chapter word count: 362
noir heart: twenty
Her entire posture has changed since he left – where once her hands were hidden under the table, now they're palms-down on the surface. Her back is straight; she looks elegant, poised, self-aware, open…and beautiful.
She greets him with a polite and silky "Welcome back, Detective Frost."
He returns her warm smile with one of his own that screams of knowing, and once his posterior meets the seat of his chair he places a coffee in front of her with his left hand. "Thanks." he says in an effort to appear non-committal, "The old trope that detectives only drink black coffee is alive and well, I'm afraid, so there wasn't any sugar."
Her eyes remain upon him with that same twinkle as when he left, even as she lifts the cup to her lips and languidly sips. "That's perfectly fine. After all, we can't have everything we want, can we?"
"No," he sighs, and there's the ghost of a smirk that dances upon his features, "we can't. I meant to ask earlier, is the temperature okay? Not too chilly?"
"I find the cold to be quite agreeable, actually." she answers as she places her cup back on the table, and strokes it with a finger.
"Great. Thought I'd ask – it helps keep people alert, so we usually keep it on the low side when interviewing witnesses." he explains, and can't help but enunciate the last word. Her eyes crinkle with another thin smile – but it's different now. There's an amused edge to it.
"Witnesses?" she repeats, and then cocks her head slightly, "or suspects?"
He utters single grunt. "Depends on what side of the table you're on, I guess." he muses.
"Indeed it does." she says in that soft, silky tone of hers sounds almost…luring. Sipping from her coffee once more, she places it back before continuing, "I know that it's not common police procedure for the witness to ask questions, but I can't resist – precisely what is it that makes you think I am a suspect?"
"I was hoping you'd ask that."
jpbake: Depends. Might just be what it says on the tin. We shall see :P
e-teens: The definition of the perfect murder is hazy, but the end result of getting away with it is usually the same, no? I loved the Mentalist, but stopped watching it after...can't remember, but never really missed it. Thanks for the non-recommendation, haha.
heartonfire: Yeah, he's curious. Intellectually, at least. Thanks very much! And yeah, I know. With essentially three fics on the go, plus a planned music-related five shot, I'm very conscious of potential burnout, so I'm probably going to push back noir heart updates to every two or three days - I have lots of chapters readily written and waiting, so it gives me a buffer. Thanks for your concern.
kira: Haha, another Bieber-hater! I felt so much joy when he was shot in CSI. Hmm, interrogation, or battle of wills?
miki fubuki: Silence of the Lambs is love. Shame "Hannibal" was cancelled. Arousing him mentally, maybe. Later on, who knows?
The Elsa in this, I'm really enjoying writing. I hope you all do too. She's different to your usual Elsa :P