I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 53 : Blood stains.

IMPORTANT NOTE : I've hesitated a lot before publishing this chapter because of the event depicturered in it. It has been written two weeks before the Westminster event and is not meant to be offensive against anyone, nor disrespectful to any of the dead or injured.

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Gregory looked at the scene before his eyes, paralysed in horror. In all his career he never had seen such a thing, and god only knew how many gory crimes he had investigated and how many horrible stories he had witnessed, but what was happening at the moment was exceeding all what his imagination could ever had pictured.

Dozens, if not hundreds of bodies were lying in a thick sea of blood, some of them still moving slightly, others already dead, and in the middle of all that, the reflective vests of the paramedics who were trying to help the injured gave the detective the impression of being trapped in one of those abstract painting that he had seen in a gallery few years ago. Swallowing his saliva, he tried to go back to his task and to put aside his feeling, wishing for once that he could have the mental detachment of the Holmes brothers. He turned to Donovan who was standing beside him, in a profound state of confusion, and staring at her face to try to forget the surrounding scene, he started giving her some orders.
"Sally, could you please localise the local police officer please. He was the first on location, I need to question him. I'm going to look for the UKSF [NOTA : United Kingdom Special Forces] officer. Alright ?" he required, resting a hand on her shoulder, trying to get a reaction. Slowly the young woman nodded before disappearing in the crowd.
From the first informations Lestrade had got, a kamikaze had triggered a bomb he was carrying inside a night club, provoking a huge crowd movement to the street before another terrorist launched a bomb placed in a car parked just in front of the building, causing the death of many people, according to what the inspector could see around him. Scotland Yard hadn't been the first on location, the Neighbourhood Policing being there before them and the Special Forces being called to search the surrounding to make sure no other bombing was to happen and to catch the other terrorists if there were some. Greg was just going to bed when he had received a call asking him to come urgently, the Chief SuperIntendant of the Yard appointing him at the head of the investigating team who was now supposed to make the light on what had happened and to find the culprits.

Despite his state of exhaustion, the detective was far from falling asleep, the vision of what was happening and the pother of the sirens around him being barely bearable even for a trained agent as he was. He headed up to the place where most of the UKSF's vehicles had been parked and where the Special Forces agents were starting to gather back.
"Detective Inspector Lestrade. I need to speak to the Squadron Sergeant Major." he addressed one of the hooded man.
"Follow me sir." requested the man, leading the DI to a lorry parked right in the middle of the7 others. There, eight officers were gathered around a detailed map of the neighbourhood, making sure every street and back alley had been searched and secured by their forces.
"May I talk to the SSM please ? Detective Inspector Lestrade, I'm in charge of the investigation on tonight's event." required Greg, trying to hide the intimidation he was feeling in front of those heavily trained soldiers added to discomfort of what he was living since half an hour he was on location.
"It's me." a tall man answered, turning to face the yarder and gesturing toward his men to continue the meeting without him while he was talking with the police. " Sergeant Major Amir Rasul."
"Is the area under control sergeant ?" wondered the policeman.
"Yes detective. We are now displaying our forces in the sector to restrain the access to the scene and to secure the perimeter." the soldier informed him, not adding a word more than necessary. The Special Air Service SSM was rarely expansive, but in those peculiar circumstances, he was nearly a machine, a quality he believed was required to be able to lead his men into battle.
"Right. Found anything suspicious while inspecting the area ?" questioned the inspector, appreciating the direct response of his interlocutor, saving his time from all the formulas ordinarily used by those high ranking officers.
"No. My men found no weapons and no suspects in a perimeter of fifteen streets around the club. There is, however, a possibility that some partners of the attackers are still out there, maybe armed, but unlikely to have been anywhere near the club when the attack took place."
"Right. Thank you, Sergeant. One of my officers might require more information from you later in the night. If anything is to be found or if the situation change, I'll ask you to inform Scotland Yard as quickly as possible please." Gregory advised him, not entirely reassured at the idea that some armed terrorists could still be out in the streets but trying to hide his fear to the soldier.
"You know where to find me Detective." agreed the Sergeant Major before turning back to his meeting, letting the younger soldier escort the policeman back to the crime scene.

He found Sally standing setback from the street, under the porch of a coffee, next to a short man in a police suit, which he guessed to be the local police officer he had asked his adjunct to localise for him. He dashed toward them, trying not to look at the people still lying down on the floor, 6 feet away from him. It was already hard enough for him to concentrate in those circumstances not to have the vision of dismembered body printed on his retina.
"Greg." Donovan called him when she saw her boss emerging from a group of paramedics. "I've found the Sergeant of the Neighbourhood Policing."
"Great Sally." the man nodded before turning to the officer. "Detective-Inspector Lestrade, Scotland Yard. I'm in charge of the investigation on tonight's event. I've been informed Neighbourhood Policing had been the first on location."
"Yes sir. Two of my men were patrolling in a nearby street when they heard the first detonation. They asked the central for back up before starting to move carefully in the direction of the sound. They were at the street corner when the second bombing happened." the short man informed him,apparently quite in shock too.
"How long after do the backup arrived ?" asked the detective while Sally was taking notes of what the sergeant had told them.
"8 minutes sir. But only 4 officers in two cars. That's all the forces we have at night. 4 more cars arrived from nearby neighbourhoods 6 minutes after the first backups." replied the policeman.
"Could I talk to the two first agents please ?" requested Greg.
"I'm sorry sir." Donovan interrupted him. " They both had been injured in the second explosion and are now in the hand of the paramedics. They are trusted to be only light wounded."
"Right, Sally, keep me updated on those agents and on when they will be available for interviews. I would also like you to collect as much statement from the survivors as quickly as you can. Take 8 constables with you. Sergeant I'm going to request you come with me and make a full deposition at one of my adjuncts while someone is going to collect the records of the radio communication made by your men tonight."
Looking like if he was to collapse at any second, the short man followed the inspector who brought him to two young constables, ordering them to bring him to Scotland Yard where one of the officer on duty would take his statement. In other circumstances, Gregory would probably have felt delighted to have been appointed at the head of such an importantinvestigation, but at the exact moment, he would have given anything not to be involved and spend his next days doing paperwork. He never really could have understood how Molly could stand working with corpses all day long but now he was thinking that probably even her wouldn't be completely comfortable in front of the scene.

"Greg !" shouted Anderson in the distance, calling out for his boss. The detective had asked him, as a forensics expert to lead the first investigation in the night club and in the street, the urgency being to sample and take as many pictures as possible before the scene was completely ruined by the medics running all around, trying to help the wounded. Reluctantly, the DI made his way to his adjunct, stepping for the first time ontothe crime scene, feeling the thick layer of blood on the floor sticking to his shoes and the metallic smell of coagulating blood making him want to vomit once again. Covering his nose and mouth with his arm and forced to look at the floor to make sure not to step on a corpse he finally arrived to the front door of the club where Anderson was waiting for him. The forensic, usually full of self-confidence was looking quite shaken by what he was witnessing.
"The traces found inside sustained the first information we had sir. Very little blood and corpses can be found inside the club which means that the bomb was probably not powerful, the lab will confirm that as soon as they will have tested the different bits of the bomb we had find. Ithink that the goal of this blast was to create enough panic to force everybody outside, were a second bomb was waiting. The men are still working on the structure of the trapped car to try to determine what kind of explosive was used but there is very little chance the samples we had collected outside could be used as the paramedics and cops were already on location since nearly half an hour when we started working, meaning that they already had corrupted the scene." the policeman summarised. "Do you want to have a look inside ?"
"Is that any kind of useful ?" wondered Greg, disinclined at entering the club.
"Well, we have taken a huge range of pictures but it would probably be better yes." replied Anderson, apologizing.
"Right then, after you Phillip." agreed the detective, following his adjunct in the building.