Chapter Two: Washed Ashore

The shrill noise penetrated the silence of the night. Mal groaned and rolled over in bed, in a sleep-induced stupor. He tried to figure out what was happening, then soon realized his phone was ringing. He blindly fumbled around on his nightstand until his hand found what he was looking for.

"Mmmmmmph. I'm sleeping." Mal grumbled into the phone.

Anders' voice sounded loud and clear into his ear. "Fallon, we've got a body. You and Agent Williams need to get to the bay as soon as possible."

"It's four in the goddamn morning, Charles."

"It doesn't matter. We need you on the scene."

"Ugh. Fine." Mal sighed deeply. "I'll call Natara. We'll be there in twenty."

Mal hung up the phone and turned to Natara's sleeping body, lying next to him in bed. He lightly shook her shoulder.

"Nat, you've got to get up."

"Nnnnnhhh?" Natara mumbled something incomprehensible, then snuggled deeper into her pillow.

"Anders just called. They've got a body."

Natara's eyes fluttered open. A small smile spread across her face at the sight of Mal's tousled hair.

"Come on, Nat."

She threw off the covers and, stifling a yawn, climbed out of bed.

"How are we going to do this, Mal? We can't show up together. That's entirely too suspect."

"Good point." Mal thought for a moment. "Well, I told Anders I would call you, so it makes sense that I'd show up first." He ruffled through his closet, trying to find something presentable to wear. "I'll get going, then you can take your own car and leave five minutes later."

"That's fine." Natara looked around for her blazer, which had been haphazardly thrown on the floor during the heat of the moment last night. She smiled slightly at the memory, then sighed deeply. "Mal…"

Mal turned in her direction. A look of concern crossed his features as he saw the worried expression on her face. "Nat, what is it?" He went over to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's Anders." Natara sighed. "If this got out somehow… If he found out… We'd never be allowed to work together again. He might even call Chief Blaire and have me shipped off back to Miami."

Mal kissed her softly on the lips. "We'll be fine, Nat." He brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, then turned to his desk chair and picked up his briefcase. "I promise."

Mal slammed his car door shut and immediately headed toward the water, still somewhat lethargic from having been woken out of a deep sleep. He flashed his badge once he reached the police cordon and stepped over the yellow caution tape.

"All right, what have we got?"

Anders motioned to the corpse lying in front of him. "What you see is what you get, Fallon."

Mal stared. The decomposing body of a young girl lay washed up on the sand, with no apparent wounds or injuries. He could barely recognize her features, but he estimated that she was in her late teens or early twenties.

"By the looks of her, she's been in the water for about a week. Must have been washed up by the tide," said Anders.

Mal continued to examine the body and looked back up at Anders, narrowing his eyes. "Wait, Captain, something isn't clear to me," he said. "How do we know this was murder? Have we ruled out the possibility that it was a suicide?"

At that precise moment, Mal heard a car door slam, and footsteps coming toward him. He looked up to see Natara, dressed and neatly groomed, heading his way.

"Hey, Natara," said Mal. "We've got the body of a young girl here, washed up this morning. Have a look."

Natara kneeled in front of the body, examining it closely. "Well, this is interesting," she observed. "From what I can see, she's got no wounds, no visible injuries. We may not know if this is murder until after an autopsy is done."

Mal nodded. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

"As sad as it may be, every year there are suicides carried out by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. It's the most common suicide site in the world," said Natara.

"I wouldn't jump to conclusions, Agent," Anders warned her. "Just because she's got no visible injuries doesn't mean she wasn't murdered. It's possible she was poisoned."

"Like I said… We'll need a completed toxicology report to know for certain…" Natara started.

"Oh. My. God!" came a familiar voice, and everyone on the scene turned to see Forensic Specialist Kai Kalaba bounding happily over, looking much too chipper for such an early hour of the morning. "I heard we have a putrefied corpse in advanced stages of decay! I love looking at decomposing bodies. It's like those nature documentaries I always used to watch on the – "

"Kai," Mal grumbled. "Shut up and just do your lab geek stuff, would you?"

"Gladly." Kai leaned over the body. With one gloved hand, he slowly turned her over. "Oh. Oh wow. This chick looks like she's been in the water for over a week. Even if she was poisoned, it's possible that whatever chemical used to drug her might be out of her system by now."

Natara sighed. "Well, what can you tell us?"

"Doesn't look like there were any signs of a struggle, either. I'm gonna have to do the autopsy before I can get any real evidence from this…"

Mal groaned. "Real helpful, Kalaba. Come on, Natara. Let's get over to the crime lab and see if Amy can help us get an ID on the vic."

In the basement of the police station, Data Analyst Amy Chen sat at her desk, typing furiously at her computer. It hadn't been easy to convince Captain Anders to re-hire her in the crime lab after she had quit her job earlier that year, but considering her impressive track record, it had become clear to him that she was the best person for the job. Although being in San Francisco still reminded her of the tragic death of her boyfriend, Detective Ken Greene, she knew that by working at the SFPD she was helping to make the world a better place. She paused and stared at her computer screen, waiting for the DNA sample to process.

"Now to cross-reference against Missing Persons…" she muttered to herself, working aloud.

The door to the crime lab opened, and Mal and Natara walked in. "Hey, guys!" Amy smiled at the sight of them.

"Hey, Amy. Tell me you've got something for us…" said Mal.

"Well, Kai's still working on the autopsy as we speak, but I'm currently processing a DNA sample from your victim so I can try to ID her. It should be done any second…"

Amy's computer dinged. "Let's take a look." She made a few clicks, and then the image of an attractive brunette girl came up on the screen.

"Her name's Emma Windsor. Sophomore at Strickland University, majoring in anthropology. Looks like she was reported missing by her roommate a few days ago…"

"I know that school," said Mal. "It's just outside the city. I wonder if she was on vacation here."

"Mal, it's not that far from here," Natara pointed out. "I think we should go have a talk with her roommate. Maybe that'll help us get an idea of exactly when she disappeared. Meanwhile, call me if you find anything else."

"Will do," Amy promised.

Mal looked at Natara. "Well, Nat… Looks like we're headed off to college."