he did all the clean-up for Torchwood operations, and he'd dealt with things that would make the most experienced SOCO sick. But there was something about this particular scene that disturbed him, and he keenly felt the urge to leave.

Swanson sighed, and turned toward the door. "Okay, everyone out," she called to her people. Then she looked back toward Jack. "It was only a matter of time."

Jack looked back at her. "What was?" he asked, his eyes angry.

Swanson must have seen the expression, because she took a step back. But her own features didn't change; they were nearly as angry as Jack's were. "Torchwood walks all over this city," she answered. "It's like you think you own it. Now these people have paid the price for it. From where I'm standing, you did this, Captain. You did this."

With those words, she left the room behind her investigators, leaving the three with the two dead people.

Jack sighed. "Sometimes I wish they'd just get why I act the way I do…go with her, Ianto. I wouldn't even try to spin this in a good way."

"Still," Owen said, opening his equipment case, "at least we've got a head start. If it's someone we've pissed off, that narrows it down to…oh, about four or five million."

"And that's just the humans," Jack added. He activated his comm. "Tosh, how are we doing?"

Ianto activated his own comm. in order to hear Toshiko's report, as he left Jack and Owen to it. He could understand Swanson's frustration; he felt it sometimes as well. Jack was always running over people in the name of Torchwood business, and Ianto had often warned him that his attitude could backfire. Jack seemed determined to get on the bad side of just about anyone in authority. The dragon had tried to get him to change his ways, but nothing worked. Ianto chalked it up to Jack's tiny streak of megalomania. And yes, Jack Harkness did have one, as much as the immortal wanted to deny it.

But he also knew that Jack did some of what he did to protect innocents. Ianto didn't agree with how he did it, and it often took a lot of soothing of ruffled feathers to get people back on speaking terms with them, but Ianto did it because it was necessary.

"I've checked our mainframe," Toshiko said, her voice soft in Ianto's ear as the dragon left the house. "None of the victims are in it. I'm about to widen the search…wait, they have lab results."

"I've got it," Ianto said, approaching Swanson as she was handed a file. "Detective?" he said, not wanting to startle her.

"Jones," she acknowledged his presence. "Good timing, just got the test results on those hairs." She flipped the file open. "DNA is male, and doesn't match anything we have on our databases. I'm sure though you have more resources than we do." She favored Ianto with a knowing look, and the dragon didn't dissuade her. He could hear Toshiko in his ear, saying she would run the results through other criminal records. "Hm…looks like there's some interesting chemical traces from the hair itself. Some sort of unknown substance. Maybe a new type of designer drug?"

Ianto looked at the results. Something in the back of his mind niggled at him; he was certain he knew what that formula was.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Toshiko piped up on the comms. "It's Retcon," she proclaimed. "Whoever murdered those people had been given Retcon sometime in the near past, if these results are correct."

"How close, Tosh?" Jack demanded.

"Just a second…okay, judging from what I can find out about the length of the hair found, it would have had to have been within the last five months, give or take a month."

Ianto cursed silently, as both Jack and Owen did the same verbally. "Retcon can show up in hair long after it's been given," Owen explained. "Kinda like arsenic or other types of drugs."

"Why would the killer have been given Retcon?" Gwen's voice piped up. Ianto had almost forgotten she'd have been listening in.

"That's what we need to find out," Jack said. "Ianto, I'll want a full inventory of all Retcon supplies when we get back to the Hub. It might be too late to trace, but we can try. We'll also need lists of everyone given Retcon in that time period."

Ianto didn't answer; he didn't want Swanson knowing what was going on behind the scenes. Instead, he said, "We have more sensitive equipment; we can do a more detailed analysis. If it is something like that, we'll let you know."

Swanson nodded. "Thanks. We'll need to know if there's some sort of new drug out on the market. Just one more thing we need: a new substance to add to the repertoire." She sighed. "Look, Jones…you know how I feel about Torchwood. Hell, I've ranted to you about it enough times. I think you all are far too secretive for your own good, and Himself lets the power go to his head." Ianto knew she was talking about Jack, and he nodded slightly in response. "I also know Torchwood's been around Cardiff for at least a century, and that you handle all the weird shit that goes on. But I swear, if you lot had anything to do with the murders of those three people, I'll make it my life's work to take you down. I won't let anything stop me, including our friendship. Is that understood?"

"Completely, Detective." This was but one of the reasons Ianto respected her so highly; Kathy Swanson had a sense of justice that wouldn't let her quit, not matter the hurdles she had to face. It was so different from Gwen's stubborn streak, in that what Swanson did was for the best of everyone involved, while Gwen only seemed to think of what was good for herself. "And if it's someone just trying to drag us in where we wouldn't normally belong?"

"Then I'll have your backs. Honestly? I don't see yourself getting into something so sordid as murder. I don't think Himself would get his hands dirty like that, either."

She obviously didn't know Jack all that well, if she didn't think he'd get his hands dirty, but Ianto did know that the captain wouldn't commit cold-blooded murder. Execution…yes. Murder…no.

And Ianto knew very well what the difference between the two was, from his own personal experience.

The problem was, this was looking more and more like a Torchwood issue, even discounting the writing on the bedroom wall. With Retcon involved in some way, this investigation could become very nasty. If it was just there by coincidence, then things would be fine. But, if not…well, the dragon had been around far too long to believe in coincidence.

Neither had Jack. That he was certain about.