The final account of Operation Warlord had taken almost ten days for Detective Inspector Scott Carver to write. He threw the signed report into his out-tray and leaned back in his office chair. It wasn’t a lengthy or complicated report but Jill Brennan’s unexpected involvement in the operation and the demands on his time over the past month in general had left him reeling. His feelings for her went much deeper than he realised.
He knew she could be reckless, but her tenaciousness and investigation into Robbie Calloway’s death had ultimately led them to Vincent Wan. And he knew if it hadn’t been for Fin Calloway’s involvement with Adam Lee and Robbie’s subsequent suspicions of him, Vincent Wan would still be at large.
On the other side of the city, Jill walked into Rimis’s office and sat down in the visitor’s chair. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and looked across the desk at Rimis. The last couple of weeks had taken their toll on her, not to mention Rimis. She looked at him. They both deserved and needed a holiday.
‘What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on sick leave.’ Rimis put his mug of coffee down and looked into Jill’s tired eyes.
Jill leant over the desk and was about to say something, when Rimis put up his hand to stop her. ‘Listen, I know what you’re thinking. Adam Lee, right? We don’t know what his involvement was, if any in Robbie’s and Hill’s deaths. Adam Lee was in North Shore Hospital the night Robbie died and he’s got a rock-solid alibi for the night Hill died. A female friend said he was home all night with her. They watched a re-run of Love Actually. She gave Chapman a scene-by-scene run-down of the movie.’
‘That doesn’t mean anything. For a start, who’s to say Lee was there? Besides, like me and another couple of hundred thousand women, she’s probably watched that movie more than half a dozen times.’
Rimis looked at her. ‘Really? I thought you were more the Bruce Willis, Die Hard, type, Brennan.’
She was about to have a go at him when the look on Rimis’s face changed. ‘We’re holding Adam Lee on a list of charges a mile long. It should do for now.’
Jill tried to control her breathing, tried to stop the anger taking over. But she knew she’d have to settle for the lesser charges against Adam Lee. What else could she do?