CHAPTER 26

Tuesday Evening

The words were swimming on the page in front of her when the thump of a fist on a desk pulled her back into the room.

"That's it, enough. I'm off," said Ryan, tossing his pen onto the desk and slinging his jacket over his shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow." He strode out of the office and no doubt into the nearest bar that had a sports channel and a cold beer. Keeley looked at the time, it was approaching eight o 'clock and since leaving the crime scene, the last hour had been a complete waste of her time. She closed the file, straightened her desk, rose from her seat and feeling the tiredness in her arms, lifted her coat from the rack and grabbed her purse from under the desk. She walked past Marsh's office.

"Goodnight, sir," she said.

"Goodnight," he replied without lifting his eyes from his own stack of paper. "Remember what I said," he called after her.

"Yeah," she sighed, plodding slowly out of the office, each leg feeling as if weights were strapped to them. The building was quiet, only a few people were still around at this hour and she made it out into the warm evening without exchanging another word with anyone. She threaded her tired arms into her coat and placing the strap of her purse over her head set off on the short walk to her apartment, admitting to herself that as she was too tired to stop by the grocery store, that her food options came down to a grilled cheese sandwich. That was OK. She was way past hunger. She just wanted to sleep.

"Keeley."

She turned back to find David sat on a bench that she'd walked past without noticing.

He stood up. "You look tired."

"I am. It's been a long day. A very long day."

"Do you want to grab a bite to eat?"

She shook head. "I'm really not hungry."

"Glass of wine, in bed, at my place?"

She sighed and dropped her head. "I'm sorry. I can't." She lifted her head, taking in the beautiful sight of him. There was nothing that she'd rather do other than drift off to sleep in his arms but that option wasn't available to her.

"Your place then?"

She managed a weak smile. "Not in a million. My place is a pit compared to yours."

"Well, a bar then. I know a place that serves a particularly fine Sancerre."

She closed her eyes. She really wanted to be with him. "I can't," she repeated. "It's not that I don't want to, it's just that… I'm working on a case and…well… being with you is a little awkward right now. Professionally, I mean. Not that I wouldn't take you up on any offer in a heartbeat."

He frowned. "I'm not aware of anyone who's currently under investigation by the Seattle Police Department."

"I'm sorry, I can't talk about it."

"Am I under suspicion for something? I'll quite happily submit to your questioning." His lips parted into a smile and she wanted so much to kiss him. She returned the smile, stifling a yawn at the same time.

"Sorry. You're tired," he smiled. "Can I at least walk you home?"

She turned to look down the sidewalk. There was no one there. Who would know if he did?

"Sure," she replied and they hadn't taken half a dozen steps before his arms were around her and she was leaning up against him and fighting a losing battle with her own personal arms of Morpheus.

When they got to the entrance of her apartment block she scrabbled in her purse for her key, taking a couple of goes to get it into the lock.

"Thank you," she said, reluctantly pulling away from his firm, warm body.

"You're welcome. So, when can I see you again?"

"I don't know. It could be a few days, a few weeks, even."

"Not months I hope."

"I hope not."

"Can I call you?"

She bristled inside. She wanted some contact with the guy. But Marsh had forbidden her to contact David or go anywhere near him. And then she laughed, her head pulling out the obvious. He'd forbidden her to make the moves. Marsh hadn't said anything about David being the one to call or being anywhere near her. It was pedantic, but it was a way around the stupid imposition.

"Can we rewind a little?"

"Sure. To when?"

"The glass of wine in bed at your place, thing."

"OK."

She tried to straighten herself up. "If you promise not to look too closely at the state of my apartment, or care too much that the Sancerre is just regular old Pinot Grigio, do you want to do that here?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Sure."

"OK. But I'm warning you. I got absolutely no sleep last night, so if you're expecting scintillating conversation or sex, even, you could be out of luck."

He stood close and bent to kiss her. "This will be enough."

"And…" She bit her question about Alice back.

"What?"

She smiled up at him. "It'll keep." She took his hand. "Ready to see how the rest of us live?"

He rolled his eyes and smiled. "I'll be brave."

xXXx

Wednesday

Loaded down with bagels and coffee for everyone, Keeley rushed into the department. It had been her turn to collect the breakfast order.

"Sorry, sorry, I overslept," she said, failing to be entirely truthful about the reason for her lateness. Sleeping had definitely not been involved, but she had still been in bed, although things hadn't quite gone to plan. Refreshed and feeling slightly more human, her thoughts had drifted back to the sex scenes in White Tower. But whispering what she wanted him to do to her brought their lovemaking to an awkward halt.

"Briefing in five," glowered Marsh, his gruff voice yanking her back to reality from the remembrance of David's horrified face. "Fox, in my office, now."

Grabbing her own coffee and saving her bagel until later she followed Marsh into his office.

"Close the door," he said, pulling a series of photographs out of a file. He didn't ask her to take a seat so she placed her coffee on the filing cabinet. Marsh stood behind his desk. He was strangely unfamiliar with his neat hair, shaved chin and for the second day in a row, a pressed suit.

"Are you deaf?"

"No sir."

"Are you stupid, then?"

She folded her arms. "Not to my knowledge."

"Well something's awry in your head because I'm at a loss to explain this." He threw down a copy of a shot from a security camera which clearly showed David and Keeley talking on the sidewalk outside the station the previous evening. "And this." Another shot, this time of them walking past a Pizzeria a few blocks away. David's arms were tightly around her. "And what part of 'don't associate with him' explains this." The last photograph was a still of them going into her apartment last night. "Are you deliberately defying me?"

"No sir, but…" There was a more pressing matter to her mind. "Are you checking up on me?"

"That's not the issue here."

"I think it is." She picked up the top picture. "Other than royally pissing you off because I did something you asked me not to do, what law am I breaking, here?"

"It isn't a matter of the law, as you damn well know. It's a matter of doing the right thing and more importantly, to be seen to be doing the right thing. Integrity is everything. Who said that? Oh yes, your father! I really couldn't give a shit who you sleep with, unless that affects the investigations we're working on. As of this morning your sex life does affect this investigation. I can't wait to hear what David Brannigan told you he was doing before he met up with you yesterday, because he was pictured leaving Ola Marjec's apartment at 1.34pm yesterday afternoon. Marsh threw the security camera photograph down on the desk in front of her. "And with Christian Grey, no less."