A Bloody Grim Payne

Corpse in a Garden (Part 1)

This time, it was Nicola's turn to drop Tom off at school, who was now sporting his blue cap. They took the green car as Alessia was still working from home.

Nicola smiled as the boy left the car, joining up with a few kids his age, all wearing caps of different colours. They all stood out from their peers. Thomas was from the UK and was of black heritage. Others were amputees, or had autism, or heterochromia, or were other immigrant kids. They had all banded together as friends, sticking up for each other.

Satisfied with taking the boy to school, Nicola prepared to drive to the station when she heard her phone ring. Picking it up immediately, the voice she heard on the other side was the Chief's. A surprise, knowing that the man was usually busy, and that they'd usually get word from her aunt. After all, Chief Samuel King was in charge of the whole of the GPD.

"Payne! Where are you right now?" he barked.

"At the elementary school, sir. Thomas is too afraid to use the school bus at the moment..." she paused for a second, "Is there a murder that I need to investigate with Jones?"

"We believe so. A man called Dave Simmons claims to have seen a hand in the junkyard garden at 2 Brunden Road. Get to the station, join up with Jones, and go investigate! Nathan is waiting for you already!"

"Understood, sir! I'll be there as quickly as the traffic allows!"

Chief King gave an approving hum and hung up. Nicola, or rather Detective Payne, checked for incoming traffic and drove to the station as fast as she could.

....................

Getting to the station, Payne noticed Jones standing by a squad car by the time she'd locked her car. Running over to him, he passed her a forensic kit, and they got in, him taking the wheel. It wasn't a long drive to the crime scene, but they stared in awe and disgust.

"The Chief wasn't lying when he said it was a junkyard garden!" Jones gasped, looking green.

There was rubbish littered all over the place, including a rusty, abandoned yellow car. Talking to some of the patrolling officers was a short man in a beige suit and a striped blue tie. Nathan was sipping some coffee while trying not to fall asleep in the passenger's seat.

"Before you ask, my assistant Martine Meunier drove, not me," he gestured to the French woman who was standing outside the passenger door, "At this rate, I'll have to get a new assistant. She's too good. She'll probably get her own team, maybe work with Sinclair and Thompson. Let the coffee wake me up, and I'll be ready to autopsy your victim."

"Well, that is when our lovely friends find a body! Bonne chance!" she cheered while tying her blonde hair into a braid, "And Nathan, thank you for the compliment. Be sure to tell the Chief or the Deputy!"

Nathan rolled his eyes and nodded. Jones and Payne smiled at the coroners and got to work.

The detectives split up, with Jones taking one side of the garden and Payne taking the other. She wasn't sure if it was because yellow was her favourite colour or if she was just interested in the vehicle, but she ended up in front of the yellow car. That's when she let out an 'oh' noise, grabbed a pair of gloves and fished out a severed hand from the car's bonnet.

"Ah, how handy! Ba-dum-tsss!" she joked, "Dr Meunier, I have a hand!"

"Merci, but we still need the rest of the body. It would be quite annoying to just autopsy a hand, you know!" the assistant coroner snapped, snatching the hand and moving it to the body bag, pointing Payne in the house's direction. Jones had just entered it.

"Follow your partner, and we'll wait out here!" she beamed, the gap in her front teeth looking more prominent, "And just call me Martine, s'il vous plaît!"