I've been writing this one on and off for ages. I started it in June, then put it aside to write Stravagation and finish Candlelight, and now I'm finishing it in a tearing hurry to get it all posted before Series 2 starts and changes our perceptions. All this means that it might seem a little disjointed. As always, I would be so grateful to anyone who takes the time and trouble to let me know what they think. Not that you'll be able to form much opinion from this very short opening chapter, which is just a brief scene-setter. Chapter 2 will be up pronto. Bucketloads of angst on the way, and be warned - Chapters 3 and 4 will get very dark, hence the M rating.
"Beer o'clock!"
For once, Alex was happy to put her papers away and depart for Luigi's with the rest, instead of waiting to finish something off, as she often did. It had been a good day, not a brilliant nor, thank Heaven, a particularly exciting one, but she had managed to get useful work done. All the same, there was no reason for her to stay at her desk any longer. Not when she could be spending her time drinking, arguing with Gene, and - if she let him get really lucky - flirting with him.
CID foregathered on the pavement outside the restaurant, laughing, talking, waiting for the stragglers and shouting encouragement to Ray and Poirot as they puffed across the road. Alex glanced idly up the road and noticed a car approaching, surprisingly slowly. Her blood froze as she saw the gun barrel poking out of the passenger window. She had done a psychological profile on a drive-by killer in Brixton in 2007.
"GET DOWN, ALL OF YOU!" she screamed. Suddenly everything happened at once. Fortunately a row of cars was parked along the kerb outside Luigi's, and everyone ducked behind them as a hail of bullets howled over their heads. Alex, the first to see the gunman, was one of the last to take cover. She knew who the main target would be, and took two steps towards him. Gene threw her to the pavement, shielding her with his body as he had done when Gil Hollis attacked.
"Blimey, Bols, that was close," he gasped in her ear. "Got X-ray vision in addition to all your other 'idden talents?"
There was no reply. As the car screeched away, he raised his head and saw the bullet hole in her left temple, and the sound of Ray's answering gunfire mingled with the Manc Lion's roar of rage, grief and despair at what had been done to the woman he loved.
TBC