Disclaimer: I do not own Taggart
Prompt: Moonlight
The relationship between moonlight and a copper is difficult to define. Sometimes, it's your friend, guiding your exhausted body home after working overtime on the latest case, inviting you to a world cloaked in shadows and silvery light. Other times, it's your foe, dragging you from your bed to trudge wearily toward a mutilated, violated body, or lulling you to sleep while you stake out a building where some low life has sought refuge. Tonight, the moon was most definitely my foe.
The musty smell of the pool car, coupled with the lingering stench of the takeout we'd consumed hours earlier wasn't enough to shake my drowsiness. Two days staking out the only entrance to the warehouse, and no sign of Peters. The nightshift was really beginning to take its toll. I leant back against the headrest, my eyelids fluttering closed.
"Jackie? Wake up; I brought us some proper coffee."
Robbie. Not even the promise of coffee is as energising to me as his presence. I sat up, taking the cup from his gratefully.
"Any sign of him?
I shook my head. We were the only people in the deserted alleyways and abandoned lots surrounding the warehouse.
"Not that you'd have noticed anything while I was away though. Can't have you nodding off on me."
He playfully tapped my arm. The shocks that coursed through my body as a result guaranteed that I was fully awake, and would be for some time. I took a sip of the coffee, warming my hands on the cup. Made exactly to my specifications, I thought appreciatively. I didn't think he took notice of such things.
We had lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Neither of us could get to sleep – not with the amount of caffeine coursing through our bloodstreams – but we'd run out of friendly conversation hours ago. I was fidgeting in my seat, and Robbie was tapping the steering wheel.
"Let's play a game."
"What are we, eleven?"
"Don't be like that, Jackie. We'll play a grown-up game."
"A grown-up game? Like what, strip poker?"
"Now that you mention it..."
"How about we return to reality, and you tell me your original idea."
"It's a game I played when I was a child."
I smothered a laugh. "Sounds very grown-up to me."
"Don't you like to be reminded of your childhood days?"
"Not really, Robbie. Besides, the only game I played as a child was I-Spy on car trips."
"That would be a short game tonight. I-Spy with my little eye deserted alleyways, derelict, abandoned lots, a crumbling warehouse we are watching despite there being no sign of Peters, in a smelly old car whilst we try not to fall asleep."
At this, he sprayed some evil-smelling concoction around the car. I dissolved into a coughing fit, opening the car door in an effort to dissipate the smell.
"New cologne?" I gasped out in between coughs.
Robbie chuckled. "No. It's some cheap air-freshener I picked up when I bought the coffees. However, if you find it alluring..."
He smiled at me and winked. My pulse quickened and my breathing turned shallow. Why did he have this affect on me?
"Sure. Alluring up to the point where I'm in the same room as you."
He laughed. "We both know that's not true."
I felt the blush slowly creep up my neck. "Do we?"
"Well, yeah. Why else would you have chosen the nightshift with me?"
"I suppose that's true. If by chosen, you meant drew the short straw."
"Drew the short straw? Is it really that bad spending time with me?"
I'd walked into this one. "No, of course not Robbie." I sighed. Might as well tell him the truth. "Our moonlit conversations haven't been bad. In fact, I've enjoyed them. It's nice to have someone to talk to out here."
He reached over and touched my hand. "I've enjoyed our conversations to."
The blush crept further up my neck to my cheeks as he turned my hand over in his, and gave it a gentle squeeze.
The roar of a motorbike speeding down the deserted alleyway in front of us cut through the tense atmosphere that was pervading the car. I turned sharply to stare out of the windscreen, grateful that the gloom concealed my flushed cheeks. We both watched as the motorbike skidded to a stop in front of the warehouse. As the rider dismounted off the bike, I realised with a sinking feeling that the moonlit conversations I had enjoyed some much were over.
Peters had arrived.
Yes, the moonlight was definitely my foe tonight.
