When he arrived back at his apartment, Tira was waiting for him outside.
"Were you waiting long?" Jali asked as he prised his arms from around her and tried to remove her purple lipstick from his mouth.
"Long enough to wonder where you were," she replied.
Jali opened the door and held it for her. "I was out, and I just got back."
When they were inside she put her arms around him again. "I know you're still upset about Tollan, Jali, I'm sorry," she buried her face on his shoulder. "It must be awful, to lose someone like that."
Jali frowned. "From what I can recall, Tira, you lost two of your friends at your last job."
Tira looked at him. "It's not the same," she protested. "It just…happened if you found out too much. Not like what happened with Tollan."
"I'm not so sure," Jali murmured.
Tira stared at him, shocked. "What are you talking about?"
Jali shook his head. "Nothing, nothing." He gave a small smile. "Well? Do you?"
Tira smiled back at him.
---------------------------------
Somehow it seemed wrong, given that Tollan had died only the previous night. So it was over sooner rather than later. Afterwards Tira was sleeping and Jali had a cigarette, the ash falling on the sheet and making tiny holes.
"Jali?" Tira's voice was very faint, as if she was still asleep and dreaming.
"Mmm?"
"What was that you meant before? About Tollan?"
Jali paused, the cigarette halfway to his mouth. Should he tell Tira what he had found so far? When he was in the Security Force he had made it a policy not to discuss his cases, except with Tollan perhaps. But now…
"I don't think that his death was accidental," Jali told her.
"What?" Tira sat up, the sheet on her chest falling down into her lap. "But that's impossible!"
"No, not at all," Jali replied calmly. "He was found in a CO2 tank, he could just as easily have been pushed and then locked in."
"Or there could be another reason why he was in there," Tira suggested.
"Such as?" Jali prompted, staring at her with an amused smile.
"Such as he could have thought he heard someone in there and went in," Tira said. "Then they could have sealed the tank, and filled it without knowing he was inside."
"You seem to know quite a lot about this," Jali teased, taking a drag of the cigarette.
"My father was a gas prospector," Tira told him, crossing her arms against her bare chest.
"Oh, so that explains everything, then?" Jali mocked.
"I'm just trying to make you see things differently," she said defensively. "You used to see a lot of murder, so you think you still do see it." She bundled the sheet around her bare body.
"I never said anything about murder," Jali reminded her gently, waving the cigarette towards her.
"No, but that's what you meant, isn't it?" Tira chided.
"True," Jali conceded, stubbing out his cigarette and crossing to the refresher.
After a moment Tira followed him, placing her bare arms around his bare shoulders. Jali looked at her strangely. Didn't she notice he was kind of busy?
"Do you mind?" he asked her. "I'll be finished in a moment and then you can use it."
"Sorry," she said, draping a towel over her shoulder and leaving the refresher.
When he was done he pulled on his trousers and looked for her. She was standing at one of the windows looking out; he went and stood by her. It wasn't much of a view, all they could see was the next apartment building a few hundred metres away.
"What's wrong?" Jali asked, attempting to take the towel off her shoulder.
"Oh, nothing," she whispered. She looked up at him for a moment, and then back to look out the window. "It's just…nothing."
"There's something I wanted to talk to you about," Jali said, his hand on her bare shoulder. "I've been thinking a lot lately, about us…"
"No, don't say it," Tira said rather sharply walking away from him.
"What?" Jali followed her. "Every time I bring this up you always avoid it, we need to talk."
"No, we don't," Tira said, hugging the towel close around herself. "I've been thinking too, and…what you're talking about." She shrugged. "It's just not something I can see myself doing."
"Why not?" Jali asked.
"Well, I like it how it is," Tira replied. "No strings, no attachments…I don't see why we should change it."
"So now I see what you're really like," Jali said, his voice having all the finality of a slamming door. "So I was wrong, I thought your waiting for me actually meant something." He gave a bitter laugh. "Well, it's been fun." He walked away.
"No, Jali, wait!" She ran after him. "Jali, it isn't like that at all!"
Jali froze in the act of putting on his shirt. Then he seemed to come to a decision and continued buttoning. "I thought there was something in you that wasn't there," he said, a cigarette in the corner of his mouth slightly altering his voice. "It's my mistake, not yours." He pulled on his jacket.
"Jali, don't go," Tira pleaded, taking his hand. "We can talk about this."
Jali lit the cigarette and took a deep drag. "This is it, Tira," he told her. "What I want from you, you can't give me. There's no point in arguing." He took out the cigarette. "You can see yourself out."
He went out, the door shut and Tira was left standing there, blinking away tears.
"I wish I had told him," she sobbed, collapsing on the bed.