Hi everyone. I hope you are all well. Thank you for continuing to join me with a bit of escapism from the real world and as things are still so uncertain and our very world feels on the edge, let's worry about our heroes instead. Thank you for all your reviews, they are very much appreciated. Bingsrule – if you google Iain Glen and check out the pictures you will see the actor I have in mind for the character of Iain McLeod. I would be interested to know what you think! This is a bit of a short chapter but the next one will be a nice long one.

Until next time, take care

ML x

The next morning Robbie awoke feeling miserable. It was an odd and familiar feeling.

When Val had died, for several years afterwards, he would wake each and every morning and for a few seconds feel that all was good in the world, in his world. Then, as he came further out of the peace and blankness of sleep, the reality that all was not well would slowly seep into his consciousness and he would remember that Val was gone and that he was alone. Eventually this feeling lessened, year by year, and a flat lonely feeling that came with acceptance of the situation took hold instead. This morning though, a ghost of that old feeling had returned. Granted, it didn't last as long and it wasn't as intense by any means, but the sense of losing someone was suddenly there again in his mind on waking; all he could focus on was Laura and the troubling thoughts he had about McLeod.

Robbie's gloomy mood continued after breakfast and wasn't helped further by the fact that the morning introductory seminar consisted of each participant giving a potted history of their careers, how they fitted into their respective departments and also what they thought their strengths and weaknesses were. Robbie hated having to do this. Policing wasn't so much about personal strengths but about good old-fashioned nose to the ground due diligence. He said this in place of talking about his strengths and weaknesses and garnered a glare of annoyance from Innocent who seemed irritated that he wasn't playing ball.

There then followed positive bonding exercises where each participant had to describe, without being negative, traits that were unhelpful to working methods about another team member chosen at random from their department or station. Then there was a lengthy discussion about leadership within the structures of the departments.

The consultant running the seminar concluded the morning seminar by asking Dr. Iain McLeod to talk about the leadership role he had developed throughout his career. It soon became obvious that the other members of the teambuilding cohort were impressed. Robbie had to give credit where it was due. The man had obviously healed and helped many broken communities across the developing world.

He could understand why Laura appeared captured by him. On paper, McLeod was the perfect match for her. Robbie seethed, but he kept it to himself. The more he saw Laura take to McLeod the more he felt himself loathing him. He knew his jealousy was bordering on the immature, but he felt vindicated.

When he'd seen Dr. McLeod at reception, when they were checking in, Robbie had, without a doubt, observed a gold wedding band on McLeod's ring finger. By the time McLeod had come down to the reception and reunited himself with Laura, Robbie saw, as he watched McLeod drink his whiskey, a faint depression on the same finger.

He had taken off the wedding band.

After seeing how McLeod had acted around Laura, Robbie felt certain that McLeod had taken the ring off for a reason. He must have seen that Laura was going to be on the course thought Robbie. He would have seen her name on the welcome pack. If there had been a romantic history between Mcleod and Laura then Robbie's guess was that Mcleod wanted to continue with some unfinished business, despite being married. Initially, Robbie had hoped that the removal of the ring had been temporary, and he had given the Scottish Pathologist the benefit of the doubt. He hoped that the next time he saw McLeod that the wedding band would have been restored to its rightful place on his ring finger.

Clearly, it hadn't.

Robbie kept an eye on Laura while Iain was talking. She seemed engaged and attentive. Robbie felt the burn of jealousy again, but as he kept watching Laura's reaction to Iain, a sense of valour seemed to supersede the jealousy, and he felt more of a need to protect her, whether she had feelings for him or not. He knew he was probably being stupid, patronising even; Laura didn't need him to watch out for her. But there was something about how she was looking at McLeod that had unsettled him. Jealousy rose again and as the group clapped McLeod at the end of his talk, Robbie joined in but inside he felt a deepening animosity towards the man. He looked again at Laura, her eyes were sparkling as she smiled at the fellow pathologist. Robbie saw McLeod wink at Laura, as he took the seat next to hers as he sat back down. They talked closely, Mcleod, once again, attentive to her and gazing at her as he spoke.

By the end of the morning, Robbie was almost certain his fears were confirmed, He'd checked his facts twice now and so far there was no doubt. He felt wretched again. Not only had he missed a chance with Laura but she might now be falling headlong into a deception. Not that Robbie had seen any evidence of any rekindling of anything, he wasn't even 100 percent sure that anything had been going on between Laura and Mcleod. His suspicions being confirmed had only left him with more dilemma and misery.

Despite being certain of Mcleod's duplicity, Robbie decided to hold back one more time, to see if the wedding ring would re-appear or, best case scenario hopefully determine that Laura didn't actually have any romantic interest in McLeod. Glancing over at the pair of them, however, seeing them talk closely and seeing Laura's smile, the sparkle in her eyes, Robbie found that he was struggling to see that scenario was a possibility.