murder in the middle of the leak (Alice)

Alice knew what her partner meant. When she first arrived all she knew about was the city and rehab. Then her horizons gradually grew but even she took a while to see more than what her immediate surroundings. “I’m sure you’ll have a chance to learn how to fish while here. Something you’ll be able to do sitting on the pier later on. Given what’s going on back in the city it may take a while to get information to us” she replied with a smile.

So following this up she asked a passing waitress where you got fishing gear round here and a name was supplied. This guy even took people out on his boat for sea fishing with line and hooks. Thanking her she added “see Francis. You’re sorted already. Perhaps it can be a relaxing hobby when we get back”.

She had tennis and the dance studio for hobbies. Everybody needed at least one.

Francis Dominic

As they dined Alice replied "children do take up a lot of time. I'm finding out all about it but its worth all the effort". She smiled as she also noted something else. "This is the kind of place where everyone knows whats going on with their neighbours. There's few secrets here. Just like the army base I grew up on.

So this case might be more interesting if there's a local connection" she added. Right now they didn't have much to work on but there would be more in the morning once she went to see the John Doe with Dr Jones' help. With their normal resources not available they'd need all the local help they could get.

Francis Dominic

Alice had worked cases that led outside the city. The one that stuck out was when she helped bring in a criminal wanted under an international arrest warrant with Blythe but this type of work was rare. So she could agree with her partner on how this felt. “Dr Jones may not appreciate being up at dawn but it’s the fastest we can get started in the morning. I’ll go with her and get our John Doe and you can have a look round and find out what Luis and Anton think about our case.

We could well have more out of city cases so it’s good experience for us. Also you might run into Gwen Roberts at some point. She’d training to be a police officer and she’s Lucas’ cousin. She’s not sure herself where she’ll end up but she’s picking my brain quite a lot” she replied.

So she had to make a call to Dr Jones to let her know to expect the knock on her door at some ungodly hour of the morning while she dined and that was tonight’s work completed. She wasn’t even sure they’d have an identification by the following day but learning to use the resources you had at hand was part of being a partnership.

So that brought them to the next day with Alice driving away with the sleepy doctor at the rising of the sun. The diner was also were you got breakfast and the fishermen had been out quite a while already. They’d be coming there for breakfast soon enough with fish buyers waiting for the boats. These included US army cooks who were buying the seas bounty at the market prices. People were seeming to be getting on with the unexpected guests and there was no tension so far. They were being accepted as part of the landscape just like tourists who made their way this far south.

Francis Dominic

As this was going on Alice and Dr Jones were returning with their John Doe ready for a proper examination. The doctor wanted the funeral home for this so who was Alice to argue but the initial ideas were death being caused by the limbs being severed. A head injury was also noticed that seemed like blunt force trauma so did that mean two attackers given a machette looked like it was used?

So while they still had no identification from the city Luis had something to tell them once he seen the case notes so far. “I’ve seen him before. He’s part of the group of crazies a few miles down the road. It looks like a church but I’m not so sure” he said. Alice sipped her coffee and nibbled on her toast while they talked at the diner. This breakfast meeting was proving informative as Anton added “they left some of their literature here before finding they weren’t getting much interest. They go on about sky travellers who someday will come back for them just before the world ends in nuclear fire. I think they have a screw loose at least”.

Alice looked over to Francis hearing all of this. This was totally unexpected as she’d no mention of this group in the case notes.

Francis Dominic

"There's never a dull case round here" Alice agreed to the team round her. "However lunatic fringe or not they will need to be talked too as he belonged to their group. Most likely a cult but who wants to go speak to them?" she added. She'd do it herself if need be so added "what do you guys know about them apart from their literature? And has anybody ever been to their compound. I had that marked out as a landmark on my map".

They were going to have to deal with these crazies but she was at least open minded about people with faith. Even if it sounded crazy to her.

Francis Dominic

Alice looked to the local officers for anything else they knew. As they’d never had to go to their compound they couldn’t answer that question but just hopefully they could be talked with peacefully. “They were peaceful coming here so going to them should be safe enough” Anton replied sounding hopeful. So Alice added “in that case we go there and knock on the front door. I could scout ahead and see if they’re armed at least, their numbers and other helpful things. I did bring our headsets that Laurent let us keep hold off after that case and radios are standard police equipment.

So you guys can go ahead in the jeep and I’ll fly there”. So with radio communications able to be set up between them they’d be safe enough for a while. After that she wasn’t quite sure without doing her scouting.

Francis Dominic

Flying was just like getting around on foot only you seen a lot more from your vantage point. She could also take a more direct route to the encampment while the guys needed to stick to the road. So hearing Francis in her ear as she neared the chainlink fence she replied "just landed Francis. I've round the back soon enough but I seen quite a few of them milling about there while I was in flight".

What she did see while using the cover of bushes and trees did bother her. She seen sentries wearing what looked like mid blue jump suits, boots and steel helmets. Using her binoculars she could pick out what looked like a mission patch on the right sleeve but no details of it. She also noted they were armed with M4's and had fully loaded chest rigs.

"They're armed guys so be careful. M4's are what I can see and at least one squad of them. There might be more in the complex but they also have a landing pad marked out on the grass. No evidence of their own helicopter so what are they expecting?" she added. She'd need to work round gradually but could fly over the fence and hope her pistol would be enough fire support. Failing that she could always drop one of the guards and take their gun.

Francis Dominic