Silent Witness

There was this roof...

...behind my grandparents' house,

...two storeys.

Gustavo used to walk along the top.

"El Gran Gustavo," he used to call himself.

He said a girl couldn't do it.

So, of course...

A compound fracture to

the radius and the ulna.

I was furious with him,

so I dumped him.

We were nine years old.

That's your answer? He was The One?

Your boyfriend when you were nine?

And 12, and 14, and 15, and 17...

There wasn't a time when I didn't know Gustavo Aguirre.

But, you know, you grow up,

the world gets bigger, the roofs get higher.

So, have you made a decision, Luisa?

I want to be a pathologist, Nikki, but, I have to go home.

I have to do it there,

at least for a while.

It's funny...

We talk about everything, Luisa,

but you never talk about home.

No, no, no.

I spoke to Luisa's father, he said he'd like me to be there,

so it's the least I can do.

The funeral's Thursday, I'll be back for work Monday, I promise.

You take your time. You're going all that way.

Besides, I don't want you back here

brandishing scalpels

- and head saws all jet-lagged and... - I'll be fine, Thomas.

Do the police have anything more?

A car-jacking.

But Luisa knew it was a dangerous area,

I suppose that's why she chose to volunteer there.

We deal with this stuff every day, don't we?

Yeah, but that's work. You were friends.

She was meant to live, Thomas.

She was meant to achieve something.

I felt that in her.

We all did.

Taxi's waiting.

- Bye. - Bye.

'Before I started this internship with you, '

I never understood why anyone would want to specialise in death.

But what you do isn't about death, is it?

It's about the value we place on a life.

'That's what I've learnt from you, Clarissa, Jack and Thomas.'

Mr Herrera?

I'm Nikki.

Oh, Nikki.

I'm so sorry.

Thank you for coming.

We couldn't have an open coffin.

Her face was...

Follow me.

'You're lucky, Nikki, to be from here.

'There's nothing in England that can kill you.

'No snakes, no spiders, no jellyfish, '

no tornadoes, no volcanoes, no mud-slides,

'no malaria. All so nice.'

- 'So, where is he now, El Gran Gustavo? - Eh, who knows?'

Probably a fat dentist in Chihuahua.

When she came back,

I hoped we would get a chance to get to know each other again.

'She said she was volunteering at a clinic.'

'Yeah, Proyecto Reunido.'

Those people help victims of the cartels.

'I didn't know.

'We kept in touch for a while, but...'

She didn't tell me either.

'No, Luisa hadn't given birth.'

'We couldn't have an open coffin.

'Her face was...'

'Compound fracture to the radius and the ulna.'

That's why I wanted you here.

Where is my daughter's body?

I've been speaking to the coroner and the state pathologist.

They both confirm that the woman they examined

had indeed given birth

and there was no scar on the left forearm.

I don't know what to say.

So, where is Luisa Herrera?

I think this must have been a confusion in the mortuary.

Unfortunately, it's a very busy place,

many bodies with similar injuries to Miss Herrera.

Luisa's body must have been, um, written up under the wrong name.

But she is in your mortuary, isn't she?

Her father has a funeral planned for tomorrow.

I am very sorry for Mr Herrera.

Are there any suspects yet in Luisa's case?

Miss Herrera was driving unaccompanied in an area

where armed gangs are known to operate.

She was murdered in the course of a robbery.

I've told Mr Herrera I will let him know

as soon as we have anything new.

There is something else that I don't understand, Commander.

Luisa's father said that when he was first informed that

his daughter's car was found abandoned on the road,

there was no mention of a body.

But the police report says that

her body was found right next to her car.

We have had 117 abductions and murders

in February alone in Sinaloa.

Many of the victims' remains are never found.

Let's hope Mr Herrera is luckier than that.

Luisa went somewhere she should not have gone.

Please, don't make the same mistake.

Why are we stopping?

I wanted to go to this place.

Gracias.

- Identificacion! - Perdon.

Identificacion!

I'm looking for Dr Vasquez. Eva Vasquez.

- You're Dr Alexander? - Yes.

- You're Nikki? - Yes.

She talked about you all the time.

Come, Nikki, let me show you around.

So, this is why Luisa wanted to come back.

She was the answer to our prayers, Nikki.

This project is citizen-led, there are no professionals.

The training she had,

the training you gave her was the most amazing gift to us.

That's how we started this whole DNA database,

there are more than 3,000 families on it now.

Luisa was helping to find our missing people.

So, what was she doing on the day she disappeared?

She was collecting DNA samples from families in San Lorenzo.

She had a safe route there and back.

You think she was followed? Targeted?

Her car was found more than 50km off her route home.

The police said it was a dangerous area.

That's what I don't understand.

What was she doing out there?

So, they gave him some other girl's body?

Dios mio.

These sort of mistakes are common?

They're common, but they're not mistakes.

The police don't want to investigate cartel crimes.

So, if the police don't have Luisa's body, then where is she?

Isn't it possible she might still be alive?

Nikki, let me show you something.

The Disappeared.

Officially there are 30,000 in Mexico.

All these people have been taken by the cartels?

Sometimes it takes years for their bodies to show up.

Many never do.

That's what this project is for.

We locate the bodies and bring them back to their families.

And Luisa's one of them now.

So, we might never find her?

It must be hard for you to understand.

Why hide the bodies?

If the cartels aren't afraid of the police, the courts...

To torture us. Without a funeral, our lives stop.

We're all left twisting in the dark.

Who did you lose, Eva?

Miguel, my eldest. Five years ago.

That's how I got involved, that's how this started.

We found him only last summer.

I'm sorry.

Don't be sorry for me.

I got a funeral, a place to bring flowers, to mourn.

Be sorry for the ones still searching.

Be sorry for Senor Herrera.

'I want to be a pathologist, Nikki, but...'

I have to go home. I have to do it there,

'at least for a while.

'Do you understand?'

You say the police won't have investigated Luisa's case,

maybe I can take a look.

I mean, I am here. I'd like to help.

I already have Luisa's death on my conscience.

Luisa thought it was worth risking her life to find the bodies

and bring them home.

I've got to do something to help find her, haven't I?

- Can't I use what I do? - Nikki, how? With what?

Oi, careful with that.

That's 250 grand's worth of Lyell Centre property.

"One SwiftShot DNA machine." It's on her list.

The project has to send DNA to a lab in Arizona, it takes weeks.

Why do I feel like I'm sending good colleagues after bad?

Does that make me the good colleague for once?

I'm going because she asked.

I'm not sure how I feel about this "projecto" thing. Private citizens,

family members running around digging up dead bodies?

Isn't that our job.

Well, who's going to care more than the families?

I get it, I do, and I want to help too,

but realistically, what can we hope to achieve?

She reckons Luisa was lured into the area,

that the police were colluding with the drug cartels.

The police? Christ! What is she doing?

Something. Anything. I think that's the point.

Look, I go out there for a day or two, OK? We do what we can,

DNA testing, first-stage forensics of the crime scene,

- give them a start, at least. - That's not why I'm letting you go.

I'm sending you to bring Nikki home, Jack.