Leo was sitting in his office the next morning trying to get through the usual stack of paper work. His mind kept drifting away to thoughts of Erin and his visit to her last night

"Leo?" said an anxious voice and he looked up to see Nikki hovering in the door way

He made a gesture for her to come in and she sat down in the chair on the opposite side of his desk

"How was she?" Leo didn't even need to ask who the 'she' was, he knew immediately from the anxious look in Nikki's eyes

"She was a little unsettled last night but then again no one really likes hospitals when it gets down to it do they?" he smiled gently "Her body temperature was coming back up when I saw her and she looked better, she wasn't quite so pale and she had a bit of colour in her cheeks"

"And the mother?" Nikki said still looking worried

"Still no sign. The poor girl, it probably doesn't hep she's got no one holding her hand to help her through all this"

"I can't even begin to imagine what she went through on the streets. It's the middle of winter and the weather we've had in the last couple of weeks has been brutal"

Leo nodded sadly "She'll be alright Nikki, she's in safe hands now, and no one's going to let anything happen to her. She's a little fighter that one…"

Nikki smiled looking more reassured than she had before. Leo assumed like him she couldn't get the image of the shivering and frightened girl out of her head.

"Leo?" Harry called as he leant on the doorframe "DI Johnson's here, he wanted to give you an update"

Leo nodded his thanks and made his way out of his office, giving Nikki a comforting squeeze on the shoulder before he left.


James was waiting in the lab with a frustrated look in his face which softened when he saw Leo

"I know this is out of the ordinary and normally I wouldn't expect a pathologist to get involved with things like this. But this is not ordinary situation and it seems that you are thoroughly involved and considering Erin seems to have no one in the whole world to look out for her except you. I'm going to make an exception"

"You found the mother than?"

The DI nodded "I called round there last night. I swear to you this woman even care Erin was gone"

"What?" Leo said looking shocked

"When I told her she just shrugged. I think her exact words were 'She big enough and ugly enough to make her own decisions'"

"She was in no state to make any decision making when we found her"

James nodded again "I asked her why she didn't call the police and she told me that Erin wasn't her responsibility anymore, that she was an adult and she had enough problems to deal with, without that, and I quote 'little brat' to look after"

"She's seventeen, that's not legally an adult yet. And Erin is her daughter surely that must mean something to her"

"I don't even think she realised Erin has run away and she certainly didn't care…but if that's not bad enough I was able to look into Erin's patient records" James looked grim

"Abuse?" Leo said hardly daring to ask

"Over the last seventeen years Erin has been on hospital far too many times. She's had broken arms, broken legs, broken ribs. Lacerations, concussions, dislocated shoulders, the list is endless"

"And no one thought to follow these up?"

"According to Erin she walked into a cupboard door or fell over at school"

Leo sighed "Social services?"

"Apparently Erin Jones slipped through the net. She didn't want to press any charges and so they had nothing on her. They couldn't prove it either way"

The older man felt a lump in his throat build, the girl was so young and she had been through far too much already.

"What's going to happen to Erin?"

"It depends…she'll be in hospital recovering for a bit. If we can get her to speak up about the abuse then we can make sure she remains safe. But if not then we are limited on our options…." The DI sighed

"I'm not giving up on her" Leo said firmly

"Id hoped you'd say that" James smiled gently "She trusts you Leo and you and your team are probably one of the only few people in this world who have ever made her feel safe"

"Any decent human being would do the same" he said modestly

DI Johnson shook his head "If that was the case this wouldn't have happened to her in the first place. Out of all the car parks she choose to lie in, I'm glad it was this one"

"I'm not sure she'll se it that way" he sighed

"How was she last night?"

"I think she's given up the fight. She doesn't believe in herself anymore. She says it's all her fault and nothing can be done to change it"

"I spoke to the doctor this morning, the mother hasn't been to see her and Erin's completely closed off to everyone. She won't eat, she won't sleep or cooperate. All she does is just lay there staring into space" James said rubbing a hand over his forehead

Leo almost felt his heart break in two, the girl was special and he could see that but it seemed the whole world had turned its back on her when she needed it the most. All she needed was someone to believe in her and she didn't even have that. As far as Leo was concerned that was all about to change, he was not going to let her be pushed aside any longer


Harry was sitting at his desk idly flicking through a case file as he watched Nikki from across the room

"Pervert" she giggled, although she was turned away from him, Nikki could feel his eyes burning into her back

"That's the first smile I've seen from you all day" he said ignoring her insult, he was just pleased to see Nikki in a brighter mood

"Talking to Leo helped" she said softly

"Still thinking about Erin?" he said although he didn't really need an answer

"I could hardly sleep last night. I kept thinking about how frightened she must be, she's all alone. Goodness knows how long she was on the streets for. The streets of London are hardly the place for anyone to be sleeping, yet alone a young girl"

"You're thinking about the time you tried to run away aren't you?" Harry said remembering the conversation he'd had with Nikki not long ago

She nodded "I had someone that cared enough to come looking for me. No one even noticed she'd gone"

Tears started to well up in Nikki's eyes and Harry went over to her and gently hugged her, trying to ignore the way even the slightest touch of her made his heart race and his skin tingle. Nikki turned and relaxed into Harry's body, a gesture of a silent thank you, that no words could ever communicate

The phone on Harry's desk rang breaking up the intimate moment between the pair and Harry sighed in annoyance

"Harry Cunningham" he said into the receiver "Dead body collector and forensic pathologists extraordinaire"

Nikki giggled as she perched on the edge of the desk watching him take the phone call

"And you call me a pervert" he said to her as he pushed her gently off his desk "Your desk is over there" he pointed and gave her a gentle nudge

She sat down at her desk still watching Harry as he took details of the call. She watched as his face turned stony and she could have sworn the blood drained from his face. Eventually he put the receiver down and paused for a moment apparently needing the time to compose himself

"What is it?" Nikki said looking anxious, clearly worried by the change in Harry's behaviour

"There's a body…." Nikki looked puzzled; Harry wasn't usually phased by things like these. Harry's sentence was broken up as his body filled with fear.

"Harry?" Leo said coming into the room followed by DI Johnson "What's wrong?"

"The body of a woman has been found….on Richardson way"

Authors note: Ooh a cliff hanger! I'm not so sure about this chapter, it's a little bit dry. I just needed a filler chapter before I can move the plot on.