Author's Note: First and foremost, I would like to thank everyone who followed or favourited this story! As I mentioned before, this is my first Rookie Blue story. I mainly write Harry Potter fics... well, I should say Bellamione fics since Harry is not a main focus point. I also write stories for Mass Effect and Dragon Age, so this was a bit different than my normal style. So without further ado, here is chapter 2!
The four stand in silence as they wait for someone from the forensics lab to show up. Gail peered at the other three from her corner of the room. Nick was staring up at the stairway debating whether to stay downstairs or to go up to the first floor, while Chloe was nervously biting her nails. Chris, on the other hand, Gail noted, was sweating profusely in the slightly chilled room and was eyeing the big screen TV covetously. Before she could ask Chris what was wrong with him, Nick spoke, "I think we should check the rest of the house. Who knows if this person is still here or not." Moments before Collins had called Traci Nash from Homicide, who was still at the station and brought her up to speed. Detective Nash had said she would be on her way and was bringing Gail's brother, Steve, with her and they were just waiting for them to arrive.
"Good idea, Nick," Gail answered as she stared at the ex-soldier, "Take Diaz with you. Price, why don't you canvas the neighbours and see if they have had any problems in the area with burglary. I'll wait here."
As the group dispersed, Gail could hear the sounds of another car parking on the side of the road. When she had cased the room before, she had noticed a window facing towards the front of the house that should have an unobstructed view of the front yard, so she walked to the window and peered outside. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw Holly walk towards the front of the house. Why did it have to be Holly? She thought as she closed the blinds and walked back towards the middle of the room. Peck could hear voices in the hall as Holly saw Chloe as the rookie was walking out the door to speak with the neighbours and nearly jumped when she heard Holly's boots against the wooden stairs leading to the basement.
Just act calm, Peck. You can do it. She thought as she looked about herself to make sure her uniform was presentable. God... just make yourself look obvious.
"Anyone down here?" Holly asked as she made her way down the last few steps, "Chloe told me she was canvassing the neighbourhood and that someone was down..." the forensic pathologist stopped mid-sentence when she saw Gail standing in the middle of the room.
"Yeah, I stayed down here with the body." Gail replied with a half-hearted smile. She could not take her eyes off Holly as she stood in the middle of the room. The pain was evident on the pathologist's face but she tried her hardest to mask her feelings as she stared back at Gail. After a few seconds that felt like hours, Gail cleared her throat, "The body is right over here. A neighbour had called in a possible breaking and entering when he saw that the victim's door was wide open and when she wasn't answering her phone. When Officer Price and I entered the house, we made sure to secure the first floor then proceeded to the basement. When we got here..." Gail lifted her hand towards the body and let it fall back to her side.
"You guys didn't move her did you?" Holly questioned as she walked over towards the body on the floor and set down her case.
"No, this is where I found her. I had to check to make sure she was still breathing, but other than that, I didn't move her," Gail said as she stared at the floor. Footsteps echo off the wooden steps as more people arrive at the scene.
"Nick. Chris. Start helping Chloe with the neighbourhood." Traci called out to the two men who were in the house. "If something happened here, one of them may have seen something suspicious. Ah, good to see you Holly. What have you got for us?" Traci asked as she stares at the pathologist as Steve stared at his sister.
"Well, Gail was telling me that they didn't move the body, but she had checked for vitals before she called it in. Right now though, I can't tell much. There are no physical signs of bruising, nor any lacerations that I can see." She snapped a few pictures of the body with her camera before continuing. "It almost seems as if she just dropped, but I know that is never the case."
Steve nodded his head as he let the pathologist continue with her work, "Gail... what made you call this in as a homicide?"
"Well, once we found the body, I continued looking around the room and noticed the position of the body as opposed to the door of the panic room and I thought..."
"Wait..." Traci interrupted and stared questioningly at the blonde woman, "There is a panic room down here?"
"Yeah." Gail pointed her flash-light towards the opening in the wall that led to another room. "We didn't turn on the lights down here yet and I noticed something metallic in the middle of the wall and saw it was an entrance to a panic room."
"Traci, come take a look at this." Steve said as he paced over to the wall, "There is a trail of blood over here."
"Huh... you're right," Traci replied as she followed the footsteps of the male detective and knelt down beside him, "Guess your instincts were correct Gail." Nash stood up and sighed, "We are going to need a few techs in here. As the first officers on the scene, did you and Chloe see anything out of the ordinary? Like furniture upturned or anything that would make this seem like a B and E?"
Gail shook her head, "No. That is why I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe Diaz and Collins found something on the second floor, but Price and I..." she shook her head again, "We didn't see anything."
"Okay." Traci replied grimly, "I'll go talk to Nick and Chris and find out what they might have seen. Steve you wanna call the techs in?"
"Hey... I might have something here," Holly said as she peered at the corpse as she turned it over. "She seems to be in the final stages of rigor and there is the onset of lividity, but with the temperature of the room I can't give a proper TOD... maybe as early as yesterday noon to as late as midnight the night before. It seems very chilly in this room even for a summer day." She forced open one of the victim's eyes with a gloved hand, "Slight petechial hemorraging of the conjuntivae. Plus, there seems to be some tearing of the inferior radio-ulnar articulation of the... huh."
"What is it?" Traci asked as she walked back towards the centre of the room.
"It's just that given the position of the body's arm and the fact that there is no bruising to the wrist... this has to be post mortem."
"So, we have a dead body. No signs of physical assault on the victim, that we can see, and no signs of a burglary... can you tell if the petechial hemorraging is due to asphyxiation?" Traci asked as she stared at the pathologist.
Holly looked up at the detective grimly and shook her head, "I have to take her back to the lab to be positive. Once we do an autopsy, I will be able to tell you more. Right now, I do not see any signs of it being homicide. There is no discolouration around the mouth and nose, nor is there signs of lacerations... but, that still doesn't rule out a homicide."
Traci sighed when the doctor finished her analysis and looked towards Steve Peck. "It looks like it is going to be a long day today."
"You said it," he replied as he reached for his phone. "Go talk to the guys and find out if they saw anything on the second floor. Also, let them know to ask the neighbours if they noticed anything out of the ordinary yesterday. A car that seemed out of place. An unscheduled delivery truck anything that wasn't normal. I'll call the techs to come in."
"Can you call the lab to bring a truck over to pick up the body? There is nothing else that I can do here with her anyway and I have enough pictures of the body." Holly said sheepishly as she shrugged her shoulders when Steve gave her a curious look, "I left my phone on my desk when I was called to come here. I want to take a few more pictures of this room and of the blood trail in the panic room before I leave."
"Not a problem," Steve said with a smile as he walked up the stairs with Traci.
Gail pushed back her hair and looked up at the ceiling, Great... now what can I do? I'm in a basement with my ex-girlfriend and have to stay with her until someone gets back. I should have let Chloe stay here with the body.
Holly cleared her throat to get Peck's attention, "Gail... can you come over here? I need you to shine your flash-light on the blood inside the panic room. I tried the light switch but it doesn't work. I think it is set up so the light will on turn on when the door is shut."
Gail looked at her cautiously as she slowly made her way over to the room.
"Look..." Holly huffed as she saw the trepidation in the officer's eyes, "We may not be together any more, but can't we at least be civilised?"
Peck nodded her head quickly and clicked her flash-light on. She didn't speak as she was afraid that her voice would betray the wellspring of emotions she felt at that moment.
"Shine the light further towards the left please," the pathologist ordered softly as the steady click of her camera echoed in the otherwise silent room. Gail complied to the request and moved further in the room scraping her back against the wall as she attempted to step over the blood on the floor. "Oh... be careful where you lean. I heard that some of these rooms have a special button on the side of the wall close to the door that will..." the door suddenly closed interrupting her, "lock the door... Great..." She sighed as she stared about the now lit room, "On the plus side..." Holly grinned half-heartedly, her hands half raised at her side, "We now have lights in here."