Bay of the Dead

'Well, well, look what the cat's dragged in,' Swanson said.

She was standing with a colleague, a shorter, pudgy man in a wrinkled blue suit, who sniggered.

'Which must make you the cat,' Jack said, and raised his eyebrows. 'You got the costume to go with that?'

Swanson looked outraged. 'You don't honestly think I called you, do you, Jack? Why the hell would I want Torchwood stomping all over my investigation?'

'Maybe you just can't resist my baby blue eyes,' Jack said.

'Oh, please,' Swanson replied.

'It was a Detective Inspector Myers who called us,' Ianto said a little stiffly.

Swanson pulled a face. 'That figures.'

'He said there were some unusual aspects to the case. In fact, his actual words were, 'This one's weirder than a three-headed monkey.''

Jack looked unimpressed. 'I dated a three-headed monkey once. What a summer that was!'

'Is this just one big joke to you, Jack?' Swanson said. 'Because it isn't to me. Five boys have died here tonight.'

The smile slipped from Jack's face. All at once he was sombre, business-like. 'What happened?'

'Why don't you see for yourselves?' Swanson said. There was a challenge in her voice as she added, 'I hope you've got strong stomachs.'

Jack flashed her a look, and he and Ianto hurried along the jetty towards the illuminated yacht. A team of forensics examiners, ghostly in their white all-in-ones, were moving around the deck, photographing evidence and making notes. Even from some distance away, Ianto saw that the gleaming fibreglass structure of the central cabin area was splashed liberally with blood. As he and Jack approached the boat, one of the officers spotted them and hurried over.

'Can I help you?'

'Captain Jack Harkness — Torchwood,' Jack said importantly.

'Ianto Jones,' said Ianto.

'Oh, so you're the famous Torchwood, are you?' said the officer, trying to look blase. 'I'm Guy Baker, SOCO on this investigation. I take it you know the rules?'

'Rules are for-' Jack began, but Ianto jumped in.

'Don't touch anything. Don't contaminate the crime scene,' he recited.

'That's it.' Baker wafted a hand, as though inviting them aboard. 'Aside from that, have fun.'

Jack and Ianto stepped across the divide between jetty and deck, Ianto trying to keep his expression neutral as he looked around. There were pools and splashes of blood all over the deck, not to mention a copious amount of human remains. Most of the remains were unidentifiable — nothing but shreds and gobbets of mangled flesh and bone — but here and there were body parts that were patently, stomach-churningly human. Ianto saw a hand with two fingers missing, but part of the arm still attached; a section of gnawed ribcage; a long bone that might have been a femur; a head whose face was mercifully obscured by blood-matted hair.

Grim-faced, Jack asked Baker, 'So what are we looking at here? Animal attack?'

Baker shook his head. 'No. Believe it or not, the killers were human.'

Jack and Ianto glanced at each other. 'How many?' asked Jack.

'So far we've identified bite marks from thirteen different sets of teeth.'

'Unlucky for some,' Ianto murmured.

'And the victims were killed how?' Jack asked.

Baker spread his hands, as if he couldn't quite believe his own findings. 'As far as we can tell, they were simply. . torn apart. Evidence suggests that the attackers used their bare hands to murder their victims and then cannibalised the bodies. Devoured them, in fact.'

Ianto placed a hand over his mouth and said nothing. He was thinking of cannibals up in the Brecon Beacons, not long after Gwen had joined Torchwood. The memory was not a happy one.

Jack was equally silent for a moment, and then he said, 'Detective Swanson said there were five victims?'

Baker nodded. 'We think they were all Cardiff University students. We found a couple of NUS cards among the debris.'

'What about the perpetrators?' Ianto asked.

'No sign. We think they must have pulled up in a boat alongside the yacht.'

'Won't there be a record of them in that case?' said Jack.

'We're looking into that now.'

'OK. Well, keep up the good work, Guy — and keep us informed. And now, if you don't mind, we'd like a little look round on our own.'

Baker did not exactly huff, but it was clear he did not appreciate being dismissed by Jack. As soon as he had moved away, Ianto took his PDA out of his pocket and turned it on.

'Anything?' Jack asked.

Ianto consulted the results scrolling across the display reader. 'There's residual Rift energy,' he said, 'but the percentage is almost low enough to be considered negligible.'

Jack looked thoughtful. 'So what do you think? That human beings did this?'

'Don't see why not. They were probably high on drugs. A cult, maybe.'

Jack gave him a look.

'What?' said Ianto, as if he was being accused of something.

'You know what I'm thinking, don't you?' Jack said.

Ianto shook his head. 'No, Jack. It's ridiculous. You know it's ridiculous.'

Almost smugly Jack said, 'On our way here we field a call from Gwen, who says that she and Rhys have been attacked by a walking corpse. And now here we are surrounded by evidence of an attack in which the perpetrators used their bare hands as murder weapons and then cannibalised their victims. What does that suggest to you, Ianto?'

Unhappily Ianto shook his head. 'It's crazy, Jack. It's horror-movie hokum. You know it is.'

'And you know what we're up against here, don't you?'

'No, I don't. Don't say it, Jack. Don't use the — '

'Zombies!' Jack exclaimed.

'- zed word,' Ianto concluded miserably.

FOUR

PC Andy Davidson took a left into Gabalfa Road. There was no need to scan the house numbers to pinpoint the source of the disturbance. An ambulance had already arrived, and was parked at the kerb, hazards flashing. Some people had spilled out of the house and were standing in the overgrown front garden, or on the pavement. Most looked drunk and confused, though one or two were arguing amongst themselves, gesticulating angrily at the house and each other.

'You all right?' Andy asked, glancing at Dawn Stratton, his new partner.

Dawn rolled her pale green eyes. 'I've already told you, Andy, you don't have to mollycoddle me.'

'Only asking,' Andy said, and switched off the engine. 'It's for my benefit as much as yours.'

'I'm fine,' she said firmly, and opened the door.

The call had come in five minutes earlier — a disturbance at a party in a student-occupied house. According to the caller, a gatecrasher had attacked and wounded a female partygoer.

Andy and Dawn strode across to the ambulance, Andy fending off comments from a couple of the more abrasive drunks. The back doors of the vehicle were standing open and a yellow-jacketed paramedic was inside, tending to a young girl.