Harry sighed heavily. This was not the first time that she had acted weird about a case, and he doubted that it would be the last. He just wished he knew how to help her to detached herself. Sighing again he tried to push the thought of Nikki out of his mind and return his full attention to the case.

"So what's the cause of death?" came DC Gunn's voice over the transmitter, minutes after Leo had started the PM. Leo caught Zak's eye and they exchanged a look between them; both clearly annoyed at the detective already.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to determine that at this early stage," Leo said bluntly, not taking his eyes away from the body.

"Why not? The girl's clearly been strangled."

"Look, if you feel that you could do a better job then by all mean come and take over," Leo offered, his voice even but the anger was clear in his voice. The other man just kept quiet and glared at the body.

"Thought not," Zak murmured to Leo and they both suppressed a grin.

"Can you take a photograph of her face and the birthmark on the back of her neck and send them up to Harry please?"

"Sure"

Leo stepped back and waited for the pictures to be taken. He ran his eyes over the woman's body: her brown hair matted and tangled, large cuts randomly arranged on her skin and the unmissable, violent bruises surrounding her neck and throat. All the girl's injures matched the other six before her.

He turned to DC Gunn, "Can you go and give Harry a hand finding out who she is? I won't be able to open her up until the family have been informed."

"I'll find out who she is – you find out cause of death for me," he replied, sweeping his eyes across the lab before exiting the viewing room.

"It's people like him who make me worried for our country's security," Zak told Leo as they watched the retreating back of DC Gunn.

Leo chuckled, "Come on, let's find something that will wipe that smirk off his face."

Harry was having trouble concentrating. His mind seemed to be thinking about anything but job he was meant to be doing in front of him. The picture of the young lady, in the process of having a PM, had been sent up ten minutes ago although Harry hadn't actually started searching the database yet. He closed his eyes and put his head in his heads, thinking that he should check on Nikki – or at least give her a phone call to check that she was alright. He hoped that she'd be back soon before Leo noticed that she was gone. If she wasn't then he'd cover for her – he'd always cover for her – but it didn't stop Leo from always seeing through his lies.

"You look like you're extremely busy."

Harry startled and opened his eyes, expecting it to be Nikki. It was exactly the kind of thing that she would say and make a joke out of. But it wasn't Nikki. The voice was a lot deeper and harsher than her's and there was certainly no humour hidden the words. Instead, the face of DC Gunn was staring at him with a disgusted look. "No wonder this case hasn't got anywhere if the people supposed to working on it are falling asleep in the middle of the day."

"I wasn't asleep," Harry retorted sitting up and glaring at the man.

"Clearly," came the reply sarcasticly.

"What are you doing here? Has Leo finished the PM?" Harry asked. He hoped by getting straight to the point then the conversation would finish quicker and he would be left in peace to decide if he should ring Nikki or not. As if reading his mind, DC Gunn smirked, "And where is your lovely colleague then? Is she asleep too, or just gone a coffee break?"

"She's out," Harry snapped. He stood up and glowered at the man. Harry was clearly taller and tried to use his height to intimidate him, yet the strong build of DC Gunn made them evenly matched so both men resorted to puffing out their chests.

"I'll ask you again, why aren't you watching the PM?"

"Dr Dalton-"

"Professor Dalton."

DC Gunn looked at him with distaste, "Yes, him. He asked me to come and check on you and your colleague. It's a good job that I did - one of you has got missing and the other's having a nap!"

"I told you. Nikki's out and I wasn't asleep!" Harry said loudly.

"What's going on here?" Leo said, walking into the room and confronted by the sight of the two grown men glaring angrily at each other. They both held their position for a second longer before turning to Leo.

"Nothing"

"Good, because we'll never get anywhere if the two of you can't get on!"

At that moment Zak walked past and, having just heard Leo's words, raised his eyebrows at Leo with a smile playing on his lips. Leo frowned then realised what he'd said and gave Zak a quick grin showing that he'd understood his own hypocrisy.

"I'm going out," Harry told Leo, his coat already on and his car keys in his hand.

"Where? And Harry – where's Nikki?" Leo looked around trying to spot her blonde curls.

"Out," he stated bluntly and walked out of the door.

"Harry!" Leo shouted after him, but it was no use – he was already walking away from them. With a sigh, Leo turned back DC Gunn who was staring with disbelief at the door which Harry had just walked through.

"I thought you said your team were good?" he asked incredulously.