Nefarious {Harry Styles A.U}

Nineteen

Harry arrived at the scene in record time, his little cherry light sitting on top of his car.

"Payne!" Harry called out, rain scattering around the crime scene. CSI had already put up a blue tent around what Harry assumed was the body of their latest victim. Liam heard Harry's call and raced over, umbrella over his head and a pair of shoe protectors in his hands.

"The scene is a little muddy; put these on and step only on the plates." Liam pointed around him to the metal stepping plates that lead straight towards the blue tent. Harry knew the protocol but he nodded anyway, slipping the blue plastic covers over his shoes and followed Liam towards the tent; seeing Ashton huddled inside with a clipboard in hand.

"Harry." Ashton acknowledged, standing up and nodding in the detectives general direction.

"Payne said you wanted to tell me something?"
"You are in for a real treat detective. So many things are going on with this crime scene and I'm no criminal profiler but even I know what's different." Harry rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

"No offence Ashton, but I was in the middle of the only sleep I've had in about three weeks," A total lie "I'd love to get to the centre of this, please."

"Right. Sorry. Anyway, I'm sure you've noticed your surrounding area. It's incredibly muddy and thankfully, our killer is not the brightest bulb in the box. They left several footprints around the scene." Harry couldn't hide the smile on his face.

"You had it processed right?" Harry perked up, hoping the rain hadn't ruined their only new piece of evidence.

"You insult me by simply implying that I hadn't, Harry." Ashton shook his head, pointing to one side of the tent. "Tomlinson and his little posse already came by and did their magic work with photos and moulds. We should have the results in the next few days if they fast track it."

"What else is different with this scene?" Harry asked, remembering the good doctor had mentioned 'a number of things wrong'.

"Pretty much everything." Ashton shrugged. "Defensive wounds on the face and neck of the victim; there's tissue under the fingernails that could be from the killer or their partner. The cross usually on the victim has hesitation marks surrounding the wound; pre-mortem like the last few. I don't know what it is Harry, but this one is not as professional as we're used to. If it weren't for the fact you lot watched this murder Live, I'd consider a copycat." Ashton shrugged, leaning back down to the body to examine it further.

"Any trace evidence you get, send it straight to Tomlinson. I want results as soon as possible. Let us know if you find out anything more." Harry pointed towards the doctor before walking away again, straight back the way he came, throwing away his show protectors as soon as he passed under the cordon to his car. "Payne, phone the FBI, tell them to meet us back at the precinct and tell them to bring Clifford, with Niall working on his little project we're going to need all the help we can get." Liam nodded and headed to his own car, Harry climbing into his and shutting the door, wiping the rain from his face, pushing his hair back.

He sent a quick apologetic text to Alexandra who was sitting in his house. He knew he wouldn't be making it back anytime soon, not with the new information.

Harry was beginning to thank every God he could think of that their UnSub had invested in a partner; maybe this time they would actually get somewhere with it.

*

It had been about three days since the last crime scene, and Harry hadn't heard anything from Alexandra in those last few days. He'd wanted to badly to continuously phone her and ask if he'd done something wrong; but he knew there was going to be no point in sounding completely desperate.

Although at this precise moment, he had bigger fish to fry.

Harry was down in the lab waiting on the results from Louis Tomlinson's searches.

"The boot print didn't give us much unfortunately. I didn't get much from the sole, and with no distinguishing tread patterns on the bottom, it's hard to find out the make and colour of the boot. For all I know it's gold." Louis shrugged, handing over the file he held in his hands to Harry. "As for the rest of the print; judging by the depth of the print the guy you're looking for weighs between 170 and 180lbs. This means the guy you're looking for is no taller than 6'2." Harry knew that he'd basically just described every average looking male in LA, but at least it was a lead.
"Any luck with the scrapings Irwin took from the body?" Harry asked, closing the file he held in his hands.

"Other than the fact it matched with the DNA profile we got from the fingernails of a different victim; no. All I can tell you is that it's from the same person." Harry thanked Louis as he left the lab, making his way up to the top floor where the FBI and they're computer analyst, Michael Clifford, were waiting.

Niall hadn't been getting very far with his project he was working on but that didn't stop him from spending every last second he had in his little cave, working around the clock on something that he wouldn't even tell Harry about.

"I don't understand why all of a sudden they're making mistakes?" Liam spoke up as he, Harry and the two FBI Agents stood in the glass office staring at the murder board.

"It's obvious that the dominant unsub is letting their partner take over; maybe seeing if they're capable of killing without help?" Hemmings speculated, running a hand over the stubble forming on his face.

"That takes a lot of trust though right?" Harry asked, briefly stopping the chewing on the top of his pen to speak.

"Exactly. We know that the unsub and their partner have a close connection but we don't exactly know-" Agent Calum Hood was interrupted by Michael Clifford bursting through the door, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.

"Sorry to interrupt you're little campfire but Luke, Calum; you got a minute?"

"Not really Mike, what's going on?" Calum asked, standing up from where he'd been sitting on the edge of the table.

"I really need to talk to you guys out here alone." Michael cast a glance towards both Harry and Liam before the Agents agreed, closing the glass door behind him.

"I bet you ten bucks Clifford realises we've got fuck all." Liam joked from behind Harry, although the older detective was too busy staring at the white board in front of him trying to make connections before the door opened again.

"Detective Payne, can you stand up for a second please?" Agent Hemmings spoke from the doorway, forcing Harry to turn around and face the rest of the people in the room.

"I can when you tell me why." Liam stated, not even bothering to move his feet from on top of the table where he'd placed them ten minutes previous.

"Will you please just stand up, Detective?" Agent Hood spoke from behind Liam, Harry could see how his hand ghosted over his gun that sat calmly on his hip.

Liam didn't have to be asked again, standing up and grunting slightly as Hemmings pulled the detectives hands behind his back, pulling his handcuffs from the back of his belt; hooking them around Liam's wrists.

"Hang on a second Agent," Harry rushed forwards, placing a hand on the agents chest. "Why the hell is my partner currently in handcuffs?"

"We have evidence leading us to believe that the 'live' feeds of these murders are simply recordings being sent from Detective Payne's computer." And with that, Agent Hemmings lead the yelling detective towards one of the precincts interrogation rooms; although something told Liam that he wasn't going to be on the 'right' side of the table this time.

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I don't actually know when this is going to be coming to an end but I can promise you that it's not any time soon... maybe 

Hope this chapter turned out alright :) 

~ Gemma