"That's the crime!" shouted one of the police, nearby. "Round them up!"
The police advanced as, with another scream from Seo, the gun went off three more times. Jack's grunt, as he fell to the ground — dead. Seo's yelp, as the police restrained her.
And the two policemen holding Jenny back finally let go.
"You idiots!" Jenny shouted, spinning on them. "You let Gavin die for nothing! You could have stopped all of this, and instead you just—!"
"Typical," said the policewoman, with a scowl. "You intervene, and people rise up against you. You do nothing, and people rise up against you." She turned around, gun drawn. "You've seen the movie. You really want to live in a society where the police arrest people for future crimes before those crimes happen?"
The policeman at least had the decency to look guilty. "Look, you gotta believe that every person on the force would be overjoyed if we could step in and stop a crime. But… we can't. The best thing to do is to use our knowledge of the future to catch the criminals red-handed. Get them off the streets."
"But Gavin died for nothing!" shouted Jenny.
"Gavin died trying to prevent a murder," the policeman said. "He knew he wouldn't be able to save Mr. Harkness from Seo. But Gavin was happy to give up his own life trying to do so. It's a hero's death."
Jenny nearly screamed in frustration.
"You don't know who you're talking about!" Jenny insisted. She pointed at the area where the police were still rounding up Seo and securing the crime scene. "That wasn't what it looked like; the future you've seen was misleading! Gavin didn't save anything. He just gave up his life for some pointless…!"
The police dragged Seo into view, handcuffed and stumbling, surrounded on all sides by police pointing guns at her.
The moment Seo spotted Jenny, she began to struggle.
"No!" Seo shouted. "Not her! Anyone but her." She turned to the policeman nearest her. "Please. I'll confess to whatever you want, but don't turn me over to her. She's the investigator who's been pursuing me across this whole galactic sector. She knows me better than anyone! If she takes me to court, off this planet — I'm done for!"
She didn't have time to say anything else.
Before she was shoved into a police car, and driven off.
The remaining police all turned back to Jenny. Waiting for the moment she showed them an official ID, told them who she was, and explained to them how to handle this investigation.
Her sister had dropped the investigation right into Jenny's hands.
Clever Seo.
"Jenny Fisher, Galactic Intelligence," said Jenny, bringing a badge out of her pocket and flashing it at them. It was, of course, a badge she'd forged about three centuries from now, and in a different galaxy — but she was betting that these people had been isolated enough that they wouldn't be able to spot the difference. "And, yes. I've been tracking her down across this entire galactic sector. Trust me, this isn't a one-off event."
One of the policemen — one in a fancier uniform, a Police Chief, probably — grabbed Jenny's badge. Analyzing it.
"Now, I need to see the crime scene," Jenny insisted. "Get evidence. That's very important. You might all be eye-witnesses, but I think there's more to this than any of you know."
The police chief thought this over. Then handed Jenny back the badge.
"Could be genuine, could be a fake," he muttered. "We've got no way of checking, and I'm guessing you know that." He gave the matter some more thought. Then gestured at the policeman and policewoman who had restrained Jenny, earlier. "Officers Hopper, Peters. Take this investigator to the crime scene. I don't have time for this."
He turned back to his own police car.
And drove off.
Jenny turned to the policewoman and policeman, who both looked a little confused by this turn of events. Then decided she'd better execute some authority, so she stood up straight, and spun on her heels.
"You heard the man, Officer Peters, Officer Hopper," Jenny called back at them. "This crime scene won't analyze itself, you know."
The two scurried after Jenny.
And caught up with her, as she emerged. Squatting down to analyze the two shot bodies, lying dead on the pavement. The old man, Gavin, who'd thrown himself in front of the shot.
And Jack Harkness.
Shot two times. One bullet just grazed his arm. The second bullet had missed him entirely — embedded into the wall behind him. The last lucky shot… had gone right through Jack's head.
Jenny was surprised Seo had been able to hit him, at all. It had sounded, to Jenny, like her sister had gotten panicked.
"But why shoot you?" Jenny asked the body. "She liked you. Didn't matter if she knew you'd come back — she wouldn't have wanted to hurt her friends. Not unless there was a reason."
"Maybe they got into a fight?" the policeman guessed.
Jenny looked up. "Officer… Hopper, right?"
"Peters," the man said. He pointed at the woman. "She's Hopper."
The woman seemed less than enthusiastic about being there. She nudged Peters in the side, hissing, "We don't have time for this!"
"Hey, she's good-looking," Peters hissed back — probably in a whisper he thought Jenny couldn't hear. "I can make time."
Hopper seemed a lot less enthusiastic.
Jenny reached out to touch the body of Jack Harkness. Then winced back, as she felt a stinging sensation in her head. She shuddered.
"That's not right," Jenny said. "He's… dead."
Hopper nodded, slowly. "Bravo, investigator."
"No, I mean he's actually dead!" Jenny insisted. "He's not coming back. I can feel it. It's…" She shuddered, again. "You'd think it'd feel right. But it doesn't. It's wronger. Like… wrong piled on top of wrong."
She paused.
Realizing.
"Wrong enough to affect the vortex — throwing any passing time ships off-course," Jenny said.
Which explained why she'd wound up here.
But didn't explain why Jack wasn't coming back. Or why Jack's being dead felt wronger than his being alive and a fixed point. Or why Seo had shot him in the first place.
"Time ship?" Peters asked.
Jenny stood up, turning to face them both. "I was right — there's more to this murder than first appeared," she said. She gestured at the body of Jack Harkness. "He's Seo's friend. But she shot him. Also, he's immortal. But he's not coming back." She gestured at Gavin's body. "Gavin knew he'd die taking the bullet for Jack — but didn't know about Jack's immortality. Almost like someone was trying to deliberately mislead him." She paused. Thinking it all through. "And Seo herself — she sounded completely in-control, when she was threatening Jack. But then, she panicked."
And Seo didn't tend to panic by firing guns randomly. Especially not when crowds of people were closing in on her.
"When we first showed up, Harkness was on his knees," Hopper explained. She walked some ways away. "The perp — Seo — was standing here. Gun pointed at the vic."
"Ignoring him," Jenny muttered, "while he was pleading for his life."
Which also didn't feel right.
But, of course, there was also the most obvious wrong thing.
"Even if Seo did want to kill Jack, for some reason — why use a gun?" Jenny asked. "She's not a good shot. She was lucky to hit Jack at all. If she actually wanted to kill him, she'd have used a battle-axe… or even hand-to-hand combat."
"A serial killer suddenly changing tactics," Peters mused. "Must be for a good reason. Something unexpected?"
"If she's not in the habit of killing her friends," Hopper pointed out, "then I'd say this whole situation was pretty unexpected for her." Shrugged. "Still. It doesn't matter. We were all there during the crime — we all saw her do it. The case is closed."
"You were all there," Jenny muttered. Looking at Hopper, curiously. "Yes. And — knowing her — she must have known that. She must have had a plan. One that got thrown for a loop when Gavin intervened."
"Great! Fine!" said Hopper, turning away. "She screwed up. Case closed. Now let's head out of here and just stop thinking about this."
Jenny grabbed a few bits of evidence, tucking them away for later analysis.
Then turned back to the two police officers. "I've learned what I can, here, anyways," she said, heading off after Hopper. "I think it's time I found out… just how you policemen seem to know the future."
Hopper stopped. Turned. Stared.
Peters, from behind her, blinked at her. Incredulous.
"You mean you haven't seen the movie?!" they both shouted, at once.