Fanfiction had a few glitches this week. Thanks to everyone who read chapter 8 even though it was not always easy to find. I was having trouble accessing new chapters of other stories and I wrote some reviews that never appeared. I'm going to press on and hope that it's all fixed now.

For the three people who may be interested in my garden update, I am happy to report that we have tomatoes and corn ready and the cantaloupe are now the size of baseballs. They better hurry up and finish growing as dozens of Canadian Geese have been flying by our house everyday heading south, signaling the end of summer.

"Are you all right Dr. Hobson?"

"Yes, Anderson, I'm fine, thank-you." She watched as a man was led away by two constables.

Laura was called to examine a badly decomposed body found on an abandoned estate. A squatter who lived rough in the nearby woods did not like having his privacy invaded. He had made some threatening statements to Laura while she worked until Detective Inspector Walter Anderson had him escorted off the site.

She was glad that nothing more than some angry shouting had come of it. A few months ago a pathologist in another county was attacked by a distraught family member of the deceased. The doctor suffered a concussion. DI Anderson was not taking any chances and stepped in early to diffuse the situation. Chief Superintendent Innocent would not be pleased if anything happened to their crime scene pathologist.

While Laura appreciated the attentiveness of the Oxford Police she was prepared to take matters into her own hands if necessary. Since the attack on her colleague she carried a capped syringe zipped in the pocket of her crime scene suit. There was another one in her medical kit. Each contained a sedative that would quickly demobilize any threatening person.

Back at the police station Robbie and James were winding down their partnership by reviewing the few unsolved cases in their files. Robbie was retiring in a few days and James had taken Laura's advice and arranged for an extended leave of absence from the police force, rather than cutting all ties and resigning.

Chief Superintendent Innocent appeared in the doorway of their office sighing to herself that soon she would be saying goodbye to the dynamic duo.

"Anderson called in about the body out at the old Wickham Estate. It could be your Mrs. Burns."

"Thanks ma'am. We'll check it out." Robbie did like leaving any unfinished business.

Several years ago at the beginning of their partnership Lewis and Hathaway were sent to a crime scene where a jogger found the body of a man who had shot himself. After investigating they concluded that it was likely a case of spousal murder and suicide. The body of the man's wife was never found and the case had remained open all these years.

Robbie and James headed out to the abandoned estate. Both were happy to find that Laura was working at the scene. After giving them her initial findings about the body Laura told them it was quite possibly the murdered Mrs. Burns and that they would do a DNA test to be sure.

James wandered off to have a cigarette and stood leaning against a tree at the edge of the woods. Robbie pointed at an area near the woods that was cordoned off with a sign that said 'Danger Keep Out' and asked Laura what it was.

"It's an abandoned bunker from the 1960s built when people thought there would be nuclear war between the United States and Russia. I don't know how much protection it would have offered, it couldn't even hold up in the English rain. The ground is unstable and many of the supporting beams are rotted so someone could easily fall in. I'm told it's quite deep."

Robbie looked over at James.

"I'm glad he took your advice about taking an extended leave of absence. Of course I wanted him to apply for Inspector. I stayed out of it after he told me he would decide when to go for promotion."

"I was surprised and pleased when he asked for my advice. I hope I got it right. I haven't had many chances with him."

They both noticed that James seemed to be bothered by something and was waving his arms about.

Robbie laughed. "He probably got some tree sap on that expensive jacket of his."

Laura was worried that it was more serious than that.

Without considering that she might be embarrassing him in front of the other officers she called out to him,

"James, what's wrong?"

"SPIDER!" He sounded terrified.

Laura had not known until then that James was a card carrying arachnophobe. She quietly made her way over to him as quickly as she could.

Robbie was still not taking the situation seriously. He recalled many times at crime scenes when Laura would ask, "Is Hathaway okay?".

"Hathaway, stop screaming like a little girl."

As she got closer to him, Laura saw two more spiders fall out of the tree and land on James. He started running.

"James, stand still, I'll get them off you."

Robbie now realized that Laura wasn't overreacting; James was panicking. Instead of standing still as Laura asked he started running as fast as he could away from the tree, aiming straight for the cordoned off area of the old bunker.

"James, please stop." Laura was trying to catch up with him, cursing the long legs he had inherited from his biological father.

Laura and Robbie watched in horror as James ran through the caution tape into the danger area. The ground opened up underneath his feet and he slipped into the earth. His faint screams could still be heard above the ground.

As Laura got closer she could see the hole closing up. Robbie had already reached for his phone to call for help at the same time he turned to yell for DI Anderson. Then he realized that Laura was also heading for danger and he needed to stop her.

Robbie turned back just in time to see Laura falling into darkness.