The Heat is On

London Bridge - City of London - London

Spanning a whopping 928 feet over the River Thames, the London Bridge connects the City of London and Southwark, forming the western end of the Pool of London. On the south side of the Thames lies the Southwark Cathedral and London Bridge station. To the north side is the Monument to the Great Fire of London.


Characters

lc01.jpg Wade.jpg
Leigh Wade

Midnight. Why do these things always happen at midnight? Right when the shift is about to switch off, but instead she's called out to a scene. She's still only a constable, which means that she's been sitting here for an hour already, waiting for the homicide detective as well as the coroner to arrive.

The London Bridge station is still quite busy at this time of night, so she's been playing damage control. The scene is cordoned off with yellow tape, other officers are keeping onlookers back from the scene.

What's got Leigh rather more irritated is that the scene is just plain… strange. Not that she's in a position to say exactly what happened, but it looks quite like the poor man was fried — literally. Like a barbecue.

The stench is not something that she enjoys either, which is why she's got a handkerchief held in one hand that keeps coming up to her nose every once in a while to block out the smell of cooked flesh.

-

Wade likes strange. Strange is, in fact, his most very favorite. So when word drifted down that there was a barbecued body to be removed he found himself a way in on that for sure. He comes with the van bearing the removal service, which consists of all of himself and one other unlucky gentleman.

It doesn't take long to actually find the scene, even if it might have taken some time to get in the vicinity. There's a lot of identification wagging, plastic badges and pictures, and then the men are making their way toward the mess. Wade grimaces at the first glimpse of the body, the other man does the same.

It's Wade, though, who gets to talk. Leigh is as good a place to start as any, so she gets the first question: "How long has this one been out?"

-

"No idea," Leigh responds. "We got the call a bit over an hour though. Can't tell you how long he's been out here beyond that. That'd be your job." Pause. "You are with the coroner's office, I presume?"

The handkerchief is brought back up to her nose as she moves to let him through the tape once she's seen the identification. "Strange thing is, bloke looks like he's been hit with a ball of fire. I've never seen a weapon capable of doing that, and we've not found any evidence of an incendiary device as of yet."

-

"In theory." There's a drab smile that goes with the response, a flicker of eyes down at the body. "I don't go looking for dead people unless I'm paid to. I have some standards." A somber nod, and then he's tugging thin gloves from his pockets.

"Have you searched the perimeter for a man with a big oven? I imagine that'd be your primary suspect." There's a dry humor to the words, small arch of brows before eyes slant to the body again.

-

"An oven isn't going to make that mess," Leigh says motioning for the man to follow her. There is a distinct gagging noise as she draws closer to the body, the charring of the flesh more evidently in a centralized pattern moving outward from the center of the man's chest.

"Sorry, homicide isn't generally my area of expertise, but until the detective appears…" Another gag. She holds up a finger, covering her mouth tightly with the handkerchief. Taking a shallow breath, she steadies herself and exhales slowly.

"Note the radial markings here. I've no clue what could cause such a pattern, with no other injuries."

-

"You'd be surprised what an oven can do." He does follow, ghosts along behind to join the man already bending and examining the area around the corpse. A closer glimpse gets an unpleasant scrunch of the nose, but he's used to things like this. Not that he doesn't have to take a second to prepare himself for it, but after that it's not so bad.

"Flamethrower? You didn't find someone with one of them, did you?" A knee is taken, over slender finger reaching to hover just above the dead man's chest.

"You going to be alright? Don't vomit on me if you aren't. Or the body, I guess." The first part seems a little more important.

-

"I'll survive," Leigh says quite dryly. The stench is overbearing, but she'll suffer through it until she's away from the scene. She's nothing if not professional.

Even so, she stands up rather quickly to get away from being so close to the body.

"I know how to do my job," she points out. "Even if homicide isn't my usual." A sweep of the area produced no weapons. "Nothing, and none of the witnesses mentioned a flamethrower."

Taking a few paces back, she frowns. Then starts to wave someone over. An non-uniformed man. "He's all yours, detective."

The detective looks down at Wade, nodding his head. He does a quick examination, then says, "Take it away. We're getting a crowd. I want a full autopsy, and I'll send forensics down to take a look at the body as soon as possible."

-

There's a lot of hemming and hawing from Wade's companion, walking back and for, leaning down to peer. It doesn't seem to amount to a lot. A few words pass between them, and then Wade turns to address the detective. "Looks that way. Someone will have to take a better look where all the tools are. You know the drill, right?"

So it's time they set to moving. Sort of. Wade takes a moment, shoots a glance back over at the retreating woman that found the body. "What's your name?" And, with that question, he sets to gingerly working on lifting the corpse. Apparently he'll listen while he works.

-

"Do I look like a spring lamb to you?" The detective raises his brow, then stands back to ensure the body is being moved in a fashion he approves of.

Leigh, on the other hand, really can't get away from the body fast enough. She nearly misses the question in her haste. Stopping at the yellow tape, she looks over her shoulder at the body extraction team. "Constable Leigh Levine. Good luck with your body."

-

The detective's words draw a wan smile from Wade, small grunt of effort from his work as he shuffles the corpse along into the van he arrived in. "Not like any kind of lamb." Just a nod for Leigh, something to be filed away for later. Once the corpse is in place Wade elects to stay with it, perching at the side of the vehicle, absorbed in inspection.

It's the other technician who finishes the work, collects the last bits of information, passes on a few last words. Then they'll be off, down the street to ferry the body back to places where more extensive work can be done.

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