Alex rose from her desk, clutching the case file tightly. Tea. She needed tea. Truth be told she really just needed to get away from the incident room for a while. They were due at the hospital to question Daniel Carlisle in an hour and she'd been trying to cobble together a psychological profile but had spent a good fifteen minutes looking around CID, trying to acquaint herself with the new team.
'Bolly, there you are.' Gene was making himself a cup of tea in the kitchen, leaning against the cupboard with his long legs crossed at the ankle, waiting for the kettle to boil. 'Fancy a brew?'
She nodded and he turned, pulling a mug out of the cupboard and dropping a tea bag into it before resuming his former position. 'Bit o' light reading?' he asked, nodding at the case file in her hands.
She pulled a chair out and sat down at the small kitchen table, dropping the file on the table and opening it. 'Light's the word, Guv. There's not much here.'
'We don't know much,' he shrugged. 'Yet. I 'ave a feelin' Carlisle'll be only too 'appy to chat to us now 'e's been shot.'
'Mmm. Is this a direct transcript of Moira Allen's statement?'
'From the tape. Why?'
'Some lingual inconsistencies.'
'Don't know if you noticed, she's not exactly Shakespeare.'
Alex looked up at him, wryly amused. 'I don't mean her grammar, Guv. Well… I do, actually. But it's not incorrect, just inconsistent pronoun uses. He, they, them…'
'I know what a ruddy pronoun is, Bolly!' he snapped. 'What's the problem?'
'She can't seem to decide-'
'She was frightened for 'er life,' he said mildly, turning away from her to pour boiling water into the cups. 'You all right with all this, Alex?' he asked quietly.
'How d'you mean?'
'Saw you in there,' he said, jerking his head back towards CID. 'Deer in the 'eadlights is the description that springs to mind.'
She rose, retrieving the milk from the fridge and moving to hand it to him. He turned unexpectedly and they ended up standing too close together, the fabric of her shirt touching his. 'It's just a lot to take in, Gene,' she said quietly. 'I'll be fine. Don't worry about me.'
'Oh I always worry about yer, Alex,' he said, the low, rough quality to his voice serving to heighten the intimate atmosphere between them, rather than dispel it.
'Guv!' WDC Sawyer burst into the kitchen, shattering the moment quite effectively. 'Super's on the phone for you. Sorry.' The young woman's eyebrows shot into her hairline, her face turning bright red with embarrassment.
Gene turned away, tipping milk into his tea and snagging a spoon from the sink before stalking off in the direction of his office.
WDC Sawyer looked at Alex, who smiled brightly at her. 'We've not been properly introduced, have we? I'm Alex Drake.'
' Sheena Sawyer,' the young woman said, shaking Alex's proffered hand. 'I remember you used to work here,' she said, smiling. 'Back when I was still in uniform.'
