‘Thanks, I appreciate it. And I’m sorry if I’m overreacting.’ He was overreacting. He’d seen senseless loss before and felt the tragedy of it. And somehow, when he’d least expected it, Kate’s predicament had pushed all the wrong buttons.
‘Nonsense. If everyone cared as much as you do, I’d be out of a job.’ Mags smiled, seeming to consider the matter closed. ‘Now, let’s see the latest photo of Sam. I know there’s one on your phone.’
And there were photos of Mags’s two daughters in her desk drawer which Ethan wanted to see too. He should stop worrying about Kate and come to terms with the fact that what he felt was just a result of the circumstances they’d found themselves in last night.
* * *
The VIPER system meant that witnesses were protected from any contact with the person they were being asked to identify, using computer images instead of a traditional identification parade. Ethan had listened carefully to the instructions, as if this were the first time he was hearing them, and was sure of his choice. The young police officer who had been through the process with him left him in the interview room to wait, bringing him a cup of tea and the morning paper.
He drank the tea and pretended to read the paper. After ten minutes, the door of the interview room opened and Kate appeared, Mags standing behind her in the doorway.
She just hadn’t been able to resist it. Mags had asked a couple of oblique questions about his love life over the photos of Sam, and Ethan had ignored the suggestion that it might be time to consider dating. Then she’d seen Kate, put two and two together and come up with five.
It was a perfectly reasonable mistake to make. If things had been different Ethan might well have asked Kate out for a coffee and seen where that led. But, if time had softened his grief over losing Jenna, it hadn’t softened the feeling that he’d let her down. Or the resolve that his first and only priority had to be Sam now.
‘They said you were waiting.’ Kate’s smile seemed brittle. And, even though the day was warm, she was wearing a thick sweater and jacket, as if to ward off some nameless chill. Ethan’s heart bumped in his chest. Maybe his worries hadn’t been so illogical after all.
‘Yes. I wondered if you’d like a coffee. From somewhere other than the police canteen.’
Kate shrugged. ‘Don’t you have something to do?’
Mags’s thoughtful gaze was fixed on Kate. ‘I’m afraid maybe he does. I won’t keep him too long.’
Ethan swallowed down the impulse to tell Mags that he could think of nothing more important right now than taking Kate by the arm and marching her outside into the fresh air.
‘What, Mags?’
‘I’m sorry about this, but the duty doctor hasn’t come yet, and I have a man in the cells who was looking a little under the weather when he came in and is getting worse by the minute. He’s just shown the custody sergeant a bite on his leg.’
‘Bite?’ Kate turned to her suddenly.
‘Yes. It’s not a human bite. We don’t know what it is; it looks a few days old. Ethan, I wouldn’t ask, but...’
He didn’t have any choice. Ethan opened his mouth to ask whether Kate might wait somewhere for him but she spoke first.
‘I’m a vet. I’ve seen practically every kind of bite there is. Had quite a few of them.’
‘I’m sure that Ethan can deal with it.’ Mags hadn’t seemed to notice that some of the colour had suddenly returned to Kate’s cheeks and she stood a little straighter.
‘I’d appreciate Kate’s opinion.’ He was rewarded by a smile that didn’t seem quite as strained as the last one.
‘Fair enough.’ Mags shot Ethan a questioning look but didn’t argue. ‘I’ll get the medical kit brought down.’
* * *
This morning had been horrible. Before the taxi had arrived to take her to the police station, Kate had walked around her cottage checking everything. Locks. Dripping taps. She’d pulled all the plugs out of their sockets and then walked around the cottage a second time. She hated herself for doing it, but she couldn’t help it.
The identification hadn’t been much better. All she’d really wanted to do was to put this behind her, but the gentle voice of the woman police officer who’d showed her a set of short videos on a computer screen had screamed victim. She’d assured Kate that she wouldn’t come face to face with her assailant, and Kate had wanted to scream back that she wasn’t afraid.
She wasn’t afraid, at least not of the man last night. She was afraid of herself. That she’d allow the bad dreams, the routines repeated over and over again, to take over her life the way they had last time. She’d been able to hide that from everyone but herself, but being unable to step out of her own flat had almost ruined her career and shown her that Mark’s promises about sticking with her had been just empty words.
But, somehow, seeing Ethan had calmed her. Maybe because his final words to her last night were that he had to go in order to see his son before he went to sleep. A son meant a partner. And a partner meant that Ethan was unavailable. She could count him as a friend without any fear that she’d be tempted to step over the line.
‘You’ve done this before?’ Ethan seemed to know his way around the police station, walking ahead of the two police officers who were accompanying them.
‘Yes, I used to be on the police surgeon’s call roster. I gave it up a couple of years ago, to spend more time with my son.’
‘And you worked here?’
‘Mostly.’ He looked behind him, smiling at the woman police officer who’d popped her head around the door after Kate had finished her identification. ‘Inspector Graham was so impressed by my abilities that she had me assigned here most of the time.’
‘In your dreams. As a police officer, I have a duty to protect the public, and keeping you from bothering anyone else seemed like the way to go.’
Ethan chuckled. The easy respect between the two was clear. He must be good at his job, and perhaps Kate would get the opportunity to watch and learn a little.
* * *
The man was lying on the platform bed in his cell, a couple of blankets covering him, the custody sergeant standing at his side. Ethan glanced at the name on the custody record and leaned over him.
‘Gary, I’m Dr Conway. I hear you’re not feeling well.’
Gary opened his eyes, shading them from the light with his hand. ‘My head’s splitting.’
Probably a hangover—he stank of alcohol—but it was as well to make sure.
‘You were drinking last night?’
‘Yeah. It’s what got me in here.’
He glanced up at Mags and she nodded. It probably wasn’t entirely the drink that had got Gary locked up for the night, but whatever else he’d done wasn’t Ethan’s business. He preferred to be the cog in the system that didn’t have to make judgements about others.
‘All right. Have you hit your head at all, or fallen?’
‘Dunno. Don’t remember. My leg hurts.’
‘I’ll take a look then. Is that okay?’
‘Knock yourself out, mate.’ Gary closed his eyes again, and warning bells began to ring at the back of Ethan’s head. He would have preferred it if Gary had been screaming for attention, because this lacklustre disinterest in what was happening around him didn’t bode well.
A glance over his shoulder told him that the