Nefarious {Harry Styles A.U}

Seven

"Doc?" Harry entered the mortuary alone, unbuttoning his suit jacket and hanging it on one of the coat racks, rolling up his sleeves to be able to put on the blue tunic he was probably going to be forced to wear.

When Harry had arrived at the mortuary, he had a feeling in his stomach that he could only describe as feeling slightly like travel sickness. He was nervous as to what he would find out from the Doctor and the fact that he was clearly being taunted by their killer did not ease his stomach at all.

"Harry, you on your own?" Ashton asked, walking up to Harry and shaking his hand.

"I left Payne at the station, figured he could keep our computer tech company whilst he works on a theory," Harry explained, not even making an attempt to groan as Ashton handed him a set of blue latex gloves and the protective tunic. "You found anything new?"

"Well, I was right at the crime scene, it was Sodium Hydroxide that caused the effects on the skin." Although Harry knew that Ashton was right about the acid used, he could see he was holding something back.
"You want to share with the rest of the class?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's just the way that the acid was introduced to the body. It didn't just come into contact with the skin, it was injected into the blood stream." Harry wrinkled his nose at the thought.

"He did say that he had been reading up on torture methods." It was mainly a comment to himself, but Ashton had picked up quickly.

"Well I can tell you, he's doing a good job. The injection was quick but the effects took a little longer than expected I presume but I found out why."

"You want to tell me what that is or are we gonna play this 20 questions bullshit all afternoon?" To most, Harry would have come across as rude; but with the people that Ashton worked with day to day, he was used to it.

"The acid had been diluted. Only a little with water, but it was still there. It dragged out the torture." Ashton pushed open the door to the morgue where Harry's victim was currently laid out on the metal table in the middle of the room.

In most mortuaries, when an autopsy is performed, it's kept in the refrigerated compartments until the pathologist conducts the autopsy. Normally there are about three tables in one room but this one was different.

With high profile cases, Ashton performed the autopsies in the basement room; code locked so only certain staff members could enter. Harry was thankful that the risk of contamination was low.

"So is there anything new with this case? Other than the fact that the main methods of death are different of course." The methods used by the killer in the previous murders were all different. One was crushed to death, a few were stabbed, but none of them were poisoned or pulled apart.
"Well no, it's the same victimology as the last time I'm afraid. This guy was diabetic, skinny, intoxicated; a low risk victim. This guy has a type, just wish they would stick to a single M.O." Ashton complained.

"Okay what about the 'X', post-mortem like always?" Harry sighed, turning the wrist over to check out the indent made.

"Not this time around. This one was done pre-mortem, the blood around in suggests it was done whilst the victim was unconscious. He may not have even noticed it when he woke up; especially considering these other cuts across the torso and arms." Ashton gestured towards the cuts on the body.

"Why change it around, why do it when your victim is alive?" Harry pondered the thought out loud.

"Maybe they're evolving. We know with these kinds of killers that they have to evolve or devolve. They've had what, a three year break? It makes you think how much a person can develop in that amount of time." Harry nodded at Ashton's comment before patting his friend on the back and walking out. Something was off about this case.

*

"Niall, tell me you've got something." Harry barked as he stormed into the computer room, leaning against the desk and stared at the screen in front of him.

"Other than a headache?" Harry wasn't in the mood for sarcasm. "Alright, gotcha, not in the mood. Well, I have a few things." Niall nodded towards the screen and began incessantly tapping on the keyboard in front of him. "So I did what you said, did a lot of cross-referencing and I have come up with about two guys that could work."

"Niall, there are seven names up there." Liam pointed out, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Out of those seven people, five of them have air tight alibis. Two of them were asleep with their wives, one was at the pub, one was late night blogging and the last guy was banging his neighbours wife. Quite a risky move if you ask me, neighbour could hear everything yet you do it anyway. You gotta admit-" Harry stared down at the blonde with a look that radiated annoyance. "I've got two, although I'm still waiting on getting alibi's from them." Niall handed Harry two folders none the less; both profiles he'd managed to produce with information about the two suspects. Harry wasn't holding much on them, considering they looked nothing like the guy in the CCTV footage but it was the best lead they had.

"When I have something, I'll let you know. Although for now, I'm just going to have to be left to it. There's nothing you can do here apart from annoy me." Niall shrugged and pushed himself across the room towards a completely different computer.

"As soon as you have something, call me." Harry ordered, taking steps towards the door.

"How is this guy getting ahead of us?" Liam asked as the two detectives walked out the room and towards the elevators.

"There's got to be something we're missing. I don't understand. He's not a cop, there's no way he'd be able to get through the psych evaluation." Harry thought out loud as they rode the elevator up.

"Not a student, they'd be too young." Liam carried on the trail of thought. "They have to be somehow injecting themselves into the investigation."

"Like I said, there's something we're missing." Harry pushed his way out of the elevator doors and made a bee-line towards the coffee machine, not at all expecting Niall to come bursting through the doors, panting heavily.

"We've got another one."

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Really hope this chapter came across how I wanted it to and I really want to know what people think about the killer, about your assumptions on him. 

Also; #RIPLemmy. I'm a big Motorhead fan and I'm saddened by the news. He kept me rocking as a kid and he'll keeping me rocking for years to come.