murder in the middle of the leak (Alice)

That morning the call had came in from the Ashford PD officers stationed in Brown’s bay and Francis went to check it out. Only a few hours later Alice got the text as the radiation emergency was unfolding. She did phone her partner back to find out what else he needed brought down and to get details of the case so far. While they’d have the resources of what was effectively a sheriff and deputy team and a police station she also brought a laptop to supplement their normal crime fighting kit. She also packed a spare shotgun after signing it out knowing they could resupply with ammo easily enough.

So loading up her jeep with the extra shotgun, a first aid kit and the last available cold war radiation detector left on base she made sure she brought the headsets they used on missions. If Francis figured this was more dangerous than their other cases she wasn’t taking any chances. That led to a two hour drive from the top of the island to the south west coast. At least it was still daylight by the time she seen him and pulled over.

Francis Dominic

“We are also out in the sticks so this is very different from our other homocide cases” Alice confidently remarked. None of their cases had ever seemed safe and one time she’d even been sent to to the hospital after being shot. Danger was something they were both used too in their job.

“That’s why I brought you a shotgun and I located a Geiger counter on the base. It’s left over from the Cold War but should still work down here.i didn’t particularly have to have to ask the US forces for one. Also as we don’t have the usual support network I packed a laptop and I did talk to officer Stones in Browns Bay before I left. They’ll put us up in the village guesthouse but we should be fine”.

The local Ashford PD officer also sounded confident of being able to deal with the radiation leak. That reassured her as he’d have his hands full too. You also still had US troops but not as many. Perhaps they were starting to found that base she was expecting them to build.

Francis Dominic

Right now Alice wasn’t sure who could have set the radiation leaks in motion. There was also many ways to be a murder victim and usually no crisis was involved when it happened. So she nodded hearing what her partner had to say.

It could have been ARI related and there was other players ranging from OSE and even industrial work in the slums. Though she doubted locals could get their hands on radioactive material. Too many questions and no leads so far.

“That sounds fine to me” she said. She’d give him his shotgun later but she did have her pistol handy. Right now it was more important to see the crime scene and the body.

Francis Dominic

This wasn't an intact body by any means. The left leg was mostly severed and the stump had bled into the grass. He was also short of a left hand which was lying slightly more to the left of his corpse. Alice looked she scene over with the look of resignation that police officers who have seen worse had. "He died badly" she remarked after putting on her gloves and then checked his face. That look was one of the horror of knowing you were checking out of this world in a bad way.

"I figure it was the blood loss and trauma that killed him. What severed the leg and hand was a heavy bladed weapon. It had to be to cleave all the way through" she further mused. "Whoever did this clearly hated his guts or a psychopath. You wouldn't go to town on somebody like this was unless you were one or the other" she further added shaking her head. When you dealt with the dark side of what humanity and oddity kind could do it was hard to deal with. "Hopefully there's something to identify him".

Francis Dominic

“If they wanted to chop him up to feed him to the sharks they wouldn’t have stopped when they did” Alice mused. That approach might see body parts caught in nets later but he hadn’t been dumped in the sea and she did wonder why. “Do you think they wanted him found?” she posed as she started to look round for clues. Which left Francis to check pockets and things like that.

The clean wound bothered her as well. Like taking a cleaver to a whole chicken but the thought hadn’t formed enough to vocalise yet. “We certainly have seen worse than this. Hopefully there’s something to identify him”.

Then it hit her. “The wounds are clean. No ragged edges and the bones got sheered through as well. Like using a cleaver”. Or something else that might also cut through flesh and bone.

Francis Dominic

As their search for evidence continued Alice wasn’t finding much to go on. So she went back to the body and went through the pockets. Nothing in those so she started to take the fingerprints and a photo of the face to send back with the pathologists when they got here. Hopefully the photo would reveal a match quicker.

“We don’t have enough evidence to know if there’s more than just one killing or a follow up. Once he’s identified there’ll be something to work with” she replied. “Nothing in his pockets anyway”. So sending the photo to the Ashford PD they could start the search.

Francis Dominic

Bringing the laptop meant they could have at least a way other than phones with communicating with whom they needed. “We still have reasonably good Wi-Fi so can at least send in what do have and contact the pathologist” she suggested. They could make these calls at her jeep and not disturb the crime scene any further.

“We’re out in the sticks this time. But even in the city it’s just been us and the pathologist. Perhaps resources are stretched further than we know off. I can still get the Security Services SWAT teams when it comes to a raid” she mused setting up the laptop and starting the zoom calls they’d need to make. Starting with the pathologist and the tired looking face of the pathology assistant looked back at them.

“Ben, is it really that bad at the moment?” she posed. He could see them in return and he told them it was bad. Radiation spikes all over the city, people coping the best they could and some getting out of hand. Also there was no police in the slums. Then they could tell Ben what they had found from their outdoor office.

Francis Dominic