Inspector Rames

Chapter 17

11 February 2186

The train rushed towards the platform, still moving at one hundred miles per hour even though it was supposed to be stopping. It whipped up a windstorm around me, stealing jackets away from bodies and sweeping hair across faces. I dragged dark strands out of my eyes with a scowl and cross-checked the time on my tabphone with the messages I'd received. Yes, it was definitely the ungodly hour of five o'clock in the morning. Yes, that was the time Alex had said his train was coming in.

It finally screeched to a halt, so dramatically that anyone not wearing their seatbelt would have been fatally flung across the carriage. I stayed by the walls of the station, waiting among just a handful of others for the doors to open. When they did, even fewer people emerged.

Alex was one of the last, clad in his dark trench coat with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. When his eyes met mine, my lips lifted at the corners automatically.

He stopped in front of me, and there was an awkward second when I wondered what we were going to do. Our illicit kiss on New Year's Eve had changed nothing between us, and although we had not spoken about it since, we were both aware of it. This was the first time we'd met each other off duty since that night.

"Hello," I settled on.

Alex smiled. "Hello. I didn't expect you to meet me."

There was something about sharing a smile that clicked everything back into place between us. It was like time had frozen over the weekend while he'd been away, and now it was simply picking up where it had left off.

"I missed having you around to help me," I said. "Your aunt's okay now?"

"Yes." A frown touched his features. His eyes were underlined with shadows. "She's at home and on the mend."

"Good. You have a bit of a welcome party back at the station. Dixon, Sebastian, and Cassia are waiting to say hello."

"We're going to the station now?"

"You have a briefing scheduled -- the last few days have been manic. All the crooks crawled out the shadows as soon as you'd gone."

He smiled wryly. "Have you been managing?"

"Your welcome party have been filling in your role between them, and I've had the PRBs at my disposal. Well...at my disposal as much as any PRB can be."

"Maybe you won't need me today, then." Alex slung his duffle bag into his hands and glanced at it longingly.

"Sorry, you'll just have to bring that with you and pretend you've had a good night's rest." I was going to have to pretend, too. "Maybe we can sneak out to Coffee Glitch when they open later."

"That would be nice." He looked up and smiled again.

My heart jumped.

Even though he'd hardly been gone, it was good to have my sergeant back in Socrico.

***

Detective Chief Superintendent Ky Dixon was sitting behind his desk when we arrived in his office, and my sister and DI Sebastian Flynn were arranged in front of him. Why they were about to sit through the briefing, I had no idea. Cassia had simply been my sounding board over the weekend, and while Sebastian had helped me do some legwork, it was nothing Dixon and I couldn't explain between us. If I were them, I'd have still been in bed.

Perhaps Cassia hadn't wanted to be at home. I still hadn't managed to get to the bottom of what was going on between her and Miles.

She turned and smiled at the man looming behind me. "Hello, Alex."