"Thoughts?" Matt asked pensively as they drove away from the cemetery.
"Err….who would do this and why are my main ones at the moment," Steve replied after some consideration. "You?".
"Same," Matt replied.
"Have you ever come across anything like this before in VCU?" Steve asked.
"No," Matt answered. "I'm gonna have a debrief with the rest of the team when we get back to the station," he informed Steve. "Get them to start finding out some answers to those very questions. See if Ms Annabelle DuBois had any enemies when she was alive,".
The cemetery admin officer had been called in urgently and they had been able to get a name for the corpse who had been targeted before they had left.
"OK," replied Steve.
"I want you and DC Wilton to attend the Post Mortem," Matt continued with his instructions. "You can focus on the how, what and when,".
"Sure," Steve replied. He had met the forensic pathologist at the grave site and he seemed a decent man. Steve had watched on thanking his lucky stars that he hadn't needed to descend in to the grave site and examine the body as the doctor had had to do.
The rush hour traffic was in full force and progress back to the police station was slow. Steve found himself constantly reliving being at the grave and looking down at the body. He'd had a niggling thought in the back of his brain as he took in the sight of the cut hair, but hadn't known whether to voice it or not.
"Guv, I…..," he started to say before changing his mind.
"What is it?" Matt asked.
"I don't know whether to say it or not," Steve said. "You might think I'm crazy,".
"No," retorted Matt. "Any theory right now might be helpful,".
"It's just I can't help thinking there might be a link between this case and that one I overheard that Sergeant back at the station-,".
"Alan?" Luckie checked.
"Yeah," Steve confirmed. "That case of the wash and blow dry at the funeral home," he reminded Matt. "Both cases involve hair and dead people,".
Matt contemplated what Steve had suggested. "Maybe," he agreed. "But what about the fingers?" he challenged. "There was just hair dressing going on at the funeral home,".
"Don't know," Steve replied. It was true. "It's probably wrong," he conceded.
"No," Matt disagreed. "It's worth a check. Go and find Alan when we get back to the station and get some more details," he decided.
"Thanks Guv," Steve replied.
"Don't take this the wrong way," Matt Luckie said, "but, I really hope you're wrong, Steve," he said. "Otherwise we are looking for some real weirdo,".
The sun was streaming through the bedroom window when Kate next woke. She yawned and stretched languidly before she reached for her phone. 8:30 am. One good thing about this undercover was being able to sleep in. It was over two hours since Steve had left but hadn't left any message yet. He must be busy.
The rumble of her stomach made Kate realise she was hungry and she decided it was time to get up. Pulling back the cover, Kate got out of bed. Wanting to stay warm, she grabbed Steve's hoodie that she spied draped over the chair in the bedroom corner where he had left it, and put it on before heading downstairs. It had only taken a few days of loving together before she was wearing his clothes, but it felt right.
Over breakfast she called the gaffer to update him on their assignment and discuss her concerns regarding the close proximity of their undercover home to the Luckie's.
"I'll see what I can do," he promised in reply to Kate's request for Cyber to photoshop a few photos for them to make the place more homely. Kate could picture her boss's face when she mentioned the possibility of some wedding photos as well. She then turned to the topic of the possibility of another undercover agent being present in VCU.
"You know the identity of undercover cops is very sensitive information, Kate," Ted said. "I am not sure I'll be able to find that out for you, but again I will try my best and give you a call later," he promised.
"Thanks, Sir," Kate replied.
"Where is Steve, anyway?" Ted enquired.
"Got called out very early this morning," she revealed. "I think VCU have a new case,".
"We'll be able to see how Luckie handles it," Ted said, interestedly. "Let's see if his lucky streak continues with a member of AC-12 in the mix. Keep me updated," he said before hanging up.
"Quiet everyone!" Matt bellowed as he entered the VCU briefing room. Instantly the chatter stopped. "I was called to a crime scene at 6 am this morning," he informed his team. "We e got a new case,". A hand shot up in the air. "Yes DC Wilton?".
"Umm DI Abbott isn't here," she informed her SIO. "Maybe we better wait until he is,".
"Steve was with me at the crime scene," Matt retorted. "He's following up a lead as we speak," he added before he saw an annoyed look cross the DC's face.
Damnit! thought Claire. I've fallen out of favour. That dinner last night went as awful as I thought, she concluded.
"Ms Annabelle Dubois," Matt said, holding up a photo of a middle aged woman of indeterminate age due to taking good care of herself. Her hair was neat and had been styled immaculately, she had minimal makeup on her face except for a splash of bright red lipstick. Her clothes looked elegant and well tailored and her nails were nicely manicured and covered in bright red varnish that matched her shade of lipstick.
"She died three weeks ago and was buried two days ago," he informed his team which caused a couple to have perplexed looks on their faces. "Last night someone decided to dig her grave up and exhume her body," he continued before holding up a crime scene photo from that morning.
"Jesus,". "Shit,". A few of the unit were shocked at what they saw and recoiled in horror at the gruesome photo.
"Luke, I want you and Ben to find out everything you can about Ms DuBois," Matt instructed a couple of his team as he put the photo down. "Find out if there's any reason why someone did what they did to her,".
"Yes, Guv," Luke, a VCU DS replied.
"Rich, you and Des head off to the cemetery. They've got CCTV. See if you can find the bastard that did this,".
"Will do, Guv," Rich, another DS answered.
"What about me, Guv?" Claire asked.
"You are going to accompany Steve to the post mortem," Matt Luckie instructed.
"Yes, Guv," Claire replied. She wasn't particularly pleased to be spending the day with Luckie's pet but she might find something useful out from him that she could use to get back in Luckie's good books.
Across the station, Steve had finally caught up to his target. He had spied him heading into the men's toilets and thought it better to wait outside in the hallway rather than in the toilet. Just when Steve had been about to give up and head in to make sure Alan was ok as he had spent an inordinate amount of time in the toilet, he had appeared.
They were now both in the locker room as Alan tried to locate his old pocket book in his locker which contained his notes from the funeral home.
"Here it is," Alan said as he grabbed the small black book and started flicking through it. He found what he was looking for and read his scrawled notes.
"Did you write the name of the body down?" Steve asked, not sure what answer he wanted.
"Lemme see," Alan said. "I'm sure I …..here it is," he said proudly. "Annabelle DuBois,".