Prompt # 201- Round 5 unused prompts
Title: Dead men don't walk - Part 1 of 2
Rating: PG-13
Warning/spoilers: swearing/none
Characters: DS Peter Boyd, Dr. Eve Lockhart, DI Spencer Jordan, Owen Harper, Ianto Jones
Summary: Written for the unused prompts challenge. Prompt: 201- Waking the Dead: How to solve a murder when the corpse keeps walking away...
Set during series two but before Reset.
Comments: Sorry think I lost the prompt along with a plot somewhere along the way.
Disclaimer: I have no ownership of these or any other characters connected with Torchwood or Waking the Dead.
The evening had started routinely enough for Jack, Ianto and Owen, until, for reasons known only to the alien in question, it had decided that the best way to travel was by coach.
Unfortunately (or perhaps from their point of view, fortunately) it had avoided the seated section, instead choosing to stowaway in the luggage compartment, of an overnighter, heading for London.
Once the coach reached its destination, lady luck seemed to have taken pity on them (or at least Jack), enabling them to manoeuvre their target into a quiet garage area and trap it. Unfortunately at that point, their luck ran out. Jack had been badly injured and then someone had called the police.
Owen had managed to subdue their quarry at the third attempt and was then left with the problem of retrieving Jack's body, from a less than enthusiastic ambulance crew, who, having got their hands on a corpse for the first time in days, were not terribly keen on handing it over, especially to somebody from some government department that they had never heard of.
Ianto saved the day, by distracting them, with claims of a space ship hovering over a house two streets away and then diving for cover as they teamed up with two policemen, who were looking for something to log the call to, so they could avoid the extra paperwork, if it proved to be a false alarm.
Owen meanwhile grabbed Jack and hauled him off into the shadows, hoping that he resuscitated himself before they came back and started hunting for the missing body.
Unfortunately the God's were not on their side, Owen was forced to abandon Jack, before he got arrested for misappropriating a corpse.
Jack was put back in the ambulance and driven away, the police car close behind.
Ianto finally managed to make contact with London Zoo, concocted an extremely unlikely tale, about having to return an escaped exhibit to a zoo in Cardiff and succeeded in persuading them, to help transport it back.
Owen checked that the alien was still tranquillised enough to keep it safe, and then got back in the SUV in an attempt to try and track down where Jack had been taken to.
“Lets hope they don't check the ABC Zoo before Tosh gets the covering paperwork to them!” Ianto murmured. Then stepped away from the drivers door, as Owen started the engine.
Owen smirked back, “ABC?” He said, then added, “One way of keeping the population down!”
Ianto sighed, “Just find Jack, before they decided to do an autopsy!”
Owen nodded, then accelerated rapidly in the direction the ambulance had taken earlier.
+ + +
Owen Harper steered the SUV into a parking space, then turned off the engine. All he could hope for was that Toshiko had managed to remove as much data as possible, about what had happened over the last few hours.
He glanced up at the building in front of him, the Cold Case Unit was the last place he wanted to deal with.
Owen's mobile buzzed, insistently.
“Yeah?”
Toshiko's voice said, “Okay, I've wiped as much of the information as I can, trouble is some of it is in an open document and I don't know if they are actually using it, so I daren't delete it just in case.”
Owen nodded, “Thanks Tosh, how about getting me through the front door?”
“Kept it simple, used as much leverage as Torchwood has, told them that Jack was part of an ongoing investigation and they had to co-operate with us, or else.”
Owen winced, “I take it they weren't very keen?”
“Not very,” Toshiko admitted, “But the word is being passed down the chain of command as we speak. At some point it should reach a Detective Superintendent Boyd.”
“Thanks Tosh,” Owen said, cancelling the call.
Reluctantly leaving the SUV, Owen walked towards the unit, noting where all the security cameras were, in case he had to try and dodge them on the way out.
+ + +
Eve Lockhart stopped at Boyd's door and hesitated, then glanced quickly towards Grace's office, in the vague hope that she could get her attention- her office was empty.
It seemed that there was no way she could avoid this, taking a deep breath she knocked briefly then pushed the door open as slowly as she could, hoping that he would be busy and tell her to go away.
Peter Boyd glanced over the top of the frame of his reading glasses and murmured, “Got a problem, Eve?”
Moving a little further, she clutched at the edge of the door then stopped, pressing her lips together, she blinked nervously. “Um... well... sort of.”
Taking off his glasses, he leaned back in his chair. “Okay,”he said slowly, “Why don't you just tell me? I don't bite you know... well not this soon after lunch, catch me earlier in the day and you might not be so lucky.”
Eve tried her best to look amused, at his attempt at a joke, but failed dismally, “Um,” she started again.
Giving her a weary look, he moved impatiently in his chair. “Oh, for goodness sake, spit it out.” Then clearly aware that he was being overly impatient, waved his hand in the air and murmured, “In your own time.” Then attempted to relax his shoulders and give the impression, that he had all the time in the world..
Fidgeting nervously, she finally decided to try a question, rather than a statement, he tended to respond to better to questions- sometimes.
“Do you happen to know, who claimed the John Doe we took delivery of, a few hours ago?”
He blinked rapidly, pursing his lips, eyebrows raised he said, “Do I know... Do I take it, you've mislaid him?”
“Well, I wouldn't say that, exactly,” she countered, waiting for the inevitable explosion, that she knew was due, any minute now.
His hand rubbed slowly across his eyes, then dragged down his face, stopping at an angle across his mouth. “Well, look on the bright side, he couldn't have just got up and walked-could it?”
“Well, no,” she murmured back, “That's why I presumed someone must have claimed him.”
“Well, no,” he echoed her words back at her, “So, why do I get the feeling, that there's a but about to arrive?”
Eve took a deep breath, trying to find the right words, so her boss didn't go on the offensive, was never easy. “Um...” she started, but was quickly interrupted.
“I don't want to sound like-” he paused, dangling his reading glasses by one of its arms. “-whatever,” he added vaguely, then continued with, “ But I'd really appreciate it, if we could get beyond um.”
So would I, she thought to herself. “All the clothing seems to have gone too,” she blurted out.
Boyd's eyebrows raised, slowly upwards. “I take it, the corpse wasn't wearing them, the last time you saw it, before it took up its autopsy table and walked?”
Eve shook her head and waited.
Standing up and finally admitting defeat- the chances of being able to finish, his half written email were clearly nil- he moved, reluctantly, towards the door.
“Spence!” He bellowed, Eve winced, as he passed her, yelling, “Spence where the hell are you?”
Spencer Jordan, was just about to take a drink from the cup he was carrying. The cup stopped, suddenly, before it reached his lips, he glanced warily, towards Boyd.
“Problem?” he enquired calmly.
“Yeah, corpse gone awol, can you dig through security footage and see if you can find anything?”
he said, waved a hand in Eve's general direction, then added, “She'll tell you when it happened.”
Turning quickly away, now clearly no longer interested, he marched back to his office.
Spencer looked enquiringly in Eve's direction, she glared at Boyd's retreating back and murmured, “She's the cats mother.”
“Did I hear right?” Spencer queried, sitting down at his desk and pulling the keyboard towards him. “We've lost a corpse?”
+ + +
Owen Harper stopped beside the coffee machine, glancing around him he finally decided which was likely to be the best way to go and pushed open the nearest door.
The office he had walked into seemed fairly quiet, two people were studying a computer screen, he could see someone in one of the side offices, pacing up and down and yelling into a phone.
Knowing his luck, it would be odds on, that the demented pacer, was going to be the one he wanted. Approaching the desk, he was saved from having to get their attention, when the man looked up at him and asked, “Can I help you?”
Owen smiled, “Detective Superintendent Boyd?” he enquired, deliberately trying to avoid looking towards the private office.
The other man seemed amused, “Is he expecting you?”
“Give me one good reason, why I should give him my full co operation, when I don't know who the hell he represents?” Boyd's voice bellowed, then the door to his office slammed shut, the yelling continued, but now muffled and indistinct.
Owen, suppressed a smile, “I think so,” he said, slowly. “I take it-” He pointed over his shoulder, towards the recently slammed door.
Spencer nodded and looked apologetic.
Owen turned and headed for the office. The man he wanted, was still yelling down the phone, but now he was also watching him approaching, through the glass panel in the door. He stopped, the two men stood, staring at each other through the glass- neither moved.
Then Boyd suddenly put down the phone, yanked open the door and glared at Owen.
“You Owen Harper?” But it was more of a statement than a question.
Owen nodded, then moved to hold out his hand.
Boyd brushed quickly past him, “It's this way,” he announced, marching towards the door, and clearly expecting his to follow- Owen didn't move.
The door to the reception area had banged closed behind Boyd, before he realised that Owen wasn't following him. Sighing impatiently, he turned back, pushed the door open and raised his eyebrows. “You coming or not?” Then held the door open, waiting for him to move.
Owen stood and mentally counted to twenty, then seeing the other man's frustration growing, counted again.
“Well do you want to see this corpse, or not?” He growled, his finger tapping, impatiently, on the door frame.
Owen finally walked slowly towards him, then out into reception.
Boyd nodded towards Eve, “I think you'd better deal with this.”
Turning in Owen's general direction, he mumbled, “She'll be with you any minute.” Then stepped back through the doorway and allowed the door to close behind him, leaving Owen standing and watching, as he went back towards his office.
Eve moved quickly, yanking open the door. Smiling nervously towards Owen, she said, “Sorry about that!” Then holding out her hand, murmured, “Doctor Eve Lockhart.”
Owen smiled, “Snap!” Then quickly added, “Doctor Owen Harper.”
She nodded, relieved that she was going to be dealing with someone who, at worst, she would have limited common ground with, “If you'd like to come this way,” she said, leading him towards the lab.
To be continued....