Winnie Is Not Okay

2.16

"When did we become a regularity at murder scenes?", Winnie put her hands on her hips, "Besides, out here in the open we can't do much anyway."

"I'd say at least fifty miles per hour", Gwen ignored her, analysing the crime scene.

The victim was Eugene Jones, a young man who had been trying to get them to notice him for a while now. He would show up where they showed up and try to talk to them. And now he was on the side of the road, dead.

"Travelled on the bonnet, bounced, maybe rolled, smashed his face on the road", Jack concluded, "This wasn't murder, Winnie, just a hit and run."

"He couldn't even cross the road without messing up", Tosh commented.

"Oi, Tosh", Winnie scolded her, "We still have respect for the dead, okay?"

Tosh raised her brow but still stepped back up on the little hill that Eugene had rolled down upon his demise. But Gwen was determined to solve the case, "No bag, nothing. I mean, what was he doing here? Perhaps he was hit deliberately? Maybe he really did have something important."

Winnie tilted her head doubtfully and Tosh voiced her thoughts, "Like what?"

"I don't know", Gwen got up and brushed off her legs, "He was always trying to talk to us, show us stuff. Perhaps we shouldn't have been so-"

"Gwen, everyone always wants to talk to us", Winnie shrugged, "Look, the police called us in for a simple hit and run cause we're so cool. That doesn't mean we have to investigate every accident in and around the city."

Gwen took a breath and pushed it out in frustration, wanting to go after this but not knowing how to argue her case. Jack took mercy on her and crouched next to the body to analyse it, "It was a red car. There's red paint under his fingernails."

Winnie rolled her head back, annoyed. There was so much to do. A rift ran through the city that deposited actual alien things in the city, the whole reason Torchwood existed, and they were off the A48 because of a hit and run.

A mobile rang and Tosh picked it up off the ground, "Yes?"

A woman was saying something on the other end and in something that could only be described as terror she handed Eugene's phone to Gwen who immediately answered, "Hi, Mrs Jones. Something's happened. We need to talk to you."

Obviously they all knew what this meant. They sacked the evidence and drove to Eugene's family home. In the backseat Gwen went through Eugene's phone. Jack was driving and Winnie was in the passenger seat so soon enough Jack reached out to her, putting a hand on her knee to stop her bouncing.

It was a mix of anger from having to waste time on something the police should have been doing and nerves from having to go see a dead boy's mother and explain the situation.

To avoid misunderstandings: Winnie never thought death was small. She was all for justice and solving the small cases, and she was always the one to put too much on her plate thinking she'd be fine with all the work.

But in the back of her mind she had always been thinking that she'd seen the end of the world, she'd gone ghost hunting, she had turned a weapons' company into a banana grove. And now she was in Cardiff, trying to find a bigger meaning in a car accident.

Gwen, Owen and Tosh got out of the car when they arrived, with Jack telling them that he and Winnie would wait in the car and Owen making an off-handed comment about keeping it in their pants.

"I really am not in the mood in the middle of a suburban street", Winnie told him, beginning to bounce her leg again.

"We're not waiting in the car for that", he rolled his eyes, "We're waiting in the car because you're obviously not okay."