Things had been different between Alice and Michael since the Warner attack. He was overly protective and anxious. She was a little distant, partly through being immersed in the Moreton case, but also because she found herself now permanently on edge. As they sat down to eat one night in his flat, she looked up at him with an expression he knew well and was always wary of. It was the ‘we need to talk’ look.
‘Michael, we need to talk,’ she said. Alarm bells began in the emotionally ultrasensitive mind of Dr Michael Swift.
‘Oh no. Are you breaking up with me?’ he asked.
‘What? How old are you? Twelve?’
‘I won’t bring coffee to your office any more. I promise,’ he pleaded.
‘Michael. Don’t be stupid.’
‘Okay,’ he replied.
‘I’ve decided,’ she said with conclusive authority. Then said nothing more.
‘Good,’ he said with all the uncertainty that is inevitable when someone has no idea what the other person is talking about.
‘I’m definitely going to apply for the DHEP,’ she announced with pride.
‘The what?’
‘Michael, we’ve discussed this. The Degree Holder Entry Programme for the police. I’m going to become a detective.’ She beamed.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked.
‘Absolutely. It’s what I want to do. That pig Warner made me realise I’m not a victim. I won’t be a victim. I want to help victims. I finally know what I want to do,’ she said.
‘That’s fantastic. Really. I never imagined you as police, but I think it’s wonderful,’ he said.
‘You’re police.’
‘I am not,’ he replied firmly.
‘Now you make it sound like a bad thing,’ she said.
‘I’m independent of the police. I work for the police. It’s an important distinction.’
‘If you say so,’ she said, resisting the urge to call BULLSHIT!
‘You have to promise me one thing though,’ he said.
‘What?’
‘That I’m there when you tell your folks.’
‘Oh, very funny,’ she replied. But that was going to be one awkward conversation.
When they got into bed later, he turned to face her.
‘I do actually have one question,’ he began.
‘Okay. Go for it.’
‘Does this mean you’ll have to be in uniform for a while?’ he asked with a degree of licentiousness that rendered the overtly suggestive raising of his carefully curated eyebrows redundant.
‘Oh, go to sleep,’ she said, turning over with a smile that said this unspoken idea might hold its merits for her too.