‘Are you going to invite me up or are you going to just stand around here getting weird looks from the sergeant over there?’

I toyed with the continued-weird-looks option, but thought better of it. ‘You’d better come up, then.’

He pointed behind him, in the direction of the entranceway at the cause of a fair amount of amusement for the last few days – God knew, we’d all needed a spot of comic relief, even if it was from a recalcitrant gatecrasher. ‘What’s the story with that frigging seagull and the door? I just about stood on the thing and killed it.’

‘Station mascot,’ I said, with a smile. I swiped my card and let him into the main area of the building. ‘Rapunzel?’ I asked.

‘Well, this place is kind of like a castle.’

‘But I don’t have long hair.’

He reached out to touch it in a way that was a bit too familiar, so I made to turn and headed towards the stairs.

‘You know, some refer to it as the Dunedin Hilton,’ I called behind me. ‘Urban myth has it that a number of tourists over the years have rocked up to the front counter to enquire after a room for the night.’

‘I’m guessing the cells weren’t what they had in mind.’

‘Correctamundo.’ The Dunedin Central Police Station with its grand-looking entrance and marble finish was one of the flashiest buildings in the city. I didn’t mock it though, because, all told – well, if you removed a few individuals – it was a terrific working environment. After the tiny little box of a station at Mataura, this was the Ritz. Modern, light, good views, gym, staffroom and bar; other than said individuals and the lack of cutting-edge technology, it was nigh-on perfect.

‘Hasn’t this place got a lift?’ he asked

‘Yes, but that’s for unfit lazybones.’

That said, my words came back to bite me and I was slightly peeved to see it wasn’t Paul puffing the most when we got to the second floor. I put that down to the fact his legs were twice as long as mine, so I had to work harder. Bastard had a smug look on his face. ‘Do I get a good morning kiss now?’ he asked, pulling me in close. I could hardly not, so gave him a cursory peck before pulling back.

‘Not here, someone might see us.’ I was a bit annoyed at how even the little peck had rendered my tummy warm and fuzzy.

There was no sign of DI Johns, much to my relief. A few bods were around, but mostly we had the place to ourselves. I plonked myself down at a desk, and logged back into the network to check some details.

‘I see you’ve been elevated to getting a desk with a computer,’ Paul said.