Later that evening, Leo and Nikki were pouring over some samples from a new case when DI Johnson rushed into the lab looking slightly out of breath

"Erin's gone…" he said leaning on the table for support

"What?" Leo's head shot up in shock

"I thought she was going to her new home" Nikki said with the same mixture of shock and confusion that was apparent in Leo's voice

"Apparently they were about ten minutes into the car journey when Erin started yelling about how this wasn't the right thing for her and how no one knew what she wanted" the DI's breathing was more steady now

At that moment Harry walked back into the lab after completing a post-mortem "What's wrong?" he said looking at the shocked faces in front of him

"Erin's run off again" Leo sighed

"She threw herself out of the car, narrowly missing being run over by another one and then she legged it" the DI said shaking his head

"Was she hurt?" Nikki said gripping the table to steady herself

"The social worker couldn't get to her before she ran off but apparently there was quite a bit of blood"

"I'm not surprised" Leo said sitting down on a nearby stool "Do you know where's she's got to?"

DI Johnson shook his head "I've got uniformed officers out searching but London's a big area and Erin's been on the streets before"

"She's only just recovered from hospital. She'll still be quite weak" Harry said looking grim

"I know" the DI bit his lip "I was half hoping she'd been in contact" the three pathologists shook their heads "Then we have pretty much no idea where she is"

"A seventeen year old girl can't go around unnoticed for very long" Nikki said looking up at the DI hopefully

"This is Erin Jones; she was off the radar for a month and a half before anyone found her"

Nikki buried her head in her hands "She's not stupid, she knows how to avoid people now" the DI said sounding frustrated "Look I'm going to have to get out there and look for her. If you here from her, call me"

They nodded and DI Johnson left the room almost as quickly as he came in

"That girl is a law unto herself" Leo sighed

"That's pretty daring even for Erin" Harry said sitting down next to Nikki

"She could be seriously hurt" Nikki said looking extremely worried "You don't jump from a moving car and not get injured"

"She might just have some lacerations" Harry said trying to soothe Nikki

"He said there was a lot of blood" she sighed

"She might get in contact with us" Harry said hopefully

"We let her down" Leo said bitterly "She's right, sticking her with a group of strangers is not what's right for her"

The three pathologists looked at each other with despair in their eyes. They just hoped that wherever Erin was, it was somewhere where she was safe


The next morning Harry pulled into the car park trying to shake the tiredness from his system. He'd been up half the night with Leo and Nikki, scouting the area for any trace of Erin but to no avail. He glanced round the car park remembering where Leo had told him where he'd first found her. Harry shook his head, annoyed at himself for being so hopeful, of course she wouldn't be in the same place where she'd first been found. Things wouldn't happen so easily. He moved into the lab and set about his daily business, the lab was quiet and he seemed to be the first one in there. He went to check the time, wondering if he was early, but his watch wasn't on his wrist. He sighed as he remembered leaving it in the cutting room after the post mortem yesterday. Harry moved across the lab and pushed open the doors to the cutting room but something made him stop in shock.

On one of the tables was someone lying there, curled up asleep. It wasn't a corpse as they looked very much alive and they were breathing. Harry didn't even need to take a step further to see who it was

"Erin" he said gently and the girl muttered in her sleep

Her eyes flickered open and she saw Harry standing there in front of her eyebrows raised

"Hi" she said shortly not quite sure of what else to say

Harry shook his head as she sat up on the table. She had some deep cuts and grazes across her face; he could see her bare arm had a deep cut that had been bleeding quite heavily, he could see large amounts of grit in it. Her clothes were smeared with blood and dirt

"You know there are nicer places to sleep than the cutting room"

"Sorry" she said sheepishly

"How did you get in here without setting off the alarms?"

"You really don't want to know" she said inspecting her arm

Harry moved over to one of the side benches and grabbed the first aid kit. Erin went to move but Harry turned and stopped her

"You back up there" he pointed back to the table "I need to clean you up, but first I need to make a call"

He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and whilst keeping a wary eye on Erin, he punched in the digits of a number very familiar to him "Hello Leo?" he said

"Harry, what is it?" Leo tired voice came through

"I've found Erin" he said

"Where was she?"

"Asleep on one of the tables in the cutting room"

"What? How?" Leo voice was full of surprise

"I have no idea but she's sitting right in front of me"

"Is she ok?"

"She's a little worse for wear. I'm going to check her out and clean her up. She seems to have half of London's roads stuck in her arm"

"I'm just leaving for work now. I'll be with you in about forty minutes"

Harry made a noise of approval and hung up the phone "You threw yourself out of a car?" he said to Erin trying hard to conceal a smile

"I had very limited choices" she protested

"What was wrong with waiting till you stopped at traffic lights or something?" he said rummaging around in the first aid kit

"That's too easy"

"Oh of course, how stupid of me" Harry said sarcastically taking her arm and wiping it with some swabs

"Ow!" she winced and tried to pull her arm away but Harry held it tightly in place "You've got a lot of grit in there, I need to clean it or it'll get infected"

Erin mumbled something in reply but let Harry continue with his work.

They sat in silence until a while later when Leo entered the cutting room, looking shocked when he saw Erin

"It's not that bad" she said seeing Leo's expression

"I think I'll be the judge of that" Harry said picking up some tweezers to try and remove the grit out of her arm

"What were you thinking Erin?" Leo said sitting down beside her "You could have been killed"

"I read your letter" she turned her head away from him "And I decided that this wasn't what I wanted. And you said I have to do what I think is right"

"I don't think he meant that to imply throwing yourself out of a moving car" Harry said glancing up at Erin

"I didn't throw myself out of a moving car, I jumped" Erin said pedantically "I…Ow!" she winced as Harry pulled another piece of grit out of her arm "I don't want to go with a bunch of strangers"

"Well we can't keep you here indefinitely" Leo sighed

"Please don't make me go back there" Erin begged

"I'm going to phone DI Johnson and let him know you're ok" Leo said firmly shooting Erin such a stern look she knew not to argue

"It's clean now but you're going to need stitches in that and some for your head" Harry said straightening up "Did you hit your head when you fell?" she nodded "Have you passed out since?

"No" she shook her head wincing slightly at the movement

"Any nausea?"

"A bit" she said feeling her stomach churning

"Ok…any other pain?" He asked gently trying to stop her squirming as he placed stitches in her arm

"Not really" she said

"Not really?" Harry questioned

"It stings all over" she murmured

"Well that's what happens when you get up close and personal with a road" He said placing a dressing over the wound "I'm going to sort your head out now. You never know, hitting your head might have actually knocked some sense into you"

Erin glared at him but still let him continue his work


"Ok thanks James…" Leo hung up the phone and looked up just in time to see Nikki enter the lab

"Has Erin reappeared?" she asked as Leo motioned for her to come into his office

"You could say that" he said stacking a pile of files on his desk

"Where is she?" Nikki said looking bemused

"The cutting room…" He looked up to see Nikki's expression of horror "Not in that way. Harry found her sleeping in there this morning"

Nikki let out a relieved laugh "Sleeping there?"

Leo nodded "According to Harry she seemed quite comfortable. I can't work out why she came here though"

"Maybe…" Nikki said deep in thought "…Maybe it was the one place she could go where she knew she would feel safe"

Leo looked up at Nikki "Do you think so?"

Nikki nodded "Of all the places in the world this place is probably a sort of sanctuary to her. The last safe place she knows of"

The two of them looked at each other; Leo knew Nikki was right; this girl kept coming back here. He didn't like to admit it but he'd grown quite attached to her since he'd found her and it seemed she was becoming quite attached to them as well.

Author's note: Just a quick question. Does anyone think these chapters are too dialogue heavy or do I have the right amount?. Because I'm not sure whether it reads ok