A/N: Rating raised to K+ for safety due to mentions of bygone violence.

Watson:

Mr Holmes, I apologize for imposing on you at this early hour, but I have a most troubling case on my hands and I would greatly appreciate your council, and the doctor's as well. Aside from my own inquiries I have left everything as it was found, but I do not know how much longer I can do so. I would be much obliged if you could make haste.

Yours, Stanley Hopkins

P.S. I hope you have not eaten yet. You and the doctor are men of strong nerve, but this scene is truly gruesome.

So read the letter that was to blame for my being turned out of bed and bundled into a cab at such an ungodly hour as five, with barely enough time for a cup of coffee, much less anything resembling solid food. Having caught only a few hours' sleep due to the storm inflaming my old wounds, it was only by grace of my military experience and Holmes' infectious excitement that I was in any state approaching awareness, and only by grace of my good British upbringing that I was at all civil about it. I handed the letter back to Holmes. "So what do you make of it?"

"A murder, no doubt, and a grisly one at that. It must be of a unique character to have him so agitated. You noted the unsteady script, of course, and our dear Hopkins is not easily affected."

"Possibly he knew the victim," I suggested.

"That would be one explanation. We shall have to wait and see."

We did not have to wait long, for the cab rolled into Rotherhithe district soon enough. Once-wealthy docks given over to decay passed on our right, with the river Thames glinting behind them like a stained satin ribbon. The cabbie pulled to the left, bringing us up another street and to the address with which we had been supplied. A warehouse loomed before us, long-abandoned and crumbling, but evidently the sturdy and stubborn sort of construction that would likely stand strong for years until a demolition crew was finally sent to tear it down. Two uniformed constables were stationed outside and a Maria was parked out front, and save for them and our cab the street was empty.

Hopkins rushed from the doorway to greet us almost as soon as our shoes met the pavement. "Mr Holmes! Dr Watson! So good of you to come on such short notice, I really am very sorry for the trouble." He shook both our hands with his characteristic enthusiasm, but his ashen pallor and the insincere jerkiness of his manner betrayed the state of his nerves.

I could tell that my friend was intrigued already. "No matter, Hopkins, we are here now and it's best you give us the facts at once."

"Ah, of course, of course. I'm afraid there's not too many of those, although..." he paused for a long moment, then shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir. This case, it's got me all turned around. The facts, right. The facts are that not less than two hours ago the night watch was drawn to this building by terrible cries - a man's, sir, before you get to wondering. The constable rushed here in time to intercept an old tramp that was running from the building, wild with fear and crying 'murder' at the top of his lungs. Well, our man was skeptical, of course, but he checked inside, and... and, well, sir, I think it's best you see the inside for yourself." He steered us down the lane, allowing for Holmes to stop and check the walk on the way in, though the rain-washed concrete apparently yielded nothing.

The smell of old wood and a large, open area greeted us immediately, lit up by shafts of sunlight through the grimy windows and broken walls. Hopkins lead us off to the side, through an open doorway into what had to have once been an office, with a constable standing guard just beyond the door. The little room was in no better shape than the rest of the building. No one noticed a few creaking floorboards, however, as our attention was arrested by the single furnishing in the center, which cast a sudden light on Hopkins' postscript.

A length of dark canvas had been lain across the floor, and upon it was stretched the body of a young woman, face-down with her arms stretched above her head. All along her narrow back was a dark red crust of dried blood, so thick that it nearly obscured the fact that it covered bare skin and not a blouse. I felt my stomach twisting already, even as I knelt beside Holmes to examine her.

"This was how we found her, sir. I was going to roll her over, but I thought I'd wait until you could have a look." Strangely, Hopkins' voice had steadied. A glance showed that his features had hardened as well, bearing a stony professionalism that mirrored the look on my friend's face. "I preserved as many of the footprints as I could, but I expect that between the tramp and the constable, they'll not be of much use."

"Never underestimate the use of a smudged footprint," Holmes murmured, brushing back the wild flaxen halo of the girl's hair to examine her neck. "What time did you say she was found?"

"The tramp says he found her at three, but I was called at nearer three-forty. I expect the duty guard took some convincing before he investigated."

"So you got a story from the tramp?"

"Barely, sir. He was already drunk and well out of his wits, so it was hard to make sense of any of his babbling. He's cooling down at the station now so we can get a more coherent story. From what I could decipher, he was walking home from the lushery when he saw a man enter here with something slung over his shoulder, and then walk back out without it. I didn't get a clear description other than that he was big - whether that means tall or wide or both, I don't know. Our witness was curious and knew this place was out of use, so he came in to see."

While they discussed, Holmes and I continued our investigation of the girl. While Holmes' examination had brought him to her lacerated extremities, I was focusing on her trunk and on determining time of death. I had become distracted by a pattern of metallic disks that shone dully amidst the bloodstains. Only after touching one did I realized with a sickening lurch what they were.

"Holmes," I croaked. "These are nails."

"So they are. Carpentry, I'd wager." His voice was detached and cold. I knew him well enough to know that it didn't mean he was unaffected, rather the opposite.

"Her hands and feet were bound," Hopkins supplied. "That much is obvious from the rope-burns. The damage only... erm, only reaches up to her knees. We'll have to wait for confirmation from the inquest, but it looks like whoever our man is, they weren't interested in her as a woman."

"No appreciable maggot growth," I observed, having regathered my wits. "She can't be more than a few hours dead. I'd put time of death about one or two."

"Right then, help me turn her," Holmes said.

With great care the three of us rolled her onto her back, revealing a pretty face in an oddly serene expression, and an equally bare and not quite so bloody chest. After a moment, Hopkins shrugged out of his jacket and set it over her.

"I highly doubt that she is concerned with modesty at this point," Holmes reprimanded while he peeled open her eyes and sniffed at her lips.

"Maybe not, but I am. Dead or not she deserves some respect. You can lift a little cloth for your investigation."

"As you already have."

Hopkins flushed and did not answer. My friend didn't seem to notice his consternation, for he had returned to her arms and now gave a cry of delight.

"Ah! See to it that inquest checks her for stimulants, Hopkins. You see here, in the crook of the elbow, a fresh needle-mark."

"Maybe she's an addict." Hopkins knelt to examine the evidence, shaking his head almost immediately. "No, no, you're right, of course, there aren't any older marks. But tell me, why a stimulant?"

"An educated guess. Her pupils are dilated, and there's a trace scent of chloroform about her face, so it's unlikely he'd deliver an additional sedative through needle." My friend rose, his face grave. "Besides," he said, "he wanted her awake. "

Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson, Stanley Hopkins, and company do not belong to me.

And thus begins the Tough As Nails arc. I currently have seven more planned, but it keeps expanding, so we'll have to see.

Thanks to AdidasandPie for betaing this and helping me make it better.