Chapter 32

When Wednesbury walked through the door to the office later that morning he found Harry himself sitting at Nikki's desk with a pile of reports in front of him. Wednesbury paused wondering whether he should say something to him or whether he should just go and find Leo himself. He had sensed over the previous few weeks that there was something 'special' about the relationship between both Nikki and Harry. A sense of something that was beyond what you would expect of a normal colleague relationship so he wouldn't like to guess at what Harry was feeling now. Certainly, the man in front of him looked more haggard than what should be expected by a restless night, he also observed that occasionally his hand drifted over to stroke Nikki's mug from the previous night as if it was a link to his missing colleague.

"I might have guessed we'd see you around here." Wednesbury looked back at Harry, realising that he had probably been standing there for several minutes pondering and that Harry had probably realised he had entered the minute the door had slammed. Wednesbury searched his mind for a suitable sentence of condolence, but before he could decide upon something Harry had continued,

"I really shouldn't be surprised, I mean, this is more your scene isn't it? Not a 10 year old domestic case but a live-and-kicking, fully fledged attempted murder. A pathologist cut down in her own cutting room. This is going to do wonders for your professional reputation."

Wednesbury dispensed with condolences, "Harry, I think I can easily deduce from that what you think of me, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm going to need you to help me with this. We need to all work together to find out who did this, who broke in here and harmed Dr Alexander. We both want the same thing at the end of the day, don't we, justice for Nikki?" He looked back at the man, Harry had placed the file back onto the desk and was now staring intensely in his direction. Wednesbury waited impatiently for his reply realising that the whole investigation was going to be a lot easier with Harry on side.

Eventually, Harry replied and like with his previous conversation with Ellie, during the silence he had realised that he had let his emotions overwhelm and once again regretted his outburst instantly. Of course Wednesbury was here to help, he didn't need to like him, he just had to trust him to do his job.

"Then get out there, Wednesbury, go do your job this time. Go and find out who it was that hurt her."

"I am. Harry. I'm trying." Harry sensed his sincerity and the two men shared a moment of agreement.

Harry looked back at the reports that he had been trawling through, Wednesbury sensed that this was probably the end to their conversation and turned to leave and find Leo.

"Wait." Wednesbury turned back to face Harry wondering what more the man had to say to him. "I need to know about the Davies case." Wednesbury sighed, he should have guessed that Harry was not going to just let him investigate, he was going to want to be involved somehow.

"I know she wasn't meant to be involved in it, but she obviously was," Harry continued, "She never could just let something go. Who was it that she spoke to at the scene? Is there anything that could be a link? A suspect with a grudge? An angry relative? Anyone who could have wanted to hurt her."

"Leave it to us, Harry, the police, it's not your job, it's not for you to torture yourself with."

"She was my colleague,..." Harry continued

"She is your friend." Wednesbury retorted abruptly, "Which is the precise reason why you shouldn't be getting involved."

At that, something seemed to switch on within Harry, He stood up as if to face down the man in front of him, the file was thrown down onto the desk in exasperation."I don't even know why I am speaking to you about this. You didn't even want her on that case, you got her kicked off it, so how can I trust you?" Harry paused for a response from the man but got nothing. "She's one of the best forensic pathologists around and you wanted her out, were you worried she would discover something you didn't want found?" During his speech he had unconsciously raised his finger to jab mindlessly in the air in front of him. The act of a teacher tending to a naughty pupil. It was if he could pour out his anger at the situation into the man opposite, as if he needed him to respond.

Wednesbury held out his hands, back away, it seemed to signal. Harry obliged by stepping back, realising how foolish his actions must have appeared to any onlookers. "Hear me out will you," Wednesbury began and then paused, considering how much he should be revealing to Harry, "I went to the Super. I told him I thought he was making a dangerous mistake, that she was the best person for the job and that pandering to the whims of an MP, eminent or not, was going to lead to the case being compromised."

"It was the Father?"

"As soon as he heard, he rang the Super. They're old friends apparently, part of the old boys club, no doubt. He was the one that insisted Dr Keats, someone independent we thought, or maybe it was because she had made such a mess at the last place she worked. It was never a reflection on Nikki or the department. I would expect the Super only agreed because he was worried about the reputation of his own department. I mean, it's like the office was on trip advisor. By the time I found this out Nikki would never let me explain."

As Wednesbury's explanation concluded, Harry was sure he could sense the distain within Wednesbury's voice at his superior's actions, unprompted Wednesbury continued."I know you're angry, Harry. But this isn't the way to deal with it."

"I don't see how I feel has got anything to do with you?"

"I've seen it all before, Harry." Harry was taken aback by this answer, he wasn't entirely sure what to make of it.

"Are you trying to tell me I'm wrong to feel this way? Then tell me how I should be feeling? "

"I know exactly how you feel," Wednesbury softened his tone.

"You feel utterly helpless. Your mind is telling you that you will feel better if you could just find out how it happened, your heart is telling you to run and pretend it never did." His voice wavered slightly.

"That sounds like a voice with experience."

"I lost my brother 4 years ago," Wednesbury continued, his voice stoic. "He spent 3 weeks in a coma before he went, hovering between coming and going while we watched." Harry sighed and sat back down onto his chair.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Wensbury echoed his sigh and leant against the side of the desk.

"He was a copper, a bloody good one, but he stepped out in front of a car during a chase and well that was it. They tried their best to save him, whilst I tried everything to find out why."

They were silent for a moment, Harry's mind returned to Nikki and he suddenly felt a pang of guilt that he wasn't by her side.

"So I know that at the moment you think that is is pointless by her side waiting for her to wake up. That she doesn't know if you are there or not so you should instead be doing something productive, trying to find the reason why she is in this mess." Harry found himself subtly nodding inside.

"But, this is important, when you look back on this time you will realise that those minutes, hours even, they will become the most important moments of your life...when they are gone you will never get them back... perhaps if I had realised this all those years ago, I wouldn't be living everyday wishing I had taken the time to stop and savour them."

Again the room descended into silence, Harry found himself pondering Wednesbury's words, suddenly he had turned from the jerk who had kicked Nikki off the case to a man that was obviously still grieving for his brother.

Wednesbury, realising that he had given the man infront of him plenty to think about, turned to flee the room. But then realised that he had one more thing to say, "Harry go home."

"I can't there is too much to do." Harry said hurriedly, picking up the file he had dropped earlier.

"You know what they say, Rome wasn't built in a day,"