“You let me stay in that house, Warren. You knew they were armed, coked up, paranoid as hell, and one bad mood swing away from dumping me in the river. You didn’t kick the door in then. You trusted the op. Trusted me to handle it. Because that’s what the job needed.”
He worked his jaw, but didn’t speak. Couldn’t. Because she was right.
She held his gaze. “Why’s this different? What’s Ellison to you that makes you want to chuck your training and blow the whole thing?”
He stared her down, the muscles in his forearm tight as cable.
Naomi eased back in her chair, letting the quiet stretch. “Fuck,Warren.”
He shut his eyes, voice flat. “It’s nothing. I just hate men like Reid.”
“We all do. That’s why we’re here. Why we follow the bloody procedure. Because if we don’t, it won’t stick. Then there’ll be a dozen more victims like Ellison. And every kid Reid’s grooming into Radley’s little side hustle so he can swan around with Cristal and throw these bullshit parties. You want to help him? Sit tight. See it through. Bring the whole thing down, not just save one bloke.”
Warren slammed his palm down hard on the table. Then he stood, yanked his burner from his pocket, and punched in the number.
The line clicked, a voice on the other end.“Go ahead.”
“Alpha One. Got fresh intel for the log. Callum Reid was inside Jude Ellison’s address tonight. Direct contact. No visible conflict. I’ll put the full five-by-five on paper and be ready to brief in person. Over.”
“Copy that, Alpha One. Keep digging. Maintain cover. We’ll arrange the meet.”
He tucked the phone back in the drawer. Looked at Naomi. “Happy?”
“Won’t be happy till this lot are behind bars.” Naomi pushed to her feet and moved around the table, gliding her palm over the tense line of his shoulder blades. For a moment she lingered there, then dipped to press a brief kiss to his shoulder. “Maybe you just need to get laid.”
“You know that was never the cure for me.”
Naomi leaned back, holding his gaze as she bit her lip. “On the contrary, DS Beckford. I remember you reaching for that cure more than once.”
“With the right person, yeah.” He took her hand, kissed her knuckles. “My head’s a mess, Ni. Full-blown mess.”
“Did something happen? Between you and Ellison?”
Warren said nothing. Safer that way. Plausible deniability.
But Naomi narrowed her eyes enough to count. “You like him.”
“I’ll handle it.”
She didn’t let him look away. “We can talk about it. As us.”
“What would you say?”
“That I saw it coming.” A faint smile tugged at her lips. “Long before you ever did.”
He huffed something close to a laugh. “You were always the better detective.”
“It’s not as bad as you think.”
Warren cocked his head.
“Obviously, it would have been better had you made this realisation with someone not involved in the op you’re working but we don’t always get the neat version, do we?” She pressed her forehead to his. “Keep it in check. Do the job. Then only when it’s done, go see where it leads.”
She tapped his cheek, then sauntered off towards the hallway.
“What made you suspect?” he called after her.
She glanced back over her shoulder. “Birmingham.”
