5.06 continues with this chapter! Alice has the autopsy results, and Jean has something to ask of Alice. - Dee
Matthew had just divested Alice of her shirt - his heart pounding in his chest as he took in the familiar red lingerie from his birthday gift underneath her clothes and leaned in to trail kisses down the column of her throat as the pounding continued, filling his ears; he jolted awake with a gasp and heard the pounding outside of his dark and empty bedroom.
Someone was at the door.
Rolling out of bed with a groan, Matthew threw on his robe and blearily limped from the room - intent on giving this late night visitor a piece of his mind about disturbing the peace. Jean hurried past him from the studio as he turned on the hallway light.
"Yes, alright! Coming!" Jean sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "Anna Marie, go back to bed."
"But what if it's a bad man?" Matthew's daughter yawned as she stopped on the stairs - Goose clutched tight in her arms.
"Go back to bed, sweetheart, we'll deal with this," he ruffled Anna's hair as Jean opened the door.
"Morning!" Alice's voice - bright and cheery far too early in the morning - greeted them all as she walked in.
"Is it?" Matthew wasn't sure what he was asking her exactly - he was more mildly annoyed that his sleep (and dream) had been disturbed at such an early hour.
"I have the autopsy results!" she brandished the thick folio with her biggest, brightest grin - the one that came out around scientific discoveries - ignoring Matthew's petulant question; it faded, however, when she finally looked at all of them, and Matthew felt her usual hotspot flare up on his inner lip.
"I… didn't realize how early it is, I'm sorry. It's just that… I thought you'd want to see the report as soon as possible and-"
"It's alright, sweetheart," Matthew reassured her and squeezed her shoulder - ignoring Jean's 'well to you maybe' look she was aiming at him from behind Alice's back. "You have a key, though, Alice, why not just use that?"
"Oh… I… I forgot in all the excitement."
He couldn't help but grin as he pulled her close - Lucien taking the folio off Alice's hands.
"I love you."
Alice's grin returned and she slipped her hands beneath his robe as Matthew leaned down to kiss her.
Lucien cleared his throat, "Uh, the autopsy results?"
Matthew flapped a hand in his friend's general direction, "Yes, yes, we'll get to it; I'm saying good morning to my future wife first."
"An important part of the investigation, is it?"
"How many times have you doubled back to kiss Jean?"
Lucien's laughter echoed in the hallway as they heard him and Jean walk away, "True, very true, my old friend. I'll be in the dining room when you've finished."
"Future wife, hm?" Alice teased him as he pulled her in for a kiss.
"Yeah," he kissed her again. "This is a kind of good morning I could get used to."
"Me too, o future husband of mine." Alice drew back from the kiss and ruffled his already mussed hair, "This is a look I could get used to as well."
Leaning in to kiss her one last time, Matthew smiled when Anna launched herself into Alice's arms; Alice kissed their daughter's head and held her tight.
"C'mon, Lucien's probably chomping at the bit, and someone needs to go back to bed before school."
"But, Daddy! I want to see the autopsy results too."
"No," both he and Alice told her at the same time.
"You're still far too young, my girl," Alice kissed Anna's forehead when the girl pouted. "I know it's all very interesting, but there are just some things that are meant for an older age."
"Okay…" their daughter sighed and snuggled up to Alice for as long as she could. "Can I sleep in your bed though, Daddy?"
"You just want to try and eavesdrop on us in the dining room don't you?" he tickled her lightly just to hear Anna laugh. "Sneaky, clever, silly girl."
"Go on," Alice set Anna down on the stairs and gently pushed her up them. "You need all the sleep you can get, I'm sorry I woke you up, Anna."
"It's okay, Mumma, at least I got to see you before school," Anna hugged her mother and dutifully padded back upstairs - Alice shushing Matthew until Anna's footsteps retreated into her bedroom.
"Well, no autopsy results or police reports brought home once we're in the new house," Matthew teased her lightly as he kissed her cheek, "not with our curious little girl sneaking around."
"No, we'll have to keep work at work for sure, or save it for when she's in bed."
He smiled and led her into the dining room, watching fondly as Alice arranged the photographs of Charlotte Worthington out on the table for Lucien to see.
"Well, Dr. Harvey? Could you walk us through it?" Lucien smiled as he and Matthew looked at her expectantly.
"Right," she cleared her throat and gestured to the pictures while Jean bustled around the kitchen some distance away.
"Cause of death was basal subarachnoid haemorrhage, usually associated with aneurysms at the base of the brain."
"Stroke?"
"At first glance, yes."
"Any… any damage to the cerebral arteries, the circle of Willis?"
Alice led Lucien up by Charlotte's photographed head, "I discovered a small amount of blood in the external auditory canal; opening the middle ear confirmed my suspicions: she was stabbed through the ear, piercing the eardrum and the internal carotid artery."
'What a way to go,' Matthew chewed on his lip as he gazed down at Charlotte's youthful face.
"Which resulted in a haemorrhage and, of course, death… it would explain the free gas on the x-ray," Lucien smiled when Alice nodded.
"Weapon?" Matthew asked - pulling the two pathologists back to the point on hand.
"Oh, anything long and thin," Lucien answered for the two of them.
Not what he wanted to hear, but it was a start.
"I'll call the station then," he started to limp from the room as Jean came in bearing a tray of tea. "And, Alice, I'll make sure Anna gets to school on time if you need to get back to the hospital."
"Thank you, Matthew."
Pausing to give Alice another kiss, Matthew left for the phone - he had a feeling it was going to be a long day.
Jean smiled as Lucien and Alice took their cups of tea from the tray - it faded when she caught sight of the autopsy photos spread out on her dining room table.
She was so young, this girl.
"Alice, it's a very clinical way to kill someone, isn't it? Cold, dispassionate," her husband continued to circle the table as he talked while Alice remained by her side; Jean couldn't stop staring at the girl, wondering - not for the first time - how Lucien and Alice could actively enjoy this line of work when they saw such things as this, day in and day out.
"I used the dark room at The Courier," Alice told her with a smile.
Somehow that made it even worse, and Jean forced the bile down her throat - ever more frequent these days, 'Not now, please not now.'
"Oh," was what she managed to say, and saw something shift on Alice's face, but Lucien interrupted before her friend could say something.
"No, I'm sorry. This… This isn't going to work for me; I… I have to go to the morgue."
"But I followed your instructions to the letter," Alice looked shocked and hurt - Jean knew that the ever present worry of not being good enough was rising in her friend at Lucien's statement.
"Yes, you did, brilliantly, and I'm ever so grateful," Lucien soothed her with a smile. "But, Alice, you understand. I-I-It's just not the same; Jean, I'm.. I'm no good to her here, I can't help her like this."
He looked to her, almost desperately - pleading with his eyes to have her let him go out of the sanctuary of their home and to the hospital; Jean looked down at the pictures once more, then to Alice, before she pulled herself up straight and nodded.
"Right, then… I'm coming with you."
Leaving no room for any arguments, Jean swept from the dining room and put the cooling tea tray on the kitchen table - her hands shaking the entire time; what had possessed her to insist she go along? Was it a need to see the girl? Was it a need to prove herself to her husband and friend? Was it a desire to see how Lucien worked? Or was it the selfish desire to not let her husband out of her sight for fear he might go gallivanting off sooner than he should be? Or was this the only way she could get Alice to run those tests without Lucien potentially eavesdropping?
Shaking her head, she heard Alice say to Lucien that she'd meet them at the morgue, and Matthew soon limped upstairs to rouse Anna once more for school - the girl would be very tired once she got home later today with all the excitement that had happened earlier.
"Jean?" Lucien's voice - hesitant and quiet, as though he thought he was in trouble reached her ears.
"Let's go get you dressed, my love," she patted his cheek with a soft smile.
"I… I just…"
"I know, Lucien," she patted it one more time before she pulled him towards the studio; both of them needed answers, and hopefully, both of them would get them.
The morgue was a little colder than she was expecting, but it made sense; Jean slipped inside behind her husband as Alice greeted them both with a smile.
"Jean, would you mind?" Lucien asked her softly as he held up his white coat. Wordlessly, she helped him into it. "Thank you… ah, wonderful."
He approached the laid out body slowly - Jean watched from her spot by the door, her feet frozen in place as the bright overhead light glowed against Charlotte Worthington's body.
"Hello, Charlotte," he was so soft and gentle with her. "I'm so sorry we're meeting like this."
"I think…" Alice started, clutching a clipboard to her chest like a child would a stuffed animal, "the bruising on her arms is too old to be from time of death."
Lucien nodded, "Which suggests she knew her killer - probably quite well. Clearly they were able to get in close without any resistance."
He lifted one of Charlotte's hands - so gently that Jean found herself blinking back tears.
"That's adhesive residue; I think it's from industrial tape."
"She was restrained?" Her husband asked Alice, who nodded.
"Yes, but not at the time of her death."
"The residue's been partially scrubbed away," he nodded along with her.
"Her intestines are blistered in a manner similar to the throat, probably caused by the large amount of raw chili I found in her digestive tract," Alice held up the kidney bean shaped dish for Lucien to see, and Jean clutched at her purse so tightly, her fingers started to go numb.
'She was so young,' she thought.
"Right," Lucien patted Alice on the shoulder as they looked down at Charlotte's body. "As you know, generally speaking, the body takes around seventy-two hours to process most foods."
"Which means that chili was consumed around the same time those bruises were received."
"Add to that, the adhesive tape around her wrists…"
"Yes," Alice nodded, reaching out to smooth a hand over Charlotte's hair - a gesture Jean had seen her use on Anna many a time - only to stop herself and bite her lower lip.
Lucien rounded to the other side of the table, "Who tortured you, Charlotte?"
Jean let out a shuddering sigh as Alice lifted the sheet over Charlotte's legs to reveal the burns; there were so many, so deliberate, and Jean's heart ached at the thought of the pain this girl had gone through.
"And then there are the burns… what on Earth would leave these kinds of marks?"
"Sorry," Jean interrupted and pressed her fingers to her lips as both Alice and Lucien looked up. "I'll wait outside, if you don't mind."
She slipped out of the morgue before either of them could protest and settled into one of the chairs outside with shaky legs; how could someone do that to a girl like Charlotte?
Sorrow and anger burned in her chest - how dare someone do this to someone else - and suddenly it all became a little clearer. Now, she understood why Lucien had the drive he did - why he insisted on working as hard as he did, take the risks that he did time after time. The way he and Alice worked together to find justice for the dead - for the ones who couldn't find justice for themselves - made sense.
The door opened and Lucien and Alice peered out - sans white coats - and eyed her with hesitant looks.
"I'm alright," she smiled softly.
"You're sure?" Lucien asked, only relaxing a little when she nodded. "Let's go home, my darling."
"I'll meet you at the car, I'd like to speak to Alice first."
Lucien's eyebrows rose and she caught the fire of curiosity in his eyes as Alice's wide eyes darted between the two Blakes; it almost made Jean laugh, no doubt Alice thought she was in trouble for earlier this morning.
"The car, Lucien," Jean prodded her husband gently, "I won't be long."
Lucien did as he was told, but Jean continued to watch him leave until she was sure he was out of earshot.
"Jean, if it's about this morning, I'm sor-"
"It's not, Alice," she patted Alice's arm with a smile. "I need your help."
"With what?"
"I think I'm pregnant."