Chapter Text
“You know those bones that I found before I ran away? I took them with me, to the city.”
3x02 True Blue (NCIS: Sydney)
Faith twisted the blank key card around in her hands. It was one she'd… borrowed from a rather harried looking man a couple of days prior, too eager to leave for the Christmas break to worry about the ratty looking teenager begging for money across the street from his workplace.
Her plan was a simple one.
Take advantage of the shutdown period over Christmas and New Years; wait until dark; sneak into the nearest forensic pathology laboratory; locate a portable bone density scanner and leg it out of there before someone from the security company arrives.
So why was she so nervous?
After her failed attempt of sourcing one from the university had nearly led to her arrest, she'd been determined to do better this time.
And she was.
She'd purposefully steered clear of any high-value sites, sourced a change of clothes and kept her head down.
At first she'd been taken aback, scared of the way everyone in the city seemed to simply ignore one other as if their lives weren't intertwined in the slightest. Now, she was grateful. It meant she could weave her way into position and all there was left to do was pray for her success.
Because the one thing she hadn't been able to test yet was the key card working after hours.
And there was only one way to find out.
Finally, in the far distance, the town clock struck 11pm and she took a deep breath. She needed to move now, if she was to have any chance of returning to her hideout before the public transport system shut down completely for the night. Setting one foot in front of the other she made her way forward, avoiding any and all security cameras she'd identified.
Worst case scenario, the card wouldn't work and she'd be able to leave without any consequences beyond another round of disappointment.
She needn't have worried because, for the first time since leaving Bilpin Collective, things actually went right.
With a subtle beep, the key card let her in the back door and then again through an interior door that led her into a much larger room. The majority of lights were on, putting a soft glow across the floor and all the instruments lining the walls and tables. As quiet and quickly as she could, she inspected each one she came across. It wasn't long before there, right in front of her, was the device she'd been looking for.
She reached out slowly.
Her heart leapt when her finger tips brushed against cold plastic and she scooped it into her arms quickly. She had to keep herself from laughing. It wasn't a mirage… It was real and she was finally, finally going to be able to–
“What do you plan on doing with that?”
She spun around and fumbled to catch the device before she dropped it onto the floor and broke it.
Suddenly on high alert, she forced her eyes to roll upward and, to her dismay, there, blocking her planned exit, was a large man with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.
“I wasn't gonna keep it.”
“Mmm.” He pointed towards the row of microscopes lined up along the far wall, “You'd have much better luck selling a couple of those. Bigger market.”
“What?” It took her an embarrassing long moment to understand what he was saying. “No! I don't– I mean, that's not why I'm–”
“Isn't it?” he asked. “Because I can't think of any other reason why someone – who looks like they haven't been home in a while – would be visiting a federal government facility at this time of night.”
A squeak passed through her lips, “Federal?”
She looked at the man a little more closely. He was older, head and chin covered in thick white hair and skin lined in ways that, she guessed, said he'd live a life beyond a desk chair. Beneath his open lab coat was a set of casual clothes.
Clearly not a security guard.
But also – hopefully – not a police officer.
She clutched the device tighter and began to run through the options she had available to her.
Throw the device and hope it would be enough of a distraction to run past the man.
Smash something else and hope it would be enough of a distraction to run past the man with the device–
“How about this…” the man interrupted her thoughts. “You tell me the reason why you need a bone density scanner and we'll see if we can't come to some sort of an arrangement.”
“What,” Faith scoffed, “like where I have to do you some sort of favour?”
She might have been brought up on a commune but that didn't make her stupid.
If anything it made her smarter.
More suspicious.
“Uh, no.” The man screwed up his face. “I'm a married man and you're not my type. No-one your age is. I was thinking…” he moved out of the doorway and, instead of moving towards her like she expected, settled against a table a couple of metres to the side. “I'll give you two options. One, you put the scanner back where you found it, place the key card you used to get in here next to it and I'll let you leave, no questions asked.”
She glanced down at the device in her hands before looking back at him. “And two?”
“Two, you tell me in detail why you need that scanner and maybe – just maybe – I might be able to help you.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Colour me curious.”
Faith weighed up her options. She didn't want to leave empty handed, not again, but there was every chance his offer to help was simply to delay her long enough for the actual police to arrive.
“If I tell you… you promise not to call the police?”
He pulled a phone out of his pocket and unlocked it. He held it up for her to see the call log. It was difficult to read from such a distance and there were a lot of calls but none, as far as she could tell, were listed as ‘Security’ or ‘000’.
He placed the phone facedown onto the table. “Not unless I have to.”
It was cryptic but it would have to do.
On his left hand was a gold wedding band. At least he wasn't lying about that.
“Um, okay. Well–” she took a deep breath. Here goes… “I found some bones. And I want to know, um, how he– how the person died.”
“Ah,” the man nodded. “I see. What exactly makes you think that a scanner is the best way to go about finding answers?”
“Lecturer at university.” Technically, she'd learned far more from the books she'd located in the on campus library but he didn't need to know that.
“Well, they're not wrong. But I would think taking them to your nearest police station might be the most expedient option.”
“I can't.”
“Can't? Or won't?”
“Are you going to help me or not?”
“I'd need to see the bones. Have you got them with you?”
Faith shook her head. Not even she would be stupid enough to carry around a human skull. “They're at home.”
“Leave the scanner–”
“But–”
“– and come back tomorrow.”
Oh.
“...I won't know until I can inspect them in person. There's likely other tests that should be considered.”
“And if I do, you'll let me use the scanner?”
“If I deem it worthwhile, I'll let you observe the use of the scanner.”
If things truly played out that way, it would be a small concession and so she nodded.
“Okay.”
Time of day agreed upon, she slowly – and with much hesitance – placed the device down on the table. Head down yet hypervigilant she shuffled towards the exit. It was difficult to believe this was really happening.
Faith paused, one hand on the door, when the man called out.
“Leave the key card too, you won't need it.” She did as he asked and he continued. “If I'm not here when you arrive, ring the buzzer and ask for Rosie.”
Without looking back, she slipped out into the night.