Juliet foisted her overnight bag onto her shoulder. ‘You’ll be alright on your own?’
I looked up from the half-written notes from our interviews with Jordan, Leo and Terence. ‘The amount of times you’ve stayed late alone, I think I can handle it.’
Juliet nodded but didn’t leave.
‘I’m going to type this lot up, then I’m meeting someone,’ I told her.
‘I can stay if you need me to.’
‘I don’t,’ I said. ‘It’s important you go home to your family whenever you can, so go. I’ll call if anything comes up.’
‘You’d better.’
Juliet walked out of the office. I listened to her heels crossing the outer workspace, then turned back to my computer.
I only had Terence’s interview left to write up. As I typed, I couldn’t stop thinking about Karl. He’d ruined any chance we’d remove him as a serious suspect by running away, but what reason would he have had to kill Melanie if Terence was telling the truth?
The only person on the estate who knew Melanie was Leo. He claimed to be madly in love with her. He insisted he hadn’t met her.
None of it felt right.
I grabbed my mug. I wanted to finish transcribing and meet Ollie. For that, I needed caffeine.
A few people milled around the main workspace. Paul gave me a hopeful thumbs-up from his office then pulled a comical sad face when I responded with mine pointed down.
I stumbled to a halt in the doorway of the break room.
Alice slammed the fridge closed. ‘Oh, hi, ma’am.’
‘Thanks for letting us know about Jordan earlier.’ I recovered from the shock of seeing her unexpectedly and flicked on the kettle. ‘It was really helpful.’
‘It’s fine, ma’am,’ she said coolly as she walked towards the door.
Enough. Too many people at the station looked down on me because I was young, petite, and female, or pitied me because they’d taken too deep a dive into my personnel file. I didn’t need this too.
‘Alice? Do you have a minute?’
She spun slowly on her heel. ‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘I hope there’s no bad feeling between us about the other night.’ I spoke to her over my shoulder while I reached for the instant coffee, creating a false sense of nonchalance. ‘I appreciated you asking me out, but during a case I have to be in bed early to make sure I get my full eight hours.’
That was working the truth hard, but it wasn’t quite a lie. I flicked Alice a smile as I walked to the fridge for milk. Indecision worked out over her face. I’d definitely snubbed her, no matter what I said, but there was no point in a junior officer holding a grudge against someone more senior, not if she ever wanted me to put in a good word. Forgiveness worked in both our favour.
‘It’s fine,’ she said eventually. ‘I know what it’s like.’
I dropped my spoon into the sink, where it joined a dozen others, and grabbed my coffee. I leant against the counter. ‘I have a job for you, if you’re up for it.’
‘Depends on the job, ma’am,’ Alice said, finally dropping the snide undertones from the honorific. The corners of her mouth tweaked upwards as she sipped disgustingly weak tea.
‘One of our suspects has done a runner.’ I winced internally. That was what had happened, and Alice didn’t need to hear my complicated reasons for wishing Karl would find a way to vanish and not be found. ‘If I email the missing persons poster over to you, will you pop it up around town?’
Alice grinned. ‘Anything that gets me away from watching endless CCTV footage of empty warehouse car parks is fine by me.’
‘So long as you’re not neglecting your other work, you’ll get to at least stretch your legs.’
I left the break room with a genuine smile on my face. Unresolved tension was something I didn’t want to deal with at work, and no one could complain I hadn’t done my utmost to find Karl if I made sure posters were stuck up around town. No one had to know I hoped he was too long gone for them to have any impact.