Out of Place Chapter 3

[galadriel1010]

Jazz tapped her comms as she strode into the building, looking around her and grinning over her shoulder at the two CSIs, “Archie, how are we set?”

She stopped and span round to blow a kiss at the security camera, then laughed, “OK, so do you want me to use the signal catcher or can you deal with it?”

A flick and her hair bounced over her shoulder lightly; with the crops and crop top she was wearing all she needed was a pout and gum to be a complete valley girl, albeit a valley girl with a gun. “My best friend used to be a boy scout, he makes sure that I always carry protection.” She laughed loudly again and waved at the camera before setting off again with Nick and Greg trailing behind her in mild confusion, “Oh you have no idea how naughty I can be, and you’ve never met Jack. Yeah, I like my men dirty.” She glanced at a sign and turned left, “You set then? OK, we’ll be there shortly.”

Doc Robbins and David Hodges met them outside autopsy fully clad in biohazard suits. Hodges saluted Jasmine smartly and positively glowed when she returned it, “Commander, I’ve alerted Doctor Robbins to the potential biohazard.”

“We should evacuate the building.” The doctor insisted, “Hey, you can’t go in there! Not without the proper protection and clearance.”

She shrugged with a chuckle and pushed the door open, “Clearances don’t come much clearer than mine. Besides, the biohazard is merely a convenient lie, easier than flashing security clearances around and generally getting up people’s noses. Well done David.”

He smirked but quailed in Doc Robbins’s glare, “You were covering something up?” He demanded angrily as he saw Grissom approaching, “What right do you have? It’s our job to find the truth, not hide it.”

The lab rat cast a despairing glance in Jasmine’s direction and ploughed on, “This is my other job, the one I don’t get a say in or paid for.”

The commander shook her head, “The warm fuzzies of helping to save the world should be payment enough, and it serves you right for pissing off the head of such a powerful organisation. I’m sorry Doctor Robbins, Doctor Grissom, you can’t even see this body. Not until I’ve cleared it at least.”

“We usually say victim.” Doc Robbins bristled, “That man could have wife, children.”

“Husband even, parents, friends.” She closed the door and leaned on it, “Doctor, I’ve seen more dead bodies than you have, I’ve buried both my parents and my sister, lovers, friends and enemies. The only way I can deal with it is by believing that that body is merely that, a body.”

“Who are you?”

Gil, who had watched a large part of the exchange raised a claming hand, “Doctor, Commander Donovan raises a lot of questions that legally she cannot answer. Her credentials are excellent and she comes highly recommended. We owe her a great debt of gratitude I understand, but for the moment we’re just going to have to trust her.”

She inclined her head gratefully, “Thank you Doctor Grissom, but you’ve been checking up on me?”

“Naturally.”

She laughed, “Jolly good. Now I’m afraid I have to perform an autopsy, a closed one. David, do you want to assist?”

“Me?” He looked astonished

“You are David, aren’t you? Greg, Nick, you want to watch?”

“How come they can but we can’t?” Grissom asked

“They have the right sort of security clearances, and high enough. I’m sorry, I can’t discuss it.” She turned to Hodges to signal the end of discussion, “David, this will smell, just so you know.”

She pushed the door open and slid through it, leaving the others to go around to the observation bay, leave or follow her. Hodges walked in with a smirk, which disappeared as soon as the rancid, acidic smell hit him, “Shit.”

“Correct.” The commander was already studying the corpse with a penlight as she pulled the signal catcher from her bag again and placed it on the table, “Just let me get this set up.” She played with the setting for a moment or two and straightened up, passing an earpiece to David before slipping out to give two more to Greg and Nick. When she returned she activated it and checked that they were all working properly, then seemed to address thin air, “And finally, Archie, do you read me?”

The techie’s voice came over the comms system, “Loud and clear boss.”

“Good, are we secure?”

“Completely, I’ve diverted the feed to your home office like you said.”

“Nice one. H’okay.” She breathed out and gestured to the body on the slab, “Weevil victim, and this is the normal smell for one. Weevils are copraphagic, they live in the sewers and eat… well I guess you can imagine. I’d rather be out there where you two are.” She grinned at the wall that concealed Greg and Nick, alone in the monitoring room

Nick’s voice reached her over the comms, “You do realise that this is all highly illegal?”

She shrugged, “It’ll never go to court, we’re not that complicated, so illegality doesn’t really matter.”

“But what do you tell their parents, lovers?”

“What do you think we tell them? That an alien that doesn’t belong here ripped his throat out because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time?” She shook her head, “We lie because we can’t tell the truth, so it’ll be covered up by Liberty Towers. I’m here on their turf, I’ll play it their way.”

“I used to go out with the head of Liberty Towers.” Hodges commented

“I’m aware of this, she’s my great granddaughter. Never underestimate a Curbishley David, it’s not a wise career move.”

“Your great granddaughter?” Greg asked in shock, “You can’t have grandchildren, you’re not even old enough to have children.”

She laughed as she studied the neck wounds closely, “I’m considerably older than I look, I’ll explain it all at my place later. We’re having a briefing there with Colonel Mayflower of Liberty Towers, keep him up to date, and conference calling with Cardiff, which will be fun.”

“Fun?”

“Well the last time I did a conference call with Captain Harkness he was naked and I don’t think Ianto had many more clothes on, judging by the way he refused to stand in front of the camera. Silly boy, not like I’ve not seen it all before. Anyway… This guy was definitely killed by a Weevil. I would say, judging by the size of the injuries, that it’s probably the same one, but no way of knowing until I check the DNA, which I’ll have to do at home.” She quickly set up a projected keyboard on a desk and rattled away at the non-existent keys, “You getting that through there Archie?”

“Yup, you want it in the same place?”

“Yeah, there’s a report started on my main computer at home, just bung it in there.” There was silence for a moment before Archie’s voice returned, informing her that they were set. She sighed, “OK, let’s get started.”