‘Thanks. I haven’t been home since … earlier.’

‘You know, I could use a shower. Come in with me?’ He kissed her.

She followed Adrian upstairs and he handed her a towel as she got undressed.

In the shower, she stood with her back to him, his hands working the hot soapy water into her neck and shoulders, and she felt glad that he was grounding her like this, stopping her from thinking about that poor dead girl. She turned and pressed against him, water running between them. She just wanted to hold him for now.

Afterwards, they lay together on the bed, her hair wet on the pillow. Occasionally he would kiss her forehead and stroke her arm, but other than that they just let the tension of the day slip away from them.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Adrian said as she dozed.

‘Isn’t that supposed to be my line?’

‘Don’t avoid the question.’

‘Sorry, officer,’ Imogen said.

‘Still avoiding. What’s on your mind?’

‘Just wish the world wasn’t so unfair sometimes, you know?’

‘We can’t control that,’ Adrian said.

‘If we had got there sooner then we might have been able to save her,’ Imogen admitted. It was a pointless thing to say because you could say that about almost every turn in every single case. You just had to follow the case and go where it took you. Not every crime was premeditated, some things you just couldn’t stop. Imogen knew all of that and yet she still couldn’t help feeling somewhat responsible.

‘I’m sorry I wasn’t there.’

‘I’m glad you weren’t.’

‘We don’t have a crystal ball. You just have to know that you’re doing the best you can.’

‘Am I though? Half the time I’m thinking about my own bullshit.’

‘You’re a good policewoman, Imogen. Don’t tell yourself otherwise. It’s been a rough time, both of us have had a lot to deal with over the last couple of years. It won’t always be like this.’

‘After everything that’s happened, how can you be so optimistic? My mother spent her whole life alone and when she finally got the man she wanted, she died. These kids are being manipulated as part of someone’s sick game. Not to mention what happened to Dean … and Lucy.’ She felt his muscles tighten at the mention of Lucy’s name. ‘Sometimes it all feels so futile, like whack-a-mole or something. Get rid of one bad thing and another two pop up in its place.’

‘You miss him, don’t you? Dean.’

‘If I wanted to be with Dean, I could be with Dean, Adrian. You need to believe that I am choosing you, you are not the booby prize,’ Imogen said. She wasn’t lying; she had chosen the job over Dean and part of the reason she’d chosen the job over Dean, she realised, was because of her friendship with Adrian. Maybe she hadn’t admitted to herself that there had always been something more between them. When she’d transferred to Exeter, she had promised herself never to get involved with a colleague again, so she had never even entertained the idea of being with Adrian, until she couldn’t run away from her feelings any longer.