One year later.

Ever since she had been promoted to Detective, things had picked up speed in Anna's life. Her new position was everything she had ever dreamed of. The glorious feeling of knowing that she was changing people's lives was almost addictive. She felt as though she had a new, profound purpose in life. She didn't like to admit it, but the job did have it's downsides. She had to be mentally focused every hour of the day, so much so that she was hardly getting any sleep. She was exhausted all the time. But she could never let those thoughts leave her brain. She knew that with whatever case she was working on, someone had it worse than her.

And then there was John. She and John started dating not long after her promotion and she had never had anything like it before. The feelings she had for him were so strong that it scared her sometimes. But when his arm is around her, there's no question it's where she is meant to be. He gets her through all of the exhaustion, all of the long and hard days, and he makes her feel seen. Anna has never had anyone in her life that supports her quite like John does.

She sat now on the couch in his office, both of them quietly attending to their work. This was her favorite part of her weeks. Each week there was always at least one or two days in which they need to catch up on paperwork and updating the online database, and without fail they always did this together.

There were hardly ever words spoken during this time together but his presence was all Anna needed. It was a breath of fresh air in the midst of a dense fog. Being able to sit with someone in a comfortable silence is all the words you could ever need.

Suddenly, Chief Grantham barged into John's office, out of breath, without even knocking. John and Anna looked up from their work in surprise.

"John you need to get to the interrogation room immediately." The urgency in his voice caused a bubbling nervousness to rise in his chest.

"What is it? What's wrong?" John looked from Chief Grantham to Anna with worry. Anna's face only mirrored his own.

Robert looked at him with pity. "It's your wife. She's been called into questioning."

"My wife? You mean Vera…my ex-wife?" His cheeks flushed.

Chief Grantham nodded solemnly. John felt his anger begin to bubble. Over the past year Vera had been nothing but trouble. They had been separated for years but she had refused to sign the divorce papers. Especially after she found out about Anna. John didn't tell Anna about Vera until a several weeks into their relationship, but stupidly, he hadn't told her that they weren't quite divorced yet. It had just come out when he told Anna and he had been too much of a coward to take it back.

"What has she done now?"

Robert cleared his throat nervously. "She's…She's claiming you murdered her boyfriend."

"What?!" John bellowed.

"That's not possible!" Anna shouted, her hear beating rapidly in her chest.

Chief Grantham sighed. "I know, I know. It's utterly ridiculous, but John…She has some evidence against you. You went to her flat two weeks ago did you not?"

"Of course not!" Anna shouted. "Why would" upon seeing the guilty look written all over his face she stopped short. "John? Did you..did you go to her flat?"

He rubbed his hands on his face and rifled through his hair. "I did. I went to her flat in anger because she…" He knew the next words he was going to say would crush Anna and he knew he had screwed up. "She was demanding more money from the divorce."

"But you said…you said she was your Ex-wife." Anna stared at him in disbelief. He could hardly look at her, seeing the pain that appeared in her eyes as she made the realization. "John Bates are you still legally married?!" He didn't answer and pressed his lips into a tight line. "Oh my god." She whispered. Chief Grantham stood awkwardly in the middle of the door frame, knowing that he shouldn't be privy to the conversation that just occurred.

"I'm sorry to..to interrupt but we really do need to go down there, Bates. They're waiting for you. To…to question you as well."

"Alright." He acquiesced quietly. Before leaving the room, he stopped in the doorway and turned to Anna. "Please can we finish this conversation later. I need to…I need to explain myself." Anna did not look him in the eye, but nodded tightly. She was too astonished to even speak. Her boyfriend was suddenly married and an accused murderer all within the span of five minutes.

John followed Chief Grantham reluctantly. He knew that whatever was about to happen would be nothing short of a disaster. His contempt for Vera once again flared up in his veins. That witch! Why couldn't she just let him go?

When they arrived downstairs there were two police officers he didn't recognize and Captain Carson waiting in the hallway. He breathed his temper in and out as Carson approached him.

"I'm sorry about this dreadful business Detective Bates, but as you know we have to question you. Routine and all."

John held his tongue from saying anything nasty and instead respectfully nodded. "I understand Carson. Do what you need to do."

Carson nodded. "Very good. You will be in room 1A and your…that is, Vera, is currently in 1C. Because of your employment with us it would be inappropriate for one of us to interview you, so Inspector Vynar from London will be on this case and will conduct the interrogation. This way, Bates."

Robert patted his shoulder and whispered "Don't worry about a thing, Bates, just answer honestly and we'll see what we can do."

John nodded and followed Carson into the interrogation room like a school boy being called into the principal's office.

Anna was wringing her hands nervously and pacing around John's office. Her mind was whirling and she couldn't seem to grasp a singular full thought. She was so angry and hurt at John for lying to her but more than anything she was scared for what might be happening downstairs. Would they really believe Vera's accusations? Surely John's good nature would triumph anything that woman said?

A soft knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

Ms. Hughes, the woman who practically ran the whole inner-workings of the station, came in carrying two mugs of tea. She always had a soft spot in her heart for Anna from the first day Anna joined the station.

"I thought you might need this, my dear." She said smiling warmly. Anna tried to smile back as she took one of the mugs.

"Thank you, Ms. Hughes. This is very kind." She gestured to the two chairs in front of John's desk for them to sit in. Ms. Hughes took a moment before speaking, hoping that she wasn't speaking out of turn.

"I heard about…what happened. I was at the front desk when she came in," She shook her head in disgust, "that woman came barging in the front door, demanding to be seen as if she were royalty. She's a piece of work that's for sure." Anna was quiet. She was quiet by nature but this was different, she was subdued. Ms. Hughes then noticed that Anna had tears in her eyes.

"Anna, are you alright? Don't get too worried. They'll see reason."

"That's not what- That's not why I'm upset." She whispered.

"Oh." Ms. Hughes looked more closely at Anna, trying to speculate what else could be the matter. "Is it…did something happen between you and Detective bates?"

Anna nodded her head slowly as the gravity of the situation began to sink in.

"He…he lied to me . He lied to me about something huge. Something you don't lie about in a relationship. And I…I can't stand ignominy, I really can't." A few tears escaped her ocean blue eyes. Ms. Hughes kindly placed a soft hand onto her arm.

"There, there Anna. I'm sure he didn't mean it with malice."

"Of course he didn't. And that's what upsets me the most. Did he not trust me enough to tell me?" Ms. Hughes wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't quite a sage when it came to the love department. "I want to smack him, but I'm just so worried for him now."

"It'll all work itself out, I'm sure of it." Ms. Hughes said confidently. "I believe that British justice will triumph in the end."

Little did they know how wrong they would be…

To be continued!