Under cover

Chapter 3

After finding a suitable place to locate the webcam, Rose set the recording going on the laptop and showed Alec, him getting out his specs and nodding.

"Right, you can leave me with this, you go make a list and get the groceries, keep the receipts and claim it back."

"I'd have to buy my own if I move out of the boarding house, do you want to go halves or pay for your own?"

"I'll have whatever you are having as long as it is not pizza or anything too rich. Are you going to take over the kitchen?"

"No, you can cook whatever you like, I'll get a variety of things but you could always come with me. Let's get enough for the weekend then I can go back on Monday after work. It will look better if we both go out together."

"I don't feel like going shopping Tyler, it's my day off, I'm meant to rest. If you are not sure about something then just call me."

He hoped he wasn't setting himself up for her calling every time she turned into a new aisle.

"You can get decaf tea, I'm told it's better for me. Anything else, just whatever brands you would normally buy."

Rose set off for the nearby supermarket and tried not to bother asking him silly questions. What was wrong with him, why was he being so grumpy? She made her mind up she wasn't going to put up with his moods and get him to lighten up. She now planned to use every opportunity to get 'friendly' with him in front of the rest of the small but affluent estate.

When Rose left, Alec went into the front bedroom where Rose had left his things – how the hell had he been persuaded to do this and then the chief and Tyler roping him into sharing a bedroom or was Tyler making it up and the chief had said no such thing? If he called Elaine and asked it could go one of two ways – she would either tell him she'd made his DC completely responsible for his health for the next week or say she knew nothing about it and Tyler was doing things her own way to ensure he survived and not only that, Elaine would think he was complying because he fancied the young blonde and this was his excuse.

The only trouble was, if the blonde wasn't several years his junior and she wasn't his DC, then he could possibly fancy her, what man in his right mind wouldn't but his friend and GP had warned him not to do anything strenuous and trying to persuade the young officer to let him attempt to have sex with her was asking the impossible. She would think he would give up on her halfway, the same as Becca Fisher had insinuated several weeks ago when he'd been either stupid or desperate enough to ask the hotel owner to spend some time with him.

Ms Fisher had quite rightly turned him down but did it mean every woman he met would do the same? It was doing nothing for his self-esteem and Tyler didn't really know him that well but they had a job to do and getting cosy for real was not part of the bargain. He would go out of his way to discourage her at least until it was all over but what then? She would have had enough of him by next Saturday morning but if she kept on calling him pet names in front of the neighbours, he would have plenty to say.

Rose didn't take that long and was soon back, she'd not had that much to choose from and had already decided she should go further afield to locate a larger supermarket after work on Monday and find one she was used to. Alec was upstairs when she got back so she struggled to take the groceries in the side door and called out she was back.

"Alec, are you ok up there?"

He hoped she wasn't going to keep on asking him that.

"I'm fine and don't worry, I've left you room for your clothes in the wardrobe," he called down.