Inspector Rames

Chapter 33

I stopped in the entrance to the hospital waiting room. "Oh. That's quite an audience."

Dixon, Cassia, and Sebastian were huddled on plastic chairs, all of them oblivious to my presence. Dixon was making two calls at once, alternating between his tabphone and his earpiece. Cassia was talking to Sebastian, wearing a brighter smile than I'd have expected considering her sister had just fallen down a flight of stairs.

Alex was leaning against the wall by the entrance. He took me in with one sweep of the eyes. "And that's quite an outfit."

My right foot was clad in a large plaster cast, and my left forefinger was in a plastic splint. I also had stitches along my scalp and a massive headache to go with them. Despite it all, I smiled. "You know I've never been conventional with my work clothes."

Cassia looked up. "Amber!"

She abandoned Sebastian and came across the waiting room, giving me a fierce hug. I wobbled.

Alex caught me by the shoulders. "Easy, Cassia. Don't break her any more than she is already."

"Sorry." She drew back. "I'm just so glad you're okay, Ambie. We all rushed over when we heard you'd been hurt."

"So I can see," I said wryly. "You must have been waiting for ages. The station..."

"Is not going to burn down in our absence," Sebastian drawled, coming to a stop beside Cassia.

Dixon joined him. "We've dropped the murder charges against Ronan. It looks like he was telling the truth about the purpose of his cyanide. The PRBs are still examining the hotel, but they've already discovered the ski mask -- and the real cyanide. And Jasper has confessed to everything on video at the station." He looked at me, a hint of relief in his gaze. "Speaking of the station, I only let Sebastian come so he could see with his own eyes that you're all right. He can go back now. I think the mortuary would like Cassia again, too."

Cassia frowned. "But if Amber's been diagnosed with concussion, someone needs to go home with her. She has to be supervised for forty-eight hours."

"I haven't got concussion -- " I began.

"I'm sending Alex home early," Dixon said. "He can keep an eye on her until you've finished work. Now, you two skedaddle. I just need to talk with Amber about the time off she'll be having."

They left reluctantly.

I turned to my governor. "Sir, I don't need time off."

"For the love of God, Amber, surely even you can't argue that you're capable of arresting people like that."

"I can sit at my desk, sir."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure I'd trust you to stay there. But I'll think about it." His tabphone started ringing. "Sorry. Excuse me a minute."

He turned and left the waiting room, lifting his tabphone to his ear. I caught a snatch of barked instructions before the door swung shut behind him.

We were alone.

Alex took my right hand, intertwining his fingers with mine over the crutch. "I'm so glad you're okay, Amber. I wanted to kill Jasper myself when I thought you were dead."

My breath caught as I remembered my own worries for Alex. For a few minutes, I'd truly believed he'd been killed. Suddenly finding that I couldn't balance even with the help of crutches, I leaned back against the wall.

He followed me, bracing his hands on either side of my head. It was as if, now that we'd come so close to losing each other, we were like magnets: unable to stay apart. "If you do persuade Dixon not to give you time off, as only you would, will you really promise to stay behind your desk?"