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Blast From the Past - Part One
Summary: A familiar face returns in Sam's life as they find a woman's body on the train tracks. But is it all what it seems?
The alarm sounding off had grabbed her attention. Reaching over to her bedside table, Sam switched the snooze button on her phone. She had been awake for quite a while now, always one to wake up before her alarm. She'd just been lying in bed, letting her thoughts gather. It had been a good few months since she had started back at the Lyell and she was beginning to wonder why she left in the first place.
She hadn't quite realised just how much she missed it. It wasn't until she had set foot back in there and worked on her first case had it hit her. This was always where she was meant to be, always what she was meant to do. It was as though it was in her blood. She had thought she'd had enough of it, that she was fed up of dealing with death all the time. But, she had come to see that it wasn't something she could escape. So instead she chose to embrace it.
Pulling herself out of bed, she made her way into the kitchen. Since taking up the new position she had had to find herself a new house and almost start fresh. Which felt weird when she thought about how this had been her life for so long. But at least now she had an opportunity to inspire a new generation and build up a passion or fire within them to find answers for desperate people. She supposed that was what had brought her back, she needed the change and a purpose for something. Not just sat in an office pushing papers.
Evan had seemed to be settling in, or at least that was what Sam had gathered. She had tried not to pester him too much, rather wanting to give him the opportunity to get used to the place. With their line of work that's the only thing you can do, throw yourself into the deep end. Get used to the heartache first. That way you'll harden and you'll be able to deal with the stuff that is hurled at you. But from what she had seen, Sam could see that Evan had been dealing with it pretty well. And she knew that he was going to become a great forensic scientist once he got his degree.
She was about to pour the milk over her cereal when she could hear her phone buzzing on the counter. She walked over to it, her face screwing up as she didn't recognise the number. Swiping across, she pressed the phone to her ear.
"Hello Sam Ryan," she spoke. She listened to the voice on the other end of the line, a body had been found. Only one thankfully so there was no need to call Nikki in, she knew the woman could do with a break. She wrote down the address on a piece of paper and hung up.
Forgetting about the bowl of cereal that sat on her counter, she made her way into her bedroom, getting ready as quickly as possible and heading out to her car.
It didn't take her long to find the crime scene and she could see that Jack, and she assumed Evan, had already made it to the scene. She had thought that was unusually quick for Jack, he was normally the one turning up to late to crime scenes unless he was with Nikki. But she couldn't complain, it was nice to see Jack setting a good example for Evan.
Rounding her car to the boot, she pulled out her silver case and slipped on her white suit. She set about getting her gloves on as she let the boot of her car close. They hadn't given much information on the phone apart from that it was a young woman who had looked as though she had jumped in front of one of the passing trains. It was more than likely a suicide so Sam was struggling to see how a detective was getting involved. But she had come to stop questioning things so much these days, instead choosing to get on with what she was there to do. Provide scientific facts.
He watched as another person arrived. This one was obviously the pathologist, the colour of her suit giving that away. He had been counting the cars and the people. He had almost laughed to himself, all these people getting involved and not a single one of them were ever going to find him. They had no chance of figuring him out. He had done everything so carefully, so meticulously that they would never catch on. They'd never notice. He'd been getting away with it for so long now and he was free to do as he pleased. That freedom only spurred him on more, he knew he could get away with it. He refreshed the app on his phone, nothing new had been published, they still thought it was a suicide. And now this woman had turned up, he knew that she would be the one to confirm it. To confirm that he had done it again and he had gotten away with it.
This was the first time he had returned to the scene, he had wanted to know what it felt like. To actually get to see people interpreting your hard work. And it felt amazing, that feeling was like nothing else. It almost matched the feeling from the first time he had first set foot there. He continued watching for a couple of minutes, until he had caught eyes with the police officer and then he started his car and sped off. As though he was just some passerby interested in why police vans had parked up in the street.
She flashed her ID card to the police officer who had been standing next to the tape. She waited for him to tick her name off and then she was able to pass under it. Walking across the gravel she was could see Jack talking to Evan as he was photographing something and there was a detective stood behind them. No doubt he was questioning what they were doing.
Approaching them, she cleared her throat to grab their attention, "Professor Sam Ryan," she called out. She had already put her gloves on so she didn't bother holding her hand out to shake anyone's hand.
She could feel her stomach drop to the floor as the detective turned around. Now that was a face she hadn't seen for a very long time. She'd go as far to say that she had forgotten he even existed. She cursed herself for that terrible thought. Her eyes scanned over his face, taking him in as she stared back at him in utter disbelief.
"Michael?" She questioned, trying to keep her voice calm. She could see Jack in the corner of her eye flicking his head between them, trying to gauge what exactly was going on here and how these two people knew each other.
"Sam," Michael replied, a smile growing across his face. "You're still here then? I can't say I'm surprised."
"And what about you?" Sam could feel her cheeks getting warmer, she bowed her head trying her best to shrug off the growing embarrassment, "It's been a while hasn't it?" She was trying to divert the conversation.
Michael's face didn't drop as he watched the woman in front of him, quite happy to know that despite all these years being put in between them, they had not changed that much and he somehow still had an effect on her.
Those fifteen years since the last time she had seen him had felt like nothing now that he was stood in front of her. Rather feeling like a couple of months. And she could tell that the feelings she had for him all that time ago were going to resurface. He was one of the few people she had struggled to shake off and she still thought about him for years after. Not so much anymore but the spark was still there. The way her heart was racing right now was proof of that.
But she shook her head, remembering that she had a job to do and reminiscing on times gone could be done in her spare time; not when there was a body in front of her that needed to be examined in order to find answers. She tried to ignore the fact that he was watching her every move as she turned to look down at the body. Her face barely resembling a person as a result of the train hitting her at such a speed.
All the hallmarks of suicide seemed to be in the evidence around the body and nothing was jumping out to her that was out of the ordinary right now. As she bent down to have a closer look, the smell of alcohol had hit her in the face, the woman had been drinking. But there was no bottle to be seen.
"Have you taken anything from the scene yet Jack?" She asked, straining her neck to look up at the much taller man.
He shook his head whilst pursing his lips, "No," he replied, matter of factly before turning back to Evan who was taking more pictures.
"So it's likely that she had been out drinking before she came down here," she was now speaking to Michael. "And she is wearing what looks to be clothes one might wear on a night out so it's plausible. She must've gone out with someone. Have there been any missing persons reports in the area?"
"Nothing yet," Michael started. "At least, nothing that's matching her descriptions. We'll probably get something soon though. If she had been out with friends then somebody's going to be wondering where she ended up."
"It's going to be hard to get an ID but we might get something from the DNA but unless she's on the system we won't get much," she went on to explain. "Although if she was going out, I should expect to find some form of ID on the body. She can't be much older than twenty. Jack did you find anything?"
"No, I've not taken anything from the body," he answered before walking over to the embankment, gesturing with his finger. "This does look flattened though, could it be possible that she slipped down here first?"
Sam's brows furrowed, this was strange. Unless, she dropped her ID somewhere else? Or maybe there was another explanation as to what happened? If so, was this actually a suicide? Quickly remembering that Jack had asked her a question she went on to provide him with some kind of an answer, "There's a lot of mud on the body and on her clothes so I'd say so yeah." She must've dropped her stuff along the way, Sam thought to herself. "Jack, can you and Evan do a search of the area? See if there's anything that might belong to her; an ID card, a phone, a bag. Anything."
"Yes boss," Jack quipped, winking at her before nudging Evan in the direction away from the body.
Sam shook her head, rolling her eyes at the two of them walking away. Jack had been a difficult one to get used to, he was very standoffish towards her in the beginning. Not quite ready to move on from Thomas, but he had slowly succumbed to Sam. Although she thought that that had something to do with Nikki. She couldn't put her finger on those two, they were very close but nothing had seemed to have given. And now Nikki had supposedly broken up with this Matt, Sam was struggling to see why nothing had happened yet. Although she couldn't exactly say much, not with her situation with Michael over the years.
Turning back to him, she offered him a small smile before continuing her initial examination of the body. And it wasn't long before she had finished and was asking for the body to be moved, all the questions she had running through her head could only be answered when she was doing the post mortem. Standing up and peeling her gloves off, she made her way over to Michael.
"It's more than likely a suicide," she began to explain. "There are a few queries I have that need to be investigated so we can paint a better picture. But that can be done back at the Lyell."
Michael dug into his back pocket, pulling out a small card and handing it over to Sam, "That's my number if you need to give me a ring," he grinned, the blush growing on his cheeks. "I'm going to clear up a few things back at the station but I should be there in time for the post mortem. Can't wait to see you in action again."
Sam bit the inside of her cheek to stop the smile threatening to emerge. She nodded her head slowly, not wanting to give him an answer before she stepped back and headed towards her car.
Evan and Jack were in the middle of their sweep of the area, taking the time to walk up side streets, trying to find the possible path she took. Jack stopped as he spotted a shoe in the middle of an alleyway, he placed his arm in front of Evan stilling him.
"Have you got a bag?" He asked but Evan was already handing it to him. Taking it from him, Jack squatted down and picked up the shoe, placing it into the plastic evidence bag. "That has to be hers, right?"
Jack's eyes continued to scan the area, if this was the way she walked then they just had to follow this route and hopefully something else would pop up. Standing up straight again, he started walking further along, Evan close behind him almost like his third eye; ready to spot if he had missed anything. And it seemed as though he had as Evan called his name just as they reached the other end of the alleyway. Jack's eyes travelled to where Evan had been pointing at, bingo.
He patted Evan on the back briefly before moving to pluck the ID card up with his fingers. He scanned over the information, Frankie Jones, D.O.B 21st April 1998. Jack sighed, she was only twenty-two. He almost felt angry, she was just getting her life started and someone had ripped that away from her. But life had a funny way of doing that.
His mind had instantly been drawn to Thomas, he had tried not to think of him because it hurt too much. To know that he had died to save him. He knew Nikki and Clarissa had been there, watched it unfold in front of their very eyes. But neither of them spoke about it, just told him that Thomas' dying wishes was for him to be saved and for them to say goodbye to Rosie for him. He wished it had never happened, he wished that he had never gone to that crime scene. Then maybe, just maybe, Thomas would still be alive.
Thomas had died for him and he couldn't help but feel guilty about that. It was his fault. When he had met up with Clarissa and Nikki that day and they sat and watched Rosie with the kite, he couldn't look her in the eye. Because they all knew that he was the reason Thomas had taken that risk. He wanted to be the hero. That was always Thomas, taking on everyone's burden. Sorting everything out himself.
Jack closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he felt the panic rising up his throat. It had been like this for months, ever since he had been discharged from hospital. He didn't know how to deal with it, it had never gotten this bad before. Although, when he thought about it, those few months after Mexico were tough. It had been his fault then. If he hadn't gone out there to get Nikki, Eva would never have taken her. Because there wouldn't have been anyone else that loved Nikki so much they would risk life and limb to get her back.
He had failed Nikki then and he had failed Thomas now. And in many ways he had failed Clarissa. If he had been a better friend to her, supported her more when she was going through it all with her mother then maybe she would've stayed as well. But she left him too. Just like everyone leaves him in the end. Nikki left him for Matt, granted she's not with him anymore but she still tried to make a go of her life outside of the Lyell, away from him. Clarissa had left to focus on her life more. Thomas died fighting to save his life. His mother walked away from him. Ryan doesn't speak to him anymore. And his dad is, well, his dad.
He jumped as he felt a hand coming to rest on his shoulder, "Is everything okay Jack?" Evan asked softly.
Jack looked up at the young boy, he was jealous of his innocence. He wished to go back to when he was that age and knew nothing more than going out with his mates and trying to see how many girls he could pull in one night. Not that he ever went out that much. He was too focused on his studies, doing everything he could to make his mother proud. But even that didn't convince her enough to stay. He hadn't spoken to her since that day, he didn't know where she ended up. He didn't even know if she would be proud if she could see him now and the mess of a life he had had.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jack spoke eventually, standing up and placing the ID card in another evidence bag. "We best get this back to Sam," he started making his way back towards the car, knowing that this was probably all they were going to find. And Jack needed some space, to clear his mind.
Evan watched as he left, his face full of confusion at the Irishman. He liked Jack, found him easy to get on with, but there were moments where he scared him. He would have this look on his face that Evan couldn't quite understand and he didn't know what to make of it. He knew something had happened not long before he had joined the Lyell but whatever it was, nobody spoke about it. He did some research and found out that someone called Thomas Chamberlain had died as a result of some cover up within the military but that was it. He had no idea of who this Thomas was but it must've had an effect on both Jack and Nikki but neither of them talked about it. Both preferring to keep it bottled up. Shaking his head he caught up with Jack as they reached the car and left the scene.
Back at the Lyell, both Nikki and Sam were in the locker room getting ready to perform the post mortem. Nikki had managed to persuade Sam to let her help out, something about wanting to learn from the best. Sam had brushed that comment off, reminding Nikki that she didn't need to learn from anyone, she was already one of the best pathologists in the country. If her appearances in court were anything to go by at least.
Sam had been mindful to look into the people she was going to have working under her and she had found the various articles of Nikki. And from what she could gather, Nikki had her way with the courts and she could certainly work a crowd. And despite having many of her cases being questioned, she always managed to turn them around and prove herself to be better than before. In many ways, Nikki had reminded Sam of herself and she couldn't wait to get to work with this wonderful woman. And after being here for the past couple of months, she had found that Nikki was even more fastidious in person.
The articles she had managed to dig out about Jack were from his time in Yorkshire, long before he had set foot in the Lyell. Although she didn't think much of them, she knew it would be best to take them on board. She had gathered that he was a very driven person and if he had a theory then he clung onto it unless there was hard evidence to prove that he was wrong. And from what she had gathered in the first week of being here, he hadn't changed much. She wasn't complaining though, she knew that you needed someone like that on the team because they usually ended up being right.
She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing up on end as her and Nikki walked into the mortuary. Michael was stood in the observation room, keeping a beady eye on every little movement she made. Nikki stood opposite from Sam next to the body, her eyebrows furrowing as her eyes flicked between Michael and Sam. Her lips twitched into a smirk as she caught the slight blush on the tips of Sam's ears.
"Who's he?" She quizzed, raising an eyebrow.
"Just an old friend," Sam replied bluntly but she didn't miss the twinkle in Nikki's eyes and she knew she was in for a questionnaire. "We worked on a few cases in the past. I was quite surprised to see him actually, didn't think he'd still be working."
Nikki nodded, deciding now wasn't really the time for push for more of an answer, "So, what have we got so far?" She asked, glancing down at the body that lay on the slab.
Sam moved to push the button in order to turn the microphone on so that Michael could now hear them, "We have an unidentified female, found on the train tracks. Unfortunately her face was hit by the train so a facial ID is out of the question. But I have taken some DNA from her hair so we might able to get a match if she's on the system," Sam started. "From what we can gather, it seems as though she may have jumped in front of the train and at the scene, I struggled to find any evidence that would go against that theory. But to be thorough I will take some blood samples for toxicology. Nikki do you want to?" Sam gestured with her hand towards the scalpel that lay on the small table.
Nikki nodded, picking up the sharp blade. She made her first incisions into the body, ones she had lost count of how many times she had done. It coming second nature to her, she barely had to give it a thought. A couple of minutes later and the whole of this woman's body was on display. She had often wondered what had possessed her to do this job, that there must have been this sick side to her to want to stare at a persons insides all day. But then she supposed it's not that much different to being a doctor and someone had to do it.
Pulling her from her thoughts was Sam, taking the scalpel from her and beginning to remove each organ to examine individually. The two of them worked in silence, only speaking to confirm or describe what they had found. Nothing they had found had seemed suspicious. From what they could gather, this was a physically healthy young woman. As they set about closing her up, Sam was quick to notice faint lines on her arms.
"There are some markings on her arms," she spoke, gesturing for Nikki to join her to take a closer look. "They're very old, can barely make them out but I would say that they're self inflicted wounds, wouldn't you?" She looked up at Nikki who just nodded and grabbed the camera so they could document it.
Just as Sam moved to speak directly to Michael; Jack and Evan were joining him in the observation room. Sam turned her attention to them, a hopeful look on her face, praying that they had managed to find something.
"Her name's Frankie," Jack announced. "Frankie Jones, she's got previous for various drug convictions and she was in and out of care homes when she was younger. We found her ID a couple of streets away, along with a heel."
"That might explain why she had been self harming," Nikki pointed out. "But those wounds are years old, there's nothing physically to suggest that she had been struggling recently."
"Something might have happened to trigger it all again," Jack breathed, his eyes connecting with Nikki's briefly before facing DCI Connor. "It would help if we could get a bit more of a background on this woman, that was the only information I could get. We need to know why she wanted to kill herself, her last movements and what led her to the train tracks."
"I didn't realise you were the detective Jack," Michael quipped, causing a chuckle from Sam, Evan and Nikki.
Jack's head flicked between the three people, confusion on his face, "I was just trying to help that's all. Get things moving so we can wrap it up."
"I'm in charge of this Jack, you do what I tell you to do, not the other way round," Michael explained, taking a step forward. "But, just this once, I will take what you have said on board and that's only because I was going to say the same thing."
"Actually there were signs of recent sexual activity," Nikki interrupted. "I can swab the vagina for any DNA but it would be useful if we could find out if she had a partner."
Jack huffed as he watched how Michael didn't remark at Nikki suggesting for him to do something, he didn't think much of the man when he first met him but now he had certainly formed his opinion. It was always the detectives that rubbed him up the wrong way. He knew Nikki was going to end up telling him off for it but he couldn't help it. It wasn't his fault if most of them were incapable of their jobs and only wanted to solve the cases that would benefit their own careers. He had seen it happen too often.
Although Jack had a feeling that this wasn't going to be the last time that he was going to be dealing with this DCI Connor, given the way Sam had reacted to him at the scene. So maybe he should back off a little and give the man a break. Only a little though, Jack still needed to have something to get annoyed at.
As he sat down at his desk, Nikki and Sam were emerging from the hallway, Michael following closely behind them. Sam and Michael continued to talk whilst Nikki diverged and joined Jack, perching herself on the edge of his desk. She looked around, pursing her lips as she noticed that someone was missing.
"Where's Evan?" She asked, looking down at Jack.
"I told him he can go have his lunch early. He's worked hard this morning so I thought he deserved a longer break," he explained. Placing his elbows on the glass, Jack leaned forward and lowered his voice. "So, who is he?"
"It's not like you to be so interested in someone's personal life Jack," she teased, leaning closer to him ever so slightly.
"Not as if there's anything interesting going on in mine," he sighed, pushing himself back on his chair and putting a distance between them.
Nikki straightened her back up before standing up and rounding the desk to her own chair, "Well, she didn't say much. Just that he was an old friend and she wasn't expecting to see him," she started but was cut off by a giggling coming from the direction of Sam's office.
"I wasn't on about," Jack began, his eyes glancing towards the office and then back to Nikki who's face was now turning a shade of red. He still hadn't managed to get it out of her, the conversation from a few weeks ago still playing on his mind. He hadn't stopped pestering her about it but Nikki being the stubborn person that she is, still kept her cards close to her chest. He just wanted her to say it, to hear those words come out of her mouth.
He watched as Nikki dropped the eye contact, switching her attention to the paperwork that sat in front of her. Jack bit down on his lip as he remained silent, it was going to have to wait for another day.
"It's been so lovely to see you again Sam," Michael spoke softly, his hand coming up to brush against Sam's arm. "I can't believe it's been so long."
Sam's breath hitched as she took a step away from Michael, his hand dropping. She walked around her desk and sat down in the chair, her elbows resting on the table with her hands clasped together, "Look Michael, what happened between us was a long time ago. I thought we settled it then, do we really have to go over it all again?"
Michael took a deep breath but nodded, "I know. I just didn't think I'd ever see you again. Especially not here, the last I heard you'd moved back up to Ireland."
"I did, for a long time," Sam replied. "I wanted to be with my son. I had spent too many years away from him and I wanted to fix that but it was too late. He didn't want anything to do with me so I tried my best but I found myself missing this place. Missing the chaos. And when I seen that they were looking for someone to take over, I couldn't turn that opportunity down."
"And are you enjoying it?" He asked, his hands resting on the back of the chair opposite Sam.
"Even more than I did before," she grinned. "Speaking of which, I have a report to write up so, if you don't mind." She pointed her heads towards the door, indicating to Michael that it was time for him to leave.
Michael chuckled, shaking his head, "You haven't changed, have you?" He didn't bother waiting for a reply, knowing all too well that he wouldn't get one.
Sam watched as he walked out of her office, shutting the door behind him. The moment she heard the door click her hands came up to run over her face, feeling her body relax despite her heart still racing. It had been so long, how was he still doing this to her? The phrase 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' coming to mind. It had always been him but like before, he was probably still married and she'd still be second best. The mistress. The hidden secret. She tried to put the thought to the back of her mind, focusing instead on the blank page in front of her, trying to think of the words that would start her report.
He had been watching this one for a while. Keeping tabs on her. He knew that she was going to be a difficult one to get but the reward was going to be worth it. He followed behind as she walked through the park, keeping a safe distance so she wouldn't notice. He'd been doing this every day for the past two weeks. Keeping track of her movements and her habits, making sure he knew every key detail before he struck. He was itching to do it, to get it over with and feed off that ecstasy but he knew he had to wait. Otherwise they would connect it. They would know straight away that something wasn't right and then he would be in trouble. No, he had to keep a low profile for the next couple of weeks. That didn't mean he couldn't have his fun though.
It was later on that afternoon when they were able to get the test results back from toxicology. Nikki had taken the results in to Sam straight away, worried after she had quickly glanced over them herself. She placed them down on her desk in front of her.
"She couldn't have killed herself," Nikki stated. She glanced over her shoulder after hearing movement behind her, only to see that Jack had followed her in. Evan hot on his tail. She turned back to Sam, watching the older woman reading over the graphs. "She was so intoxicated she probably couldn't even walk, let alone take herself to the nearest train track."
"It's not out of the realms of possibilities though," Jack pointed out, moving to sit down on the back of the sofa. "She could've been so intoxicated she didn't know what she was doing in the first place, she could've thought she was somewhere else entirely."
Nikki shook her head and opened her mouth to speak but Sam had beaten her to it, "This a lethal mixture of drugs; ketamine, cocaine, ecstasy. A couple of minutes later and that would've been what killed her," Sam sighed. "I knew there was something that wasn't right. At the scene, it felt staged but staged well, I'll give them that."
"We need to find out her movements, who she was with? Where did she go? And how exactly did she get those drugs in her system?" Nikki folded her arms, her eyes looking around the room at the various faces staring at her.
Jack shrugged his shoulders, "I told DCI Connor that's what we needed, have we heard back from him yet?" He asked, his head turning to face Sam who just shook her head. "Well maybe you can have a word with him?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sam's face screwed up, not quite liking Jack's insinuation. She rolled her eyes, breathing heavily out of her nose. "There is nothing going on between DCI Connor and I, okay? As I told Nikki earlier, we've just worked on some cases in the past and he is an old friend. That is it."
"But, as an old friend, you can push him to find our answers a bit quicker," Jack smiled innocently, looking up at Nikki and giving her a quick wink. Nikki put her tongue to the roof of her mouth in the hopes of stopping the smile that was threatening to spread across her face. For once, she wasn't on the receiving end of one of Jack's wind ups.
Sam had flared her nostrils preparing herself for an answer back but they were quickly interrupted by a DCI Connor standing in the middle of the doorway, "Jack. Evan, is it?" He pointed his finger towards Evan who had just simply nodded. "I need the two of you to come with me. Collect DNA and fingerprints. It seems we have found a boyfriend. What's happened?" He asked, noticing that the four of them were staring at him, concern all over their faces.
"We have doubts that it was a suicide," Nikki piped up since everyone else had seemed to lose their voices. Moving, she picked the piece of paper up from Sam's desk and handed it to Michael. "There was cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine in her system. They would've had an effect on her pretty much straight away so it's unlikely that she would've been able to even walk let alone jump in front of a moving train."
"But what if she stumbled her way there, what if it was an accident?" He challenged, passing the piece of paper back to Nikki. "Didn't you say that there were signs she may have fallen and there was mud on the body. Plus Jack found her shoes and her ID a couple of streets away. What if she took the drugs as she got there?"
"We would've found evidence of that," Sam spoke. "There was no drug paraphernalia around the body. If she took the drugs there and then we should've found them, unless there was someone there that cleaned up. And if someone was there then that would suggest intent. And as Nikki said, if she took the drugs before, it would've been very unlikely that she'd make it to the train tracks on time. She would've been dead in a matter of minutes."
"I have to agree with that actually," Jack breathed. "When Evan and I were walking through the streets, it did take us a good while to find our bearings and that's without any alcohol and drugs in our system. Someone put her there and made it look like a suicide."
Michael sighed, running his hands through his hair, "We best go see this boyfriend quickly, see if he had anything to do with it."
Jack, Evan and DCI Connor all made their way to the house. As they pulled up, Jack could already tell that it was going to be a difficult one, the estate was pretty rough. Nothing he hadn't been used to before but he knew that the guy they were about to meet wasn't going to be happy about seeing them. Leaving the car, the three men headed towards the small house, it wasn't much to look at. Basic. Jack's eyes had glanced over the front garden, all kinds of rubbish littering the floor. He held on to his silver case just that little bit tighter as he looked over at Evan. Jack sighed, he wished he could still have that innocent look on his face. No judgement, everything being completely new. They stood behind DCI Connor as he knocked on the door. It was a couple of minutes before a man revealed himself behind the wooden frame. His hair closely shaved and no care taken for what he was wearing.
"Mr Paul Stewart?" Connor asked.
"Yeah, who's asking?" The man spat, his arms crossing as he stared back at the three of them.
Connor dug into his pocket before pulling out his wallet containing his police badge, he flashed it to the man, not that surprised to see that he didn't react much except jut his chin out further and straightened his back, in an attempt to assert himself more, "We need to ask you a few questions about your girlfriend, Frankie. And we're going to need a DNA sample from you, can we come in?"
Jack was shifting his weight on his feet, catching his attention. He tried to ignore the bubbling inside him, he just knew this man wanted a fight and he knew that Jack would be the one to target, to push over the edge. But Jack kept his cool, not wanting to rise to the bait. He had been trying to control that side of him recently and he wasn't about to let it all out on some random man who was pushing for a punch.
"If you have to," the man stepped back, allowing the three of them to walk in. He had moved on from Jack, now eyeballing Evan as they walked in to the living room.
Jack took hold of Evan's arm just as he moved to grab the case, "You don't have to do this," he warned, keeping his voice low. "There's going to be plenty of others."
Evan offered him a smile, shaking his head slightly, "I'll be fine Jack, I've got to get used to it sooner or later haven't I?" Opening up the suitcase, Evan pulled on some fresh gloves before picking up the test tube and walking over to Paul. Jack watched him attentively, wary of what this man might do.
"Would you mind telling us where you were last night Mr Stewart?" DCI Connor questioned as he walked into the living room.
"Are you sure he's old enough to be doing this?" He scoffed, looking at DCI Connor and then at Jack. "He looks about twelve. If I end up in prison because he's messed this up well," his eyes connected with Evans. "I'd watch your back son."
"Mr Stewart I asked you a question," Connor pushed, not quite liking the man and wanting to get this over and done with so they could leave sooner. He could see that he was trying to push buttons and see who was going to crack first and he had already spotted that it wasn't going to take Jack long to snap. And quite frankly, he didn't want to let that happen. It didn't take a genius to work out that the man could pack a punch and along with his arrogant attitude, Michael was beginning to wonder what Dr Alexander could see in him.
Evan clenched his jaw, ignoring the remarks he was making and just getting on with the job. He ran the swab up and down the inside of both cheeks, although Paul didn't give him much time as he flicked his head away and sat down on the sofa behind him.
"I was here, all night," he huffed.
"And can anyone confirm that alibi for you?" Michael queried as he wrote down what the man was saying to him.
He shook his head, his annoyance quickly growing, "Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?"
DCI Connor took a deep breath before perching on the arm of the chair, "I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this but I'm afraid your girlfriend was found on the train tracks early hours this morning," he explained. "Do you think you might be able to tell us what her movements were the night before? We had gathered that she may have been on a night out, there was alcohol in her system, along with a concoction of various drugs."
"And you think I had something to do with it, don't you?" He stood, walking to the other side of the room. Jack squinted his eyes as they followed him around the place.
"We didn't say that," Jack quipped. "We just want to find out what happened the night before and what led her to the train tracks."
The man shrugged, completely unbothered by this shocking news. That wasn't sitting well with Jack at all, that wasn't how you reacted to finding out your girlfriend's died and there's a possibility she'd been murdered. If Jack was on the receiving end of that news, he would be losing his mind and doing everything in his power to find out what happened.
"I wasn't there," he eventually spoke. "The bitch probably deserved it anyway."
Jack made to take a step forward ready to pin the man up against the wall but he felt a hand pushing into his chest, stopping him. Evan remained quiet as he watched the scene unfold in front of him, he had never seen Jack like this before. He had gathered he had a short temper from what Nikki had said in passing comments but he didn't expect anything like this. And why now? Why today? Why was this particular person irking him? It wasn't as if he didn't have to deal with people like this on a regular basis, Evan was sure Jack had seen these kinds of people a million times before so why was this one different? That and how he was at the scene this morning, something wasn't adding up.
He shook his thoughts away, turning his focus on DCI Connor who was trying to diffuse the situation and get some kind of an answer out of this man, "Do you know where she went or who she might have been with?"
"Some girl named Katie I think, I don't know," he rolled his eyes. "I come home from work and she said she was going out. I seen her for all of two seconds, she mentioned a Katie and that's all I know."
"Do you have an address or a number for this Katie?" Connor pushed.
"What did I just tell you?" He answered back, flinging his arms into the air. "She's never mentioned a Katie before, I don't know who she is."
Connor nodded, "Okay. Can you tell us what Frankie was like for the past couple of weeks, her mental state?" He paused, waiting for an answer but Paul just stared blankly at him. "There was evidence of previous self inflicted wounds. Can you tell us anything about them?"
Paul chuckled, "That was all attention seeking that was," he was shaking his head, the smile on his face causing a chill to travel down Evans spine. "She'd switch the waterworks on and off whenever it suited her. She started doing all that when I told her I was leaving a couple of years ago, that I had met someone else. She's seemed fine, her usual bitchy self."
Evan raised an eyebrow at that and quickly caught Jack's eye. The look hadn't gone unnoticed by Paul however, "Sorry have you got something to say mate?"
Evan looked in the mans direction, panic all over his face as he shook his head, unable to form any words in his mouth. He gasped as Paul grabbed hold of his arm but it wasn't for very long as he was being pushed away by Jack. Evan stepped back as Paul squared up to Jack, getting close to his face.
"What are you going to do big man?" He taunted Jack. Evan thought he was going to keep his cool but it was like something had flipped in his brain and he now had the man by the scruff of his collar and he was pushing him down on to the table in the middle of the room. He could see that Paul hadn't been expecting that as he struggled against him, trying to prise Jack's hands off his t-shirt.
It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as DCI Connor was pulling Jack away with all his might. He eventually let go and headed out of the room. Michael made his apologies and warned that they were probably going to come back at some point if they had anymore questions. Evan and Michael made their way outside. Jack had already got in the car, ready to make a quick get away.
As Michael sat behind the wheel, he turned to face Jack, "What the hell was that?"
"He was asking for it," Jack brushed off, his jaw clenching as he focused on the car parked in front of them. Determined not to look in the direction of Michael.
"But you don't give it to him," he was trying his hardest not to raise his voice as he started the car. "He's a potential suspect Jack, if this ends up going to court…"
"Yeah, yeah I know," Jack interrupted. "I'm sorry. I'll write a formal apology."
"Let's just hope he doesn't make a complaint otherwise this whole investigation is going to be screwed," Michael got in as he pulled away and started their journey back to the Lyell.
"I will get it out of you, you know," Nikki teased, winking at her fellow colleague as she took a sip from her mug. "Something must've happened between the two of you because there's been a few detectives that you've known from before and none of them have had this effect on you."
Sam shook her head, trying her best to ignore the smirk that was spreading across Nikki's face. She sighed, accepting defeat, Nikki was only going to keep asking questions until she got an answer. So the sooner she gave her an answer the sooner she'd leave her alone, "Fine," she took a breath, chuckling as she watched Nikki sit up eagerly. "It was years ago and he was married at the time so it never went any further. Seeing him again brought all that back for me. Made me realise that," she stopped, not quite sure of what words to use.
"That he was the one that got away?" Nikki finished for her to which Sam pressed her lips together and nodded. "I used to think that about Harry. There'd be days where I would just pick up the phone but I couldn't bring myself to dial his number. He had his own life to get on with, he had moved away from this place. Moved away from me. But then when I'd go out to Washington to see Matt, I'd head in to New York before I had to come back here and," she took a breath, suddenly noticing that her eyes were welling up.
"Well, that first time I seen him after so long, I realised it then. He wasn't the one that got away," she smiled, a genuine smile. "He was my best friend and for years I thought, I hoped, that we would be more but now, I can't see that. I still have all this love for him but it feels different now and I don't understand that."
Sam's mouth opened slightly as she stared back at Nikki, an incredulous look on her face, "I have one word to say to that, Jack," she said bluntly.
Nikki's eyebrows knitted together, "Sorry?"
"Oh come off it Nikki," she scoffed. "You and Jack. You're telling me that nothing's ever happened between the two of you?"
"No," Nikki answered, almost too quickly and with too much defence as she straightened up.
Sam raised an eyebrow, the smirk on her face now, "I told you. It's only fair that you tell me."
Nikki huffed, realising the hole she had now dug herself. She should've known that Sam would find a way to turn this back around on her, Nikki wasn't the only one who could expertly sway a jury after all, "Okay, fine. Something may have happened a couple of years ago but we haven't spoken about it since and nothing came of it. And when I got with Matt that was it, history."
Sam laughed, "From what I've seen of the two of you, that isn't history," she leaned back in her chair, taking a sip of her own coffee. "So, what happened?"
Nikki gulped, she hadn't told a soul about what happened between her and Jack in Mexico. She had sworn down that she would never speak about it and she certainly wouldn't let it happen again. She didn't want to ruin the friendship between her and Jack. But she felt this sense of trust welling up inside her as she looked over at Sam, as if she could tell her her deepest, darkest secrets. There was something comforting about the woman, something almost maternal. And that something was what Nikki had yearned for her whole life, ever since she had lost her mother.
"A few years ago, Jack and I went out to work on a case in Mexico," she began. Despite it being years ago, the memories and emotions were all still so clear and raw to her. She had spoken about her trauma countless of times with her therapist but there were certain details she had kept to herself, certain details that involved Jack. Because it was their secret, their shared memory. "To cut a long story short and I know this sounds absurd but, I got trapped in a box for fifteen hours. And the only thing I could do was talk to Jack on the phone," she started to pick at the skin around her fingernails subconsciously.
"I heard his heart break over the phone and obviously I managed to find my way out," she would almost chuckle at that if it weren't such an awful situation that still haunted her to this day. "When we found each other, emotions were running high and it just sort of happened. It was like we needed to be so close to one another because we were both scared of losing each other," she let the tears slip down her face now, wiping them away with the back of her hand.
Sam opened the draw in her desk and pulled out a box of tissues, placing them on the desk in front of Nikki, "I'm sorry. If I thought that this was going to be an emotional topic for you, I would never have pushed you for an answer."
Nikki shook her head, her lips twitching, "No it's fine honestly. I've just never told anyone about it before. Not even Clarissa," the image of the woman flashing across her mind, a smile creeping across her face. "Jack and I haven't even spoken about it. It just got buried amongst all the other things that happened out there."
"I think it would be good for the two of you to talk about it, you know. Get things out in the open, you never know what might happen. And you're not exactly tied down in a relationship anymore are you? You're free to do what you want so if Jack's what you want then do something about it before it's too late," she was half expecting Nikki to kick off and tell her that she was wrong but she was surprised to find that the woman agreed with her, nodding her head.
"Has that CCTV footage come through yet?" Jack asked making the two women jump as he stood in the doorway. Nikki noticed the hardness in his face straight away and she quickly came to the realisation that something had probably happened.
"Is everything okay? You look a bit pissed off," she asked, standing up and making her way over to him.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he brushed off as he moved aside to let Nikki pass. Nikki's face screwed up at his sudden coldness towards her and she just shook her head at him, leaving the room. She wasn't in the mood for one of his tantrums. Jack looked over at Sam, waiting for an answer.
Sam clicked the button on her laptop, noticing that she had a new email. Selecting it, she had found Jack's answer, "Yes, I'll forward it to you now."
"Great, thanks," was all he replied with and then he was off again. Sam watched as he left, confusion all over her face, she had no idea of what had just happened and knowing Jack, she didn't particularly want to find out either.
Nikki sat down at her desk, perturbed by Jack's attitude. She would've asked what had happened in the time they had gone but he seemed to have disappeared. She didn't have to think twice about where he had gone and she knew better than to go and hassle him now. He needed some time to work the anger out of his system. Glancing up from her screen, she looked over at Evan noticing that he too seemed somewhat upset. Curiosity taking over, she stood up and walked around to him.
"How are you finding it all?" She spoke softly. "Not struggling too much I hope. I know this place can be a whirlwind sometimes. I can't imagine having to study a degree on top of it as well."
Evan shrugged his shoulders, "I think I'm doing okay. Everything seems to happen so quickly around here."
Nikki smiled at that, he was spot on, "Are you sure there's nothing else bothering you? We are here to answer any of your questions after all."
"There is something actually," Evan looked up at Nikki, his hands rubbing together nervously. "When we went to go take a DNA sample from the boyfriend, Jack sort of lost his temper with him and pinned him down on the table. I mean the man wasn't the nicest I'll admit and I think Jack was just defending me but it took me by surprise that's all. I've never seen him like that before."
Nikki nodded slowly, taking it all in before reaching out and taking hold of Evan's shoulder, "Jack has a short fuse and often flies off the handle so I wouldn't worry too much about it," she swallowed, starting to feel a little more panicked now. Jack had been known to lose control but he hadn't been like that for a long time. Not since those last few months after Mexico. "Did he hurt this man?"
Evan shook his head, "No I think he just surprised him that's all," he explained. "He was taunting Jack as well, it was like he wanted a fight."
"Well in that case he probably deserved it," she joked. Although she thought Jack had been doing a better job at not rising to the bait being thrown his way. It worried her less now that she knew this man had being trying his best to wind Jack up but all the same, he had been acting strange recently. Like he was reverting to his old, self destructive ways. And that worried her more because she knew how much Jack could beat himself up about things, literally speaking. Her eyebrows furrowed, noticing that the tension in Evan's face was still there, "Is that all that's bothering you?"
He shook his head, "This morning, he didn't seem right," he breathed. "When we found the ID, he zoned out like he had been reminded of something. He just went quiet and after I got his attention he wanted to leave, he didn't want to look anymore even if there was more evidence out there."
Nikki listened carefully, up until now what she had seen of Jack hadn't worried her. He had seemed fine when they spoke this morning but from the way Evan had described him, it seemed so like Jack it was scary. She wasn't too sure of what to say that would comfort Evan.
"Nikki can I ask you something?" He spoke, interrupting her thoughts.
"Of course."
"Who's Thomas?" He felt the adrenaline surge through him as he watched Nikki's face drop, he knew he shouldn't have asked but it had been playing on his mind ever since he had found the article.
"Thomas," fell from Nikki's mouth. She hadn't spoken about him, the image of him lying on the mortuary floor still burned into her memory. A smile spread across her face as she thought about him, she had tried for months to look back on his death in a positive light. She had so much death and destruction in her life over the years she didn't know if she could cope anymore. And when Thomas had died she thought that would've been it but Thomas died with a purpose, with reason. His death wasn't in vain and it gave her Jack. The one person she couldn't live without, even if she wasn't totally ready to openly admit that just yet.
Her eyes soon settled on Evan who had been looking up at her, slightly panicked as she went silent just as Jack had earlier, "Thomas was a wonderful man," she started. "And even though I think I wound him up most of the time, he would've done anything for anyone. Always one to fight your corner. I don't know what you've read but Thomas died a few months before you and even before Sam came here. We were working on a case involving a nerve agent and Jack had been sucked into the middle of it."
She took a deep breath trying to control her emotions, she was determined to not cry for a second time that day as she continued, "He was in hospital for a while, fighting for his life. But as Thomas was performing a post mortem, we found a vial of that nerve agent and so he tested it in the mortuary since we had the equipment," she swallowed the lump in her throat. "This particular strain of nerve agent was able to pass through the filters on the suits. Which meant that it had gotten into Thomas' system pretty quickly but not before he could find out what exactly was in the nerve agent. And because of him," she stopped, struggling to get the last words out.
"Jack survived," Evan finished for her, he let out a breath, things starting to click into place. "So Thomas died to save Jack? That must be hard to live with, to know that the only reason you're walking around today is because somebody died."
Nikki nodded, "Jack often takes that burden on himself," she sighed. "Even when things aren't remotely his fault. Thomas made the decision to not get any help even when I begged him. So there was nothing Jack could've done to change what happened."
She was wearing a sad smile now, memories of the past couple of years seeming to creep up on her today. She hadn't thought about Mexico in a long time and she hadn't thought about Thomas either, so it was strange for everything to be raked up today. "Don't worry too much about him, okay?" Her hand was back on Evan's shoulder, reassuring him. "Jack can be a funny character when it comes to stuff like this so I'll deal with him." She stood up, smoothing her hands down her legs. "How about a cup of tea?"
"Yes please," Evan answered, feeling a little lighter now that he had got things off his chest. And things were starting to make sense a bit more now. And it would explain why Nikki and Jack were as close as they were if that is what they've had to deal with over the past year.
Jack had soon re-emerged from the locker room a couple of hours later, his face not so tense now and it was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Nikki watched him as he moved to sit down in his chair, not a single word passing his lips as he logged onto his computer. It was after a couple of minutes when Jack was calling Evan's name.
Evan shot up instantly, worried that he had done something wrong. He had all but rushed over to Jack's side, "What's wrong?" He questioned, feeling his heart rate quickening.
"Does he look familiar to you?" Jack pointed at the screen. Evan squinted, it was hard to tell who it was since he was wearing a hoodie so you couldn't make out any of the details in his face. He took a closer look and he realised what - or rather who - Jack was getting at. It was plausible, he seemed to be the same height and build and given the way he had been acting, it wouldn't have surprised him if he had killed his girlfriend. But if Evan was being frank, it could've been anyone on there.
He shrugged his shoulders, "I suppose it does look a bit like him," he said eventually.
They had grabbed Nikki's attention who was now rounding the corner to look for herself, she folded her arms as she stared at the image of the man on the screen from behind Jack, "You think that's the boyfriend?"
"It has to be him," Jack sighed. "The way he was earlier, it wasn't normal. He hadn't even reported her missing, he didn't care about this woman at all. He was almost relieved when we told him that she was dead."
"Shock has different effects on people, you should know," Nikki pointed out without even thinking. Jack snapped his head to catch her eye. Nikki almost felt the need to take a step back knowing that she had crossed that line, something which hadn't gone unnoticed by Evan who was closely watching the pair of them.
Jack dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone, his fingers tapping in DCI Connor's number. The dial tone rang as Nikki and Evan went back to their seats.
It wasn't long before DCI Connor was pulling up at the Lyell again. His knuckles knocking on the glass doors before Nikki made to let him in. He didn't waste much time as he walked to Jack's desk asking him just what he had found. He let out a breath as he watched the footage, "It's hard to tell it's not the best quality but I suppose it could be him," he agreed. "And he doesn't have an alibi for last night either. If we get anything back on those fingerprints and DNA I reckon we can charge him. Good job Jack."
"Even if we get a match on the DNA it doesn't prove anything," Nikki was quick to point out. "It just proves that they were together before she went out."
Jack's face screwed up as he thought over what the man had said earlier, "But they couldn't have been together before they went out?" Jack questioned looking up at Michael. "He said that she was on her way out when he came home and from the sounds of it there wasn't enough time in between for anything to have happened between them."
"Well he must be lying then," Michael quipped. "Look if we get his DNA on her body then it will be enough for me to charge him and take him into questioning and that's all I need. Once I get him in that station I will crack him, you'll see."
Nikki's eyes caught with Jack's, knowing that they were both thinking the same thing. Sam's friend or not, this was just another detective who wanted a gold star on his badge. Nikki shook her head. She hated when they were like this, it always made trying to find the right evidence even harder. Because they were all usually reluctant to admit that they were wrong and so don't want to spend the extra money to catch the right person. Rather wanting the case to wrap up quickly.
Sam emerged from her office hearing the familiar voice, "What's happened?" She asked as she looked around the room.
"Jack may have caught our suspect in the act," Michael grinned, walking over to her. "I'm glad I'm here actually, can we have a word?"
Sam and Michael walked into her office, Michael closing the door behind him.
"What's this about?" She queried, turning to face him. She could see that he had grown nervous all of a sudden and she instantly recognised that look. She felt her stomach drop to the floor as she took a deep breath but she remained silent, wanting him to squirm and actually say it.
"I was wondering," he paused. He had to word it carefully, he didn't want to scare her off. He had done that too many times in the past. "Sorry. I know this is going to sound a bit forward but there's so much history between us I can't help but feel as though the universe is pulling us together."
Sam beamed, chuckling at his words, "When do you get so philosophical?"
He tried to ignore the fact that her laugh had sent shivers down his spine as he opened his mouth to speak again, "Sam Ryan, do you want to go to dinner with me, tonight," he held his hands up in defence. "It's not a date per say, just a meal between two old friends who want to catch up on lost time."
Sam bit down on her lip as she let him stumble over his words and trying to come up with excuses so that she would be more likely to say yes. Unbeknownst to him, she had already made her mind up by the time he had walked into the room. After her conversation with Nikki earlier she had been toying with the idea of phoning him up anyway.
She glanced down at the floor briefly, her eyes slowly travelling up to meet his, "I'd love to," her lips twitched as she noticed him relax at her answer. Walking over to him she planted her lips on his cheek for a moment before pulling back. "It's a date, as long as your wife doesn't mind."
Michael couldn't hide the smile or the sudden increase in his temperature, he just knew that his cheeks were now a burning red, "Oh right," he stuttered, glancing down at his left hand, the lack of a ring blindingly obvious. "I'll get something organised then and I'll let you know the time and place," he finished, looking back up at Sam.
"Sounds good to me," she grinned, stepping away from him now and moving to perch on the edge of her desk. "I'll see you later then."
"Yeah, see you later," and then he was disappearing out of the door, his mouth as wide as the Cheshire Cat.
Nikki's eyes had followed him as he left the Lyell, taking note of the man's sudden happiness. A smile gracing her face as she realised what had just happened. She chuckled to herself as her mind turned back to the paperwork she was writing up. Sam deserved a bit of happiness, even if it was with one of those typical detectives. Although Nikki was the last person who could pass judgment given her previous fleeting romances.
Next time: Romance is blossoming between Michael and Sam. But as more things are revealed about the case, how will Jack cope when Nikki places herself at the centre?
