‘You never intended to lump me with twenty ogres!’ I accused. ‘You just paraded them around here so that four would seem reasonable in comparison.’
‘Four is very reasonable,’ he said.
I ground my teeth and snarled, ‘I’m walking to work.’
‘You can of course do so,’ he agreed, ‘but don’t forget you’re running late, Inspector.’
With an inarticulate noise of rage, I stomped over to the car and slid in. ‘Not one word,’ I barked.
Hanlon was in the backseat next to me. He mimed zipping his lips shut, but his eyes were laughing at me.
Arsehole.
Robbie slid in behind the driver’s seat and we drove the short distance to my office in complete silence.
Elvira had little to report on the goings-on of the previous days. ‘We had some office sickness,’ she said. ‘But I’m happy to report everyone is feeling much better.’
‘I’m glad to hear it,’ I replied.
Neither of us cracked a smile.
Robbie and his goons agreed to stay outside, so long as I didn’t try to leave without them. That seemed fair enough, and I didn’t intend to leave the office unless there was a Grade One emergency, so they could sit out there talking about their hair for all I cared.
Having security,needingsecurity, rankled.
I fired up my computer and logged in to my report of the vampyr attack. I added an addendum regarding his identity and appended the photograph of the scryed image that Bastion had taken. Then I marked it as closed and put it away.
Later on, McCaffrey stalked into my office, looking annoyed.
‘Listen, boss.’ She paused and thrust out a packet of Jelly Babies. I took one out of politeness. ‘Listen,’ she restarted. ‘Why didn’t I get invited to be sick at your flat with everyone else?’ She folded her arms, Jelly Baby packet crinkling.
I groaned. ‘We needed someone to man the fort.’
‘Woman the fort,’ she corrected. ‘Frost and I, we womanned the fort with Elvira. It was a testosterone-free day.’
‘What about Bland?’ I pointed out.
She snorted. ‘He doesn’t count.’ She examined me. ‘You okay, boss? You look spread thin.’
‘I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.’
‘I’m just saying, I’ve got your back.’
‘I appreciate that. The best thing you can do for me is keep on doing great work.’
She tilted her chin up. ‘You got it. Oh.’ She paused halfway out of the door. ‘Laura baked. They’re actually really decent. Cupcakes. Grab one fast if you want one.’
‘Thanks for the heads-up.’
Let’s get a treat,’Loki suggested.
Good idea.
I was following McCaffrey out to the breakroom to do just that when my phone lit up.Reed calling.
Well now, what could Jude Jingo’s second want with me? Nothing good, my gut said, and it was rarely wrong.
I slid to answer.
