"Three days of paperwork and two days of moving sheep out the road, now I'm here fixing this bloody sink!" I growled at it.

"You know we could just call a plumber." Roland said in that tone he used to tell me he was right, without saying it.

"At this point, I would have to hand back my masculinity if I don't fix it." Roland doubled over laughing. "Stop laughing and hand me that PTFE tape."

He kept laughing as he handed me the tape. I fought with the pipe until it was back in place. "Alright try it now."

Roland turned the tap on and for a wonder, I didn't get wet. "You could make one of those how many men does it take jokes about this." Roland said as I slid out from under the sink.

"One and a Roland."

He laughed again harder than before. "You're only saying that because I'm gay." He said in the campest voice he could do.

"I'm saying that because when it started leaking you stood on a chair and squealed."

He waved his hand at me. "True, but you have to admit I make a good housewife."

It was my turn to laugh. "Yes, better than my ex-wife."

"Well that's not hard, your wife was fat and lazy..."

The phone rang making him jump. "I bet that is work."

"Do you get a day off?" Roland asked already walking to the phone. "Hello?... that sounds serious... of course, I'll bring him in right away. See you there, bye." He hung up the phone and I was already washing up to get changed.

"What's happening?"

"It was James he says it's all hands on deck. He wouldn't say anything else."

I pulled my shirt on. "Last time they did this it was for a tractor that had turned its trailer over on the main road."

"Janna was laughing when she called about that. James sounded serious."

I tied my shoelaces and grabbed my keys. "James is always serious. Let's go."

We got in Roland's car and drove to the station. He followed me in and I was shocked to see everyone was there, even the volunteers.

The chief saw me over the heads of everyone else and cleared his throat making the room go silent. "Right now everyone is here I will issue the job assignments. Volunteers you are in charge of the information gathering. You going door to door asking people where they were over the last two days. Make sure the information is backed up with evidence!"

The volunteers started to filter out with Janna standing at the door handing out fresh notebooks and extra pens. When the last of them filtered out. The chief spoke again. "Now James you're in charge of blocking off the road and waiting for the other team." James grabbed his hat and walked out of the station leaving me and Roland.

"Roland I know that Mac will tell you what this is about later, but I can't have this getting out yet."

"Of course, I'll keep my mouth shut about this and go home. I get the feeling you all will need something to cheer you up." He left muttering about needing more flour.

"Mac... this is what I needed you for. You're with me." I followed the chief to his car and got in. He started the engine and peeled out with lights on. "A body has been found."

"I guessed it would be something like that. Do we know who?"

The chief shook his head. "No... I needed someone from one of the larger forces to help us in these situations."

"So that's why we are working together?"

He sighed. "Last time I had to wait for the other team to turn up, and they were almost as out of depth as we were. This time I have you."

"What do you know so far?"

"That the body can't be identified and the location. We know nothing else."

He stopped by the edge of the road just outside town and got out. I followed him into the woods. After a short walk, we came to police tape. The chief ducked under it and stopped turning to me. "You seen a body before I know but this one..."

He broke eye contact and I ducked under the tape. "I will be fine."

He led me away from the tape to a large piece of tarpaulin stretched across the area. "We had to cover it to try and stop animals from getting at it."

I could see the lumps under the tarp spread across the space. "We should leave it in place until the other team gets here."

The chief nodded. "We should look around to see if there is evidence of an animal attack." The chief said already looking at a nearby tree.

That's what we did until the other team turned up. "You find anything?" One of the CSIs asked.

"No animal attack." The chief said.

Three others uncovered the body and I finally got a look at it.

The body was distributed across the whole area the trap covered. I saw arms and legs with a torso. The torso had a white tank top splattered with blood and with several holes in it. The legs were covered in a tight pink cloth that also looked blood-soaked. There was something that looked like guts strewn across the ground. There was no head that I could see. The arms and legs were divided into four with no hands or feet. It was a gruesome sight.

I groaned when I saw it and the chief looked concerned. "You need a minute?"

"No sir I know who this is."

The one in charge of the second team walked up to us. "This is a dump site. There isn't a spec of blood here, the exception being the clothing. Did you say you know who this is?"

"It's Edith. It looks like she's wearing what I last saw her in."

The chief turned me around. "You sure?"

"90% sir. I know you just got here but what impressions do you get?" I asked the other team's leader.

He looked back at his men and then back to me. "She was killed elsewhere preserved in some way and brought here. As I said not a spec of blood and the skin has freezer burn on it. More I can't say at the moment."

I nodded. "Right, we need to confirm your suspicion. Take my car to her home see what you find and be careful!"

The chief handed me his keys and I turned to walk back to the car. I got into it and radioed base. "Janna it's Mac. I'm paying Edith a visit in the chief's car."

"Copy that." She replied sounding less jolly than usual.

I drove off wishing that today was another boring day, moving sheep or telling the teens to get out of the field. Today had to be less boring. I didn't want anyone to be hurt just for something more to do. I felt terrible as I turned the chief's car around heading back towards town.

It was only a short drive to Edith's house from the place we were parked. Thinking about it wasn't that Tia's property? "At Edith's house going to knock now." I said into the radio in the car.

"Copy that." Janna came back.

"Keep radio chatter to a minimum all of you. Mac keep in contact."

James and Janna came back one after another. "Copy that."

"Walking to the door now." I said in answer.

Knocking loudly, I called. "Edith, it's Maverick. Are you home?"

I banged on the door harder and it came open. I took my torch out and radioed in. "No answer, the door is open heading inside now."

I pushed on the door which creaked slightly and it opened the whole way. "Police! I'm coming in!"

I turned my torch on and readied my taser. I took small steps into the dim, silent house. "Police! Is there anyone here?" I called.

Only my movements and an echo of my voice answered me. The slight grating of my boots on the floor made me point my light down. The floor had crumbly dry dirt on it. No shoe pints I could see. That looks like the dry mud from near that building...

Turning I shone my torch into the living room. The light shone off the bottom of an upturned armchair, then revealed what was once a table that was now laid in pieces on the floor. A lamp lay on its side, its shade was broken and the glass reflected the light at me.

The TV was lying face down on the carpet with a muddy boot print on its back and the cabinet door hung loose "Chief something's happened here. The living room's been turned upside-down."

"Do you need backup?" I shone my torch around as I entered looking into the shadows for anyone hiding from the entrance of the living room. "I'm sure there's no one here. It's completely silent."

I moved to the next room the dining room. The chairs were moved to one side of the room. The table and floor were covered with blood. I took a step closer to the table seeing the deep gouges in the polished wood where someone had used something to cut... something. "Chief I've found your blood. Moving through to the kitchen."

The kitchen was also blood-soaked. The trail of blood led around the island to the sink where an axe sat on the worktop. There was a bloody handprint on the fridge door. I could see a roll of bin liners on the worktop and a packet of bacon on the ground under the island. It was clear someone had emptied the fridge, dropped some of the food and kicked under the counter.

I moved on to the stairs to the first floor and moved up. The top floor was clear and I moved back out to the car making sure I didn't disturb any evidence. "Chief, no one's here and this looks like the primary crime scene."

"James divert traffic around to the south. Block this whole area off."

I grabbed the police tape and taped off the door to Edith's house. "Sir, should I go and check on Tia?"

"As soon as James has blocked off the area, yes. I hope we don't find anyone else like this."

I finished securing the house and waited for James to radio in, engine running. "Road blocked."

I put the car in gear and sped off towards Tia's house passing the other team as I did. As I arrived I saw her old Volvo parked in the driveway as it had been when I was here last. I walked up to the porch and hammered on the door. There was no answer.

A sinking feeling started to settle in me as I walked around the building looking in all the windows. "Chief there's no answer here and the house is locked up tight."

"Take a really good look around. If we are going to break in we need a reason."

I looked through every window and got back to the porch. I was looking around the porch when I saw a note on a table under a rock, it read.

I've gone away.

If you have business with me I will be back in a few days.

Tia Frost.

"Chief it looks like she is away. There's a note."

"Come back to Edith's. We have moved half the other team here."

I looked back through the window facing the porch and saw nothing to indicate she had left town. All her books were still there, the table and the chairs. I could even see a bottle of something and a glass on the table next to her armchair.

I walked back to the car and stopped looking back at Tia's home one last time. Something's not right here, where could she have gone and when did she go? It must have been after the chief visited her, could that mean....

With one last shake of my head, I got into the car.

I let out a big sigh as the radio crackled. "Mac.. your brother is here at the station. He has made lunch for you all."

"How long has he been there Janna?"

Roland's voice came on the radio. "Long enough."

"Roland, do you know where we are?" The chief asked.

"Yes.. I brought enough lunch for everyone, even the volunteers."

"Come to us via James to drop off his lunch. He's got a long day sitting out there doing nothing." Chief said as I started the car and turned it around.

"Alright, I'm on my way." Roland said.

"Keep what you heard to yourself." Roland agreed as I rolled out.

I pulled up at Edith's house and the chief came over. "We found the rest of Edith in the freezer." I shook my head and handed him his keys. "Looks like a lot of work ahead of us." He said looking back at the house.

"Tia said something when I last saw her." I pulled out my notebook opening it to the day I'd met them both. "She said 'I don't think she will be a problem for much longer.' I wrote it down because the way she said it sounded... final."

"And we don't know where she is?"

I handed him the note. "Edith said she had a son. Do we know her next of kin?" I asked as he tucked the note away.

"We are working on that. Go and meet your brother at the bottom of the road."

It was a firm dismissal and I nodded walking down the road to catch him. He rolled up and handed me a bag. "You put yourself in danger again."

"It's my job, Roland. If I had needed back up it was close by."

He sighed. "I know, but you're my brother and I'm worried about you."

I sighed. "You need to find a boyfriend. Then you can worry over someone else."

He smiled weakly. "I'll make sure you are all fed."

"Thanks, Roland... and sorry for my comments."

He was shaking his head. " Don't worry about it I know I nag. Half the town knows something bad has happened. But they won't hear anything from me."

"I hope you can help us keep this quiet."

He nodded. "Stay safe."

"You too."

I walked back towards the house and handed out the lunch, then stood at the car watching everyone rather than eat.

The chief saw me and came over. "Are you alright?" I nodded still watching the other team wonder about their kit. "Talk to me, Mac."

"About what?"

He sighed. "About what's going through your head."

"This case. It looks like Tia is a suspect, but I'm not so sure. Whether she can be or not depends on what information we obtain."

"What's your gut telling you?"

I frowned. "My gut... I trust evidence, not my gut. So far the evidence suggests Edith died the day I met her. We know Tia and Edith had issues with each other. Tia tends towards being unfriendly, however... there's little evidence she is violent. So we have nothing more than a body on her property at the moment. You went to see Edith when you last saw Tia didn't you?"

He nodded. "She made a complaint that someone was on her property that night. She wasn't home when I came to see her so I believed she was just out and was going to follow up today. Tia did look pale when I saw her."

"Do you think she called about the person who killed her?" I asked shaking my head.

He sighed. "It's looking more and more likely at this point."

We both lapsed into silence watching the crime scene team move about. I couldn't see Edith's car. "Chief was there a little white car here when you came?"

He shook his head. So her car has gone too.

"Right. I want you to gather the information from the volunteers, and pull up everything you have between Tia and Edith. Take my car and get to it. Get Janna to start looking for Tia. I know we have nothing to go on now except their disagreement and a body on her land, but we must cover all bases."

I took the chief's keys and opened the door. "Mac, don't forget to eat that lunch." I smiled at him and got in the car.