Matters of the Heart (A Mycroft Holmes Fanfiction)

Chapter 16

Chapter 16
Hurt - Johnny Cash
If I could start again, A million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find a way

"Nothing?" Dani checks in with Solo, watching him come down from the ladder. They're investigating the warehouse where their killer kept the last five bodies.

"Vents are clear." He says with a sigh.

"This place is practically sterilized." PC Lawton sighs. "There's nothing here."

"Almost nothing." Dani frowns at a corner of the room, at scratches in the wall. "What's that?"

"Probably from boxes." Solo says. "This was a storage room."

"No..." Standing in the corner, Dani moves to touch the dark stain on the cement. She hesitates. "It's blood. Get forensics!" She studies the scratches. Forensics bursts in behind her but they stop, watching. She presses her face against the wall beside the stain, hands up as if they're pinned. They're scratches from a struggle, a body pinned, a punishment threatened. Stepping back, she scours the floor for a weapon, something that would have caused that streak of blood. "What did they make here?"

"Tools."

There's a glint of metal in a crack and she kneels beside it, grinning. Holding her hand up for a bag, she uses her keys to nudge a bloodied screw from the crack. It sits in her gloved hand, their first lead, their step closer.

"We may still get him."

"That could be any of the victims' blood." Lawton reminds her.

Dani smiles. "Yes but it's likely that someone got smart and tried to fight back. Big spurt like that, could've been an artery. Probably hit him in the thigh. He pinned them, threatened them, maybe even hurt them. And then they were probably next."

"Last." Solo corrects. "He's sadistic enough to make them wait until the last one is dead and starting to decay. He would have wanted to play with whoever tried to fight back."

"Possible." Dani concedes. She hands over the bloodied screw and stands, needing air and a moment in silence. She needs to take the thoughts of these people suffering, the images of their decaying bodies, put them in a little box in her head and store it away. She closes her eyes and digs in her pocket for a cigarette before hearing her name. She frowns and turns to look at the tape barrier.

"Dani!" A young woman shouts, waving.

"Cassidy?" Dani ducks under the tape, about to embrace her long-time source and friend when she sees the tears gathering. "What's wrong?"

"I heard Hannah... was Hannah in there? Is she really..." She gasps and the force of it doubles her over. Dani catches her, holding her up.

"I'm sorry." She whispers, realizing that this is a lead at the same time that she realizes Hannah may not have family but she does have friends who should be notified. "I'm sorry."

"She didn't do nothin' to nobody." Cassidy gasps. "Why'd he have to kill her? She was always there for everyone and she'd never hurt anyone. Why'd he kill her?"

"I don't know." Dani whispers, her eyes closing, the case hitting her hard again. She hasn't had to tell anyone about the victims this entire time. It's the hardest part of these things, telling the family, being there when the shock and anger and grief strike them. She's escaped it so far but now she has a connection, a friend, a lifeline severed. "I don't know."

"Do you know who it was?" Cassidy straightens, her expression shuttering from anguish to fury in seconds. "Was it that creep?"

Dani's instantly on alert. "Creep? What creep?"