Pember nervously toyed with the buttons of his shirt, only to feel Blake’s fingers press against his lower back. He swallowed, because there really was no greater tension than watching three dots flash over and over.
Lily frowned when another message popped up, this time on the side of the screen. “Pem, have you checked your anti-virus recently? You keep getting ads for jewellery. And I don’t mean necklaces and earrings.”
Pember pressed his lips together and squinted.Jazz up your jizz this summer with our rainbow coloured barbells!
“O-oh my God,” he said, ears burning as he glanced up at Blake. “Y-yeah. Um, yeah, I must have a virus or something.”
Blake smirked, raising his eyebrows. Caitlin glanced between them and stepped back. “You make me sick,” she muttered, fanning herself with a piece of paper.
“I think she’s gone again,” Lily said, oblivious to the conversation going on behind her. A big red circle appeared around Maya’s name. “And now we wait.” They all stepped back with a sigh, and Lily’s shoulders sagged, she was clearly eager to please. “I think we need to change tactics; the soft approach isn’t working.”
Blake nodded, pulling out his notebook. “I agree. Give her something she can’t ignore.”
“We could tell her someone's been arrested?” Lily said, scratching the side of her neck. “Make her think she’s in the clear.”
Blake hummed, looking thoughtful. “We could. Say it was one of Maginty’s associates. Drug deal gone wrong. Another alpha.”
Pember shook his head. “No. No, that won’t work. She knows we test for secondary sex markers as well as DNA. Tell her it was an omega. Maybe another of Maginty’s victims. Say he was involved in another rape, and the omega killed him for revenge. Say… say word has gotten around about alphas dying and that all the omegas in the station are secretly supportive. It’s close enough to the truth that she might buy it.”
Caitlin and Mark turned, eyeing him with cautious curiosity.
“Are omegas supportive?” Mark said, scrubbing at his five o’clock shadow.
Pember shrugged. “Who knows? Omegas are capable of anything, even thought.” He snapped his teeth with a small smirk, making Mark step back.
“Another bite!” Lily said, eyes darting over the screen. “She said… oh, she’s asked why the lab’s been shut down.”
“Shit,” Blake said, slapping his notepad on the table. “How the fuck does she know? Did Duncan tell her?”
Pember shrugged. “Probably. He’s been kept out of the loop so why wouldn’t he message her?”
“Duncan wants to keep his fucking mouth shut,” Mark said, gritting his teeth. “He’s on thin ice as it is.”
Pember raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
Mark glanced at Caitlin, then at Blake. “Duncan’s login details were used to change some of the sample readings. Wedon’t know, but we suspect Maya was using his profile to keep her digital footprint out of the system.”
Pember covered his mouth. “But how? We have to go into about fifty different password screens just to get onto the system, she wouldn’t be able to—” But then he thought back to the little green notebook Duncan carried in his lab coat pocket, and he covered his face.
Idiot.
He realised, then, that if Maya truly was responsible, she was probably willing to put anyone in the firing line.
Pember let out a breath. “Right… right. Yeah, this could work. Tell her… tell her there was an issue with my samples. We send our work off for spot checking every now and again, and with how short staffed we are, it wouldn’t be a huge stretch.”
Lily nodded and sent the message. They watched as the red ring flashed repeatedly around Maya’s name, the three dots appearing and disappearing multiple times.
“Got her,” Blake said, rubbing Pember’s back. “She’s interested, but she doesn’t know how to move forward.”
“Just take the bull by the horns and invite her for dinner,” Pember said, wetting his lips. He thought about all the tactics he’d used with his mum over the years. “Say I’d love to catch up because I’m feeling really stressed. Say… say that we can’t cope without her, and that I’m thinking of quitting and going back to my old job. Stroke her ego, but dangle the prospect of losing me as a contact on the inside.”
Mark scoffed and cracked his knuckles. “Fuck me, why are you making this so complicated?”
Pember frowned. “Because omegas have to think ten steps ahead. Always. Consider all possible reactions to our actions.Youdon’t have to do that.Youjust go through life brute forcing everything, but it’s how we survive.”
Pember let out a breath and looked up at Blake. He really wanted to be at home eating apple pie and stroking the dogs. His brain hurt, and he was sick of the inside of the briefing room. He knew Blake felt the same because he was like a big ball of anxious energy seething at his side.
Without another word, Blake tugged at his hand and led him into the corridor. A number of detectives scuttled away, doing their absolute best to make it look like they weren’t eavesdropping.
