Things were awkward anyway; this was just a new level of awkward for Imogen. She walked into work and saw Denise, and for the first time she couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Denise and Adrian had slept together. After hearing some detail about what had happened between them, she couldn’t help wondering what it would have been like. She said a quick hello and walked through the glass doors. Adrian was sitting at his desk, holding onto his head; she wasn’t surprised if he had a headache.

‘Good morning.’

‘Hey.’ Adrian smiled nervously.

It hadn’t been her imagination; the conversation they’d had last night was written all over his face. Was she seeing him in a new light or was he looking at her differently? They couldn’t go back to pretending that nothing was going on between them. That wouldn’t help anyone. The time had come to confront this thing head on.

‘Did you get any sleep last night?’ she asked.

‘I passed out as soon as you left. You?’ Adrian said.

‘I got about two hours. I went for a long run this morning to clear my head,’ said Imogen.

‘Is it clear now then?’

‘I think we need to tell Gary.’

‘Tell him what? About us?’

‘No, about the case, about Parker. I trust him.’

‘I trust him, too,’ Adrian said. ‘I also don’t want to put him in a position where he might lose his job.’

‘We need someone smarter than us to help find Parker. We didn’t find him last time; Abbey came to us. What makes you think we can this time?’

‘Fair enough. If you think he can handle it. Let’s go.’

Thankfully, Gary was alone in the computer lab. Imogen explained as little as she could get away with, Gary’s mouth agog as she spoke. Adrian filled in the parts of the story that Imogen wasn’t familiar with or there for, and they described how and why they had come to find out Parker was involved in this crime.

‘Are you going to tell the DCI?’ Gary asked when they finally stopped talking.

‘I’d rather not,’ Adrian said. ‘I realise that may not be possible, though. If it comes to it, then I will. Maybe the fact that I was under extreme emotional stress at the time will make a difference to how they choose to deal with me.’

‘We need to find him. All we know is that he is really good at this. He was left a lot of money by his grandfather and so cash isn’t an issue. His wife is staying in town. We only know he has anything to do with this because his note told us he did. We hadn’t figured it out and there is no physical evidence that points to him,’ Imogen said.

‘So, he’s good. But he’s also dangerous. What if we get close? Are you sure he wasn’t warning you off with that note?’ Gary asked.

‘As strange as this sounds, I don’t believe we are in any danger from him. He’s not evil,’ Imogen said.