His fingers rubbed over themselves, noting the blood and dirt and grit and whatever else gathered on him like the exhaustion settling heavily on his shoulders. Leaning back, John's head hit the wall and he barely reacted as Anna took the seat next to his. "It'll be in the papers."

"The expose?"

"That I was there when my ex-wife died." John let out another breath, "Then the expose'll print and suddenly I'll be the subject for the court of public opinion to debate whether or not the jealously about everything that my ex-wife did to be before marrying up led me to crack and kill her."

Anna let out a scoff, "I forgot the part where you were an expert at poisons."

"That kind of detail won't matter when I'm strung up by association." John shook his head. "That's not even the worst of it."

"No?"

"No." John faced Anna. "They'll come after my mother. They'll come for my friends, my co-workers, this station, they'll…"

He swallowed, reaching out a hand to cover her equally bruised and battered one. "They might come for you."

"There's nothing they can do to me."

"They could destroy your career." John shook his head, "They will rain down on us like nuts in harvest."

"Then we'll crack those nuts against one another, won't we?" Anna let out a breath of her own. "I think we both need sleep. A bath and then sleep. Maybe food too but I've been going so long I can't tell if I'm hungry or just so far past exhausted that food is irrelevant."

"I know the feeling." John groaned, "I haven't felt this battered since Singapore… Or maybe it was Japan."

Anna smiled and then it faltered, "Singapore."

"What of it?"

"She mentioned China, Singapore, and Turkey. That she controlled something through those places…" Anna clicked her teeth before shaking her head. "It'll come to me later. There's something there but I can't put two brain cells together to try and figure it out right now."

"I know that feeling too." John inspected his hands again. "For as much as I'm worried about this case and what it'll do to me, I can't help thinking that no matter how hard and fast they come at me it'll just get others caught in a crossfire."

"People are never truly as safe as we want them to be."

"But the number of people who've died for the answers we want. Even Vera…" John cut himself off. "I've got a very distinct impression that no matter what we find at the end of this tunnel, we won't like what it is. It won't make up for the people we sacrificed and lost to get here. The bodies we crawled over and-"

"And you're being too hard on yourself." Anna put a hand to his face, forcing him to look at her. "This isn't your fault, John."

"No?" John pointed toward the desks crammed with people that shot looks at the two of them while Superintendent Flintshire railed against Robert in the office behind them. "Because if we'd all taken the advice of Mr. Napier and the Turkish Ambassador then none of this would've happened. Constable Laing would be alive and so would James Kent."

"Not to mention a series of bad businesses would continue to work their evils out of the back storerooms of the Cerulean Swan."

"I don't care about those."

"Or the untimely death of Mr. Pamuk?"

"Not enough to…" John let his head drop, "I don't know anymore. I don't know if it's worth what we'd have to give to see this through."

"I never figured you for a quitter, Inspector." Anna stood, "But if you are then I'd suggest you make that clear right now because I'll not dither with you about it."

"You'll not allow me any pity, will you?"

"It's useless and there'll be time enough for pity when we've solved this case." Anna extended a hand to John. "If you're willing, Inspector, I think we could both do with some food, a bath, and a good night's rest. We'll feel fresher and, perhaps, ready to see this through to the end."

John studied her hand for a moment before nodding and taking it to help him stand. "I guess it would be rather ridiculous for me to say no to you, wouldn't it?"

"Very." Anna gave him a smile, "But that's because you know that I'm with you in this. For better for worse."

"To the end of the line?"

"I'm with you, Inspector, however, whatever, whenever. However this case proceeds, whatever may happen, and whenever it finally ends." Anna interlaced their fingers. "Now, why don't you come back to mine where we'll have some privacy and I don't need to worry about waking your mother."

"You think you might?"

"I think I'm a bit of a screamer." Anna dragged her tongue over her bottom lip, grinning as John coughed and tried to regain his decorum. "And I'd hate to disturb her sleep."

"I thought we were supposed to be getting sleep."

"I'm sure we'll find some in the meantime." Anna nodded back toward Flintshire's office. "If you get some of your things and meet me there, it might be better. Leave you a little less… Exposed."

"Good idea." John kissed the back of Anna's hand. "Especially since I think it's my turn next to get my head bitten off."

"I do hope not." Anna made a show of holding his face in her hands as if to examine his head. "It's such a lovely face you've got I would hate to see you lose it."

"I'll try to see if he'll only chew me out then." John waved Anna toward the door. "Go on before you distract me."

Anna left John on his seat but there was barely a moment to wait before he stood at the sound of the door opening. Robert exited and held up a hand to stop John entering the office. "He doesn't want to see you."

"A woman almost died in our care and he doesn't want to see me?"

"We found three bodies and the woman's not dead so no, he doesn't want to see you." Robert motioned for John to follow him to a corner and lowered his voice. "And if he doesn't see you then he doesn't have to pretend."

"Pretend about what?"

"About the shitshow that'll start the moment that expose hits the papers and news that your ex-wife died in front of you does too."

John shuffled, "Does he think I did it?"

"Not with Doctor Smith right there and not with Doctor Clarkson saying the poisoning matches the other victims." Robert paused, "What are we up to? Four bodies now?"

"Five." John ticked them off on his fingers, "Kemal. Pamuk, James Kent, Thomas Barrow, Sarah O'Brien, and now Vera."

"It's like Ten Little Indians."

"Except there were only seven to begin with." John sighed, "And I was going to say it reminded me of Clue."

"Really?"

John nodded, "Except the weapons, in this case, were all poison. Even when it looked like something else our killer used poison to get rid of anyone in their way."

"Speaking of those snuffed out when they got in the way." Robert pulled a file from his jacket and handed it surreptitiously to John. "I found the file I requested on the man we took in after Doctor Smith's attack."

"And?"

"And that's it. There's no record he was even here. No one remembers seeing him and none of the constables on duty the night I brought him in are here. All suddenly whisked away to holiday." Robert folded his arms over his chest. "All we have is that file in your hands and we're lucky we got that."

"Have you read it?"

"It's mostly a personnel file, from the war, but the interesting part is that he was a sniper." Robert tapped one of the pages and John read the typed information in detail as Robert summed it up. "Dishonorably discharged after some very ungentlemanly behavior in the clean-up his unit was doing in France. Crossed paths with some officers of the SOE and they got him court marshalled."

"He's lucky he didn't go to prison for what he did."

Robert shrugged, "The argument was that war makes monsters of us all and they sent him back in the hopes that home would cure him."

"Obviously not." John thumbed through the rest of the file before handing it back to Robert. "Put this with the… Other things we're collecting."

"Still keeping it all close to the vest then?"

"Very." John stretched, "And, later, I'll go see if Doctor Smith can still get us in contact with her friends."

"Is that all you're going to see Doctor Smith for?"

"The rest of it is my business."

"Well, if you want my opinion-"

"I don't."

"My opinion," Robert repeated, "Is that you shower before you go because you smell like a gutter and even years of marriage couldn't get Cora to get within ten feet of me if I smelled as badly as you do right now."

"Thank you very much."

"Take a bath John."

"Then take care of that information." John pointed at Robert's jacket. "We'll need it later and I don't want to have to dig through more rubbish to make the case when we finally have one."

"If everyone's not dead before we manage to make one." Robert waved John off. "Go, before you make me smell like a cow pasture too."

John only scowled and grabbed his things before leaving the station. But Robert presented a point as no one on the bus sat close to him and John got off a stop before his to give himself time to walk and try to dissipate the smell. Nothing helped and his mother calling out to him from her room was enough to have John rinsing thoroughly in almost freezing water to try and cleanse himself. He almost took off a layer of skin but once his fingers almost tinged blue John gave up and wrapped himself in towels until feeling returned to his extremities.

Changing his clothes, and almost throwing away the impulse to burn the ones he discarded, John packed an overnight bag and left with a swift kiss to his mother's cheek. Another bus took him across town to Anna's building and he ascended the lift without looking at the woman in there with him. A woman who gave him the stink eye as John knocked his knuckles against Anna's door.

She opened it, wrapped in a dressing gown, and blinked at him. "I don't think I've seen you looking this clean in… A very long time."

"That's not fair. I was clean and respectable…" John tried to count backward, "Maybe thirty-six hours ago? Two days? When did we get the call about the missing bodies because it feels like an eternity's passed since then."

"Well come in and don't stand out in the hall debating it when I know you're brain's misfiring due to exhaustion."

"I could keep going." John held his bag with one hand, joining Anna in the corridor of her flat as she shut the door. "There is a summit you pass and then slope downward but I've got a second wind now."

"The end of the downward slope your second wind's convinced you doesn't exist is either insanity or you simply fainting." Anna guided John into the sitting room. "I'd rather not have to clean your cuts and scrapes if you decide you're not up for landing on a softer surface."

"And what about for the way that lies madness?"

"That is the problem for another doctor who's not me." Anna patted the sofa and moved to her kitchen as John took the weight off his feet. "Hungry?"

"The moment you said it my body remembered what food tasted like." John took the plate Anna handed over and dug in. "I can't remember when I ate last."

"I think your mother made it."

"No, it couldn't have been that long." John strained his memory, "Did we eat anything at Lord Sinderby's party?"

"I don't recall."

"What about breakfast here, afterward." John leveled his fork at Anna. "You made something. I remember eating it."

"If it was anything, it was toast. And we might've managed some beans over it but I've not done the shopping lately and…" Anna motioned to their plates. "We're lucky I've got friends who make food for a living."

"They made this?"

Anna nodded, "And for a small fee I can get some for myself. I get heavily discounted if I'm willing to try something they've yet to put on the menu."

"You test the food for them?"

"Just for the palate." Anna shrugged, finishing her plate. "While mine might be a bit more evolved than the average Londoner, it's something. And I usually give a fair review."

"They take your suggestions?"

"They have so far." Anna set her plate down and eyed John as he finished his. "Are you in very much trouble?"

"No." John shook his head and gathered the plates, balancing them carefully to not lose any of the utensils as he took them to the sink. "My Super didn't even speak to me. Robert said he had to feign ignorance for when everyone comes biting at his heels for a comment on the inevitable story."

"And he's got no advice?"

"With Doctor Clarkson ruling it a poisoning and your office saying it came from her drink, I'm already ruled out as a suspect."

"Except in your court of precious public opinion."

"I never said it was precious." John raised a finger at Anna as he turned. "I only said it existed and it doesn't care about facts."

"Well I do and I think they're all fools if they believe you'd murder your ex-wife in cold blood like that. No matter what she did to you that's not your method."

John almost smiled at her, "I thought you weren't that kind of doctor?"

"I'm not and don't go getting all 'high and mighty' with me when you were almost sobbing in despair not two hours ago." Anna leaned over her counter towards John and he swallowed at the slit of skin he saw through the gap in her dressing gown. "Not when there's so many other things we could do instead."

"Such as?"

"Such as sleeping." Anna teased before jerking her head toward her bathroom. "I do, however, have a bathtub you can use."

"Do I still smell?" John leaned to sniff at his armpit with a raise of his arm. "I scrubbed myself raw in frigid water to try and clean the stink from me."

"I think you need new soap." Anna extended her hand, "If you'd like, I'm interested in a good soak too. A boon to sore muscles."

"I've not even had a chance to get you sore yet." John took her lead, trailing Anna to her bathroom as she drew water for the tub. "I guess that means we won't have a chance to engage in more enjoyable activities."

"I don't know about you, Inspector," Anna turned to him, resting on the edge of the tub. "But I happen to enjoy a good soak in the tub."

"I've yet to find a tub that fits me." John dragged his hand down his form. "I'm not exactly average sized."

"I'd definitely consider you above average." Anna grinned at him as her fingers drifted back to test the water temperature and level. "But that's always been to my advantage in the past."

"And it can be again."

"I was hoping so." Anna stood, turning off the water and shedding her robe to leave John's mouth dry. "It was the whole point of the invitation."

"To the bath or.."

"All of them." Anna dipped her foot in, sliding into the water and motioning for John to join her. "You don't want to waste all the warm water do you?"

If John watched himself at that moment he might have died of shame at the level of desperation his swift shedding of clothing indicated. But Anna's grin only grew and her fingers swirled in the water with each flutter of fabric. And John forgot all about shame when Anna's breath hitched at the sight of him, naked and striding toward her, and her breath only grew more shallow as John leaned over the tub so his lips stopped an inch from hers.

"Mind if I join you?"

"I'd be very worried if you decided not to." Anna held his gaze as John slipped into the water but lost all composure when John let out an involuntary groan at the warmth of the water immediately soaking into his bones.

"It's not funny." John splashed water at her but Anna dodged it and continued her snorting chuckle while trying to control herself.

"It is." She insisted and grabbed a bar of soap to accompany the flannel she brought with her. "It's as if you've never been in a bath before."

"Very few that actually fit me, as I mentioned." John held a hand out for the flannel but Anna shook her head. "Why not?"

"The point of this exercise is to enjoy it." Anna took the suds-ridden cloth to John's arms and scrubbed away at him. "A bit of pampering wouldn't do you any harm you know."

"It might if I get too used to it." John reclined his head back, resting on the lip of the tub as his legs bent up to leave his toes pressing against the far end of the porcelain piece. "I don't exactly get the royal treatment at home."

"You could always come here for it." Anna paused, leaned over John's shoulder to try and scrub at his back. "I wouldn't mind treating you rather royally."

"You'd tire of it eventually." John leaned back again when Anna brough the flannel around to the front. "You'd find I'm not as interesting when you see me every day. When you're exposed to the… Worse parts of me."

"Which parts are those?"

"Read Vera's soon-to-be-published expose and you'll exactly which parts." John caught Anna's hands, forcing her to meet his eyes. "I don't want you dragged into all that."

"We don't always get what we want." Anna pulled out of his grip, taking his arm in to scrub at his skin. "And if this is you trying to warn me away-"

"And here I thought I was being subtle."

"If it is," Anna tugged on John's arm to silence him. "Then you'd be better off saving your breath."

"Because you won't listen?"

"Because it won't matter what you tell me," Anna dipped the cloth into the water to rinse it out before hanging it on a nearby rack. "I'm not going anywhere."

"They'll call you names for it. They'll say I was wrong to bring you into it. You'd regret all the-"

"We're going to get one thing clear right now." Anna took John's chin in her hands. "I don't regret a thing."

"Anna, you-"

"Not a single thing." Anna held his eyes with hers. "And I won't change my mind on that. No matter what that article says."

"It might change your opinion of me."

"I don't think it will." Anna shifted to settle more fully on John's lap.

"No?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because it wouldn't matter what I learned about you." Anna's fingers played in John's hair. "It wouldn't alter my opinion of you one bit."

"Not in the slightest?"

"Not even if I saw it all myself." Anna flicked a lingering hair before wrapping her arms over John's shoulders. "I don't regret it. Maybe I should but I can't. Not one moment I've spent with you."

"But after everything-"

"Mr. Bates," Anna put her finger over John's lips to silence him. "After everything we've been through, in our individual lives and with this case specifically, can we not just have this? Is this not enough?"

"It's more than enough." John kissed at Anna's finger and slid his hands around her waist to hold her closer to him. "It's enough."

"Then," Anna removed her finger, her hand firming over John's jaw to hold him in place as she punctuated her words with slow kisses to his jaw. "Maybe we should try enjoying the moments we have. The few moments of peace the universe deigned to bestow on us in these troubled times."

"Yes." John barely breathed as Anna rose above him, her knees digging into his hips as she settled over him to rock slowly over his burgeoning arousal, and tried not to disturb the ripples Anna created.

"Then allow me," Her grip on his shoulder kept her steady as she ground down on him, utilizing the tight confines of their position to the fullest advantage. "To spoil you for a bit."

John's fingers firmed in Anna's skin, holding tightly to her as she gyrated and rubbed over him. It was all he could do to keep himself from thrusting with abandon into her as Anna's fingers scraped down his chest or flicked at his nipples. And when she peppered his jaw with kisses or licked at his skin it only worsened the effect. He groaned without care as his pleading whimpers bordered on begging.

Begging Anna proved almost immune to as she continued her steady work. Persistence and dedication were her stock-in-trade, a fact Anna put to ever increasingly good use as she pressed and held to him. The lack of space between them exacerbated the friction that left John gritting his teeth to keep from reenacting his teenage years as Anna's breasts pressed to him.

Therein lay his possible salvation. With the few thoughts left to him as all the blood in his body turned traitor and his more primal brain fought for dominance, he strained to piece together his options. It was the only move he had, John realized, and he acted before the thought could abandon him. John ducked his head and sucked hard at one of Anna's breasts.

The move stopped her flat.

For a second John wondered if he miscalculated. His eyes flicked to meet Anna's but closed only a second later as her nails dug divots into his shoulder. Her eyelids fluttered and the hand formerly guiding her tantalizing exploration of his face reached between them. In a second Anna gripped him hard but the thought barely percolated in John's brain before she sheathed herself on him completely.

They both froze then. John because movement would lead to a premature ejaculation and Anna… He had no ideas as to why Anna paused. But his fingers dug into her hips and ass, clinging to her while also pulling her closer to him to bring their bodies together as completely as possible, and gave a shuddering breath against Anna's skin.

Leaving a final kiss on her breast, John maneuvered his head back to meet Anna's eyes again and noticed the blue almost entirely engulfed by the black of a pupil dilated impossibly wide. So wide John almost feared there would be no blue left if he did not…

Anna bucked onto him and John hissed, as if he forgot their situation. The wicked gleam to her eye had John surrendering body and soul. Whatever she wanted she received. However she needed him, he was there. And when she signaled her finish, John went with her.

The water sloshed over the sides of the tub as Anna dropped onto John, leaving her forehead sticking to his shoulder near where he was sure permanent handholds existed to remind her where she could find purchase should a similar circumstance present itself. They breathed together in the cooling water until Anna lifted her head to smile at John. "And here I thought I was spoiling you."

"I feel very spoiled." John kissed at her cheek. "I'm easy enough to spoil if you really want to know a secret."

"Good." Anna craned back, unfolding herself enough to try and sluice water over her body before she emerged from the tub to wrap a towel around her body. "Because I may not always have the energy."

"I would never expect you to be at my beck and call." John ducked himself in two motions, the large tub still not quite big enough for him to immerse completely. "You've got your job and I've got mine."

"For how much longer I wonder." Anna dried her hair before handing John a towel of his own, the gurgle of the draining bath accompanied by the slight slosh as John tried to mop up the mess they made. "It's not as if we're very much closer to solving this case."

"We've only got two people from the table who aren't already dead and that suggests one of two things." John ticked up his fingers as he dried himself. "Either A, one of them is the last man standing because they've made it so or B, someone else is eliminating them one by one."

"Which answer would you rather?" Anna turned, combing gently through her hair to separate possible tangles. "An unknown entity or someone we've already met trying to rule the roost?"

"Based on what Robert told me," John took their towels to hang on the rods for drying before gathering his clothes. "One of them was in police custody but was released and his paperwork destroyed."

"Not Mr. Carlisle."

"The other one, Alex Green." John strained his memory. "Whoever he was, he attacked her in that phonebooth but, otherwise, was unremarkable. I don't even remember interviewing him the night of Mr. Pamuk's death."

"Alex Green…" Anna paused, "The one Ms. Braithwaite said moved drugs?"

"That's the one." John stopped, frowning, "Why?"

"It's…" Anna scrunched her eyes closed. "Something about what Vera said, and what Green does, and…"

Her palm pressed hard enough against her forehead that when she removed her hand, John noted the white patch of skin there. "It's something to do with the war but I can't remember what it is. It's at the tip of my tongue and I can't…"

"Robert said he was a sniper. Discharged for doing some… Horrible things."

Anna snapped her fingers, "That's it."

"What's it?"

"His dishonorable discharge." Anna shook her head, grabbing for her dressing gown. "I can't believe I didn't see it before. I was on the team, for the SOE, that caught him trying to… Well, it wasn't the first time but it was the last time he had the chance to try and defile some war widows."

"He was…"

Anna nodded, "Ross and Atticus caught him, dragged him off and got him tied up until we could reach his commanding officer. It was a bit of a mess, trying to explain who we were and what we were doing since we weren't supposed to be there, but his actions nearly skunked our clean-up operation and we weren't about to let a rapist ruin our work."

"You got him discharged?"

"I most certainly did." Anna folded her arms over her chest. "I would've taken his balls too if Henry didn't hold me back."

"Explains why he hates you."

"Men like that hate all women." Anna shrugged, "But yes, it does explain why he targeted me. Revenge for ruining his life."

"At least he still has one."

"More's the pity. I wanted to shoot him and leave him in an alleyway." Anna clapped her hands together. "That's the other part of it."

"What?"

"The connection to Vera." Anna motioned for John to follow her and he barely managed to get into his pants as he trailed Anna to her study. She knocked something around until she recovered and map and spread it over an immaculate desk. "It's the route Vera described. The one from China to Singapore to Turkey to our home here in England."

Which each location Anna dotted the map before handing John the pen and retrieving some string to wrap around the heads of pins she stuck into the locations. "A trail that would take the train, perhaps a boat, and then two more trains to reach us. A route established by the occupying forces trying to root out the dregs of enemy soldiers and possible sympathizers."

"A drug trade." John breathed and then faced Anna. "Doctor, I think it's past time I met your friend to discuss this."

"I rather think so too."