Liam was the first to react and pointed at me, "You, call that policeman right away."

I gave my phone to Liam, "It's under DCI." There was something I had to see before I did anything else, I got down on my knees in front of the box and reached for it. Louis stopped me, "Don't touch it anymore, maybe they can get prints." I looked around while I heard Liam talking to someone on the phone, trying to explain what had happened. Harry found some gloves and gave them to me; I didn't meet his eye. I thought I might break if I talked to someone right now. i dreaded what I had to do, but I knew I had to do it.

Slowly I opened the box and the hand appeared, just as they had described it. The job wasn't done nicely, it was bloody, and the tendons were sticking out. The rose was quite fresh. I made myself look at the hand closer, slender fingers, no rings. The nails were painted blood red and they were long. I breathed out quickly.

I closed my eyes and envisioned us in bed this morning, her body warm against mine as she was not awake, but not asleep either. She pressed her bum towards me and I felt myself stirring. I pressed back, satisfied with just having her in my arms. Her hand was resting in front of her and i followed her arm slowly before entangling my fingers with hers and bringing our hands up so I could kiss her fingers. She giggled, "My Romeo, my Romeo."

"Niall." Louis voice woke me. I wiped my eyes and stood.

"It isn't Carolin."

They all gave a collective sigh, but we still had a hand. It belonged to someone. Liam gave me back my phone, his eyes were hooded. "He'll be right over with a team. Have you talked to Carolin after she left?"

I gave a short nod, not taking my eyes off the box. "I got a text from her, she had to wait for the doctor. The police are escorting her there."

Zayn opened and closed his mouth, after some fumbling, he spoke. "Sandra told me that someone was missing from the bar?"

My head shot up; I remembered the phone call Carolin had gotten. "Anne."

Zayn nodded, "Yeah, the head-stripper. She hasn't come into work in a couple of days."

One of the PA's came running up the stairs. he stopped to look at us standing there in the hallway with apparently no reason.

"Hey you, the guys are waiting for you." His voice was apologetic, not wanting to madden the famous people. He flinched when we turned as one to look at him. Bad timing.

Liam took one step towards him, "I think we have to postpone the recording today."

The PA looked torn, he sure didn't want to tell the tech-people that, but he didn't want to argue with us either.

"We got a situation here that needs sorting out." 

Liam was being vague, probably thinking about the publicity shitstorm that would hit when this came out. The papers and magazines were already stuffed with pictures of me and Carolin, and some of Zayn and Sandra as well, completely overthrowing the news that there was an album on the way.

The PA nodded and went slowly down the stairs again, to tell the bad news.

We all looked at each other.

"We all know this is the same fucker. The police need to find him now. I don't know much about human parts, but I'm guessing this Anne is dead."

Liam was furious, and it felt like he stole my lines. But I was lost. I had never been so scared for someone else before. Right now, I was just grateful it wasn't Carolin's hand and that she was safe at the hospital. I couldn't be sad for the poor girl yet. I tried to not think about the whereabouts of the rest of the body and in which state.

Three sharp knocks sounded, and the door opened without anyone saying come in. Lantry strode in, followed by two people in white one-piece's. They spotted the box right away and went directly there. Lantry gave a nod to say hi and followed them. He closed his eyes briefly when he saw the hand.

"Do you think it's this Anne?" Liam was the first to speak. Lantry looked a bit taken aback by the question. Maybe thinking we didn't know about her disappearance. Lantry gave a long sigh and tugged at his coat. "Maybe." He gave me a piercing gaze. "Have you talked to Ms Fraser?"

I told him about the message, and I could see he relaxed. "I'll call the policemen on duty anyway."

He went over to the wall and talked fast to someone on the phone. We didn't know were to look, it felt wrong somehow to watch the forensics do their thing. Lantry came back and asked if there was a place we could talk alone.

"Alone you and me or you and us?" I was confused. He looked us over and battled something. "Right, all of you then, but you can't tell anyone about the conversation."

We looked at each other and agreed, and then Liam led way. Once again, I was blown away by his leadership, I didn't know how much I'd missed him. I dont think I'd managed to cope with this alone, then I thought about the fact that Carolin had to withstand abuse by herself, and I straightened my back some.

I felt guilty, it was my fault the guys were being dragged into this. All because I fall in love to easy. I shook my head to rid myself of the thoughts, no time for them now.

Lantry paced the room, checking his phone before he spoke.

"In the last days, two bodies have been found. We can't link them to Mark Barnaby, but the one thing the bodies have in common is their uncanny resemblance with Ms Fraser. Their hair has been cut to match hers. We are waiting for DNA to come back, but we think that some of the clothes they wore belonged to Ms Fraser or are from the bar."

The silence in the room was earblowing, you could hear that famous pin dropping.

I had to swallow; my throat tightened to the point where I felt like drowning. Once again Liam stole my line, but I could only be thankful.

"Bodies? Dead bodies?"

Lantry didn't bother to answer that obvious question. Harry put his hair up in a bun, "Died how?" I didn't know if I wanted to hear the answer. The inspector looked out the window.

"Slowly."

I felt like a statue, but apparently my distress showed, Louis came over to sit by me on the sofa. He put his arm around me, "Relax, we know Carolin is safe. We'll just keep her locked in till they catch this asshole."

I knew she was safe, but my mind kept playing images of her still and bloody.

"That's why I wanted to talk to you in private. Did you and Carolin argue this morning?" He gave me a blank stare; I didn't know the meaning behind the question. I had to cough before my voice worked.

"No, not at all." He had heard us fight before, maybe he was suspecting me for something?

He started to say something more but was interrupted by the phone again. He held up a finger and turned his back to us.

"Mhm. Mhm. Just keep looking. Use the surveillance-cameras."

My head span and it felt like someone had thrown a bucked with ice-water over me. I slid down from the couch, ending up on my knees. I knew it. I knew it.