Imogen was sure now that there was no secret romantic relationship going on there, but why else would they be talking? It was true that Adrian didn’t have an abundance of friends outside the police service – hell, he didn’t even have that many inside the police service. He had a tendency to rub the men up the wrong way and the women kept their distance because of his reputation, unless they had already slept with him, in which case they avoided him like the plague.

Maybe it was purely about his injury, but this impromptu meeting with the doctor had done little to quash the voice in Imogen’s head that was telling her something was wrong. Adrian certainly had no intention of telling her if he hadn’t done so already, she knew that much about him. She also knew she couldn’t take much more of this.

She left the hospital and got in the car alone. She felt alone a lot these days, even when she wasn’t.

Chapter Seventy-Three

Adrian got back to the station to find Imogen coming out of DCI Kapoor’s office. It was getting late and he wanted to go home and shower. Seeing Jimmy like that made Adrian think about what had happened to him and whether he himself would have preferred to be pinned to a wall, conscious and knowing full well that he was going to die. Would he have preferred to go through that than what happened to him in the back of that white van? He didn’t know. Surely being alive was better than being dead. Surely.

Reece Corrigan was evil – that much was true. Maybe even the worst that Adrian had ever seen, and he had seen some really fucked-up things.

‘The DCI wants to see you,’ Imogen said as she passed him.

The warmth between them was disappearing. He carried on walking directly to the DCI’s office.

Being with Imogen both at work and at home made it harder for him to pretend to be all right all the time. There was no respite and she was noticing the holes in his demeanour.

Adrian knocked on the DCI’s door and she called for him to enter.

‘Ma’am?’ Adrian said.

‘I just wanted you to know that I’ve had confirmation that you’ve passed your medical and are therefore released from desk duty.’

‘Oh. Great,’ Adrian lied.

‘Also, DS Hasan called from Oswestry and confirmed that a body has been discovered but is as yet unidentified. We’ve almost got him. Let’s press Angela one more time, now that we have some tangible evidence.’

DCI Kapoor looked back down at the paperwork on her desk and carried on working. Adrian pulled the door closed and walked back to his desk. Life goes on whether you’re ready or not.