With barely a blink, Blake trained his expression back into indifference and moved out of Pember’s grasp.
“Hello!” Duncan said, hurriedly scribbling their details into the staff book. “It’s chilly in here, right? Anyone else cold? I’m freezing, like freeeeezing.” Pember and Blake stared at him as he finished signing the book with a flourish. “Morning, Sergeant. Beat the traffic?”
Blake nodded, slipping off his coat and handing it to the woman behind the reception desk. He always beat the traffic.
“Morning, gents!” a familiar sing-song voice called from within a little side room.
A grin split Blake’s mouth as he dipped around the door. “Morning, Chichi,” he said, eyeing the middle-aged omega as she changed the filter in her ancient-looking coffee machine. “Long time no see.”
Chichima Zabu was hands down one of his favourite pathologists, not to mention an excellent professional witness at court. She was a petite Black woman with tight braids pulled back into a large bun on top of her head. She smiled widely, her dark eyes running up and down his long frame.
“Looking good, Blake, lookinggood.How’re Rebecca and the baby? She’s gotta be, what? A year old, now?”
Blake exhaled, giving her a hard look. “We aren’t together anymore.”
Chichi’s eyebrows dipped slightly, before passing him a clipboard. “I see.” She had enough grace to drop the subject immediately.
Blake sucked his teeth and pushed a bundle of paperwork into the clipboard. “How’s Kofi?”
Chichi’s smile faltered and she absentmindedly rubbed the bite mark on the side of her neck. “He’s alright. Lungs still won’t clear, but you know how it is. Ah! And who do we have here?” she said, expression brightening as Pember shuffled in behindDuncan. “Someone new? My God, you are so precious!” She threw her hands wide and took a few steps towards them.
“Thanks,” Duncan uttered, blushing.
Chichi chuckled before shoving him out of the way. “What’s your name, sweetie?” she said, grabbing both of Pember’s shoulders.
“O-oh, I… er, it’s Pember. Pember McArthur.” He glanced up at Blake, with an expression akin to a fish out of water.
“How sweet. Are you nervous?”
Pember blushed. “I… well, a little.”
“Ah, don’t be my angel.” Chichi jerked her head towards Duncan, giving him a scathing look. “So long as you don’t knock the brain off the workbench, you’ll be absolutely fine.”
Duncan withered. “I didn’t… It was an accident?—”
“First Home Office PM?” Chichi continued.
“Yes,” Pember replied, back straightening.
“Ah, well, nothing to worry about. Just follow mine and Blake’s lead.” She flicked her eyes towards him and winked.
Pember gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Okay, thank you.”
“No, thankyoufor coming. I was worried we were going to have to watch Maya and David make doe eyes at one another all morning.”
Blake chuckled at that, because gossip of Maya and Chichi’s assistant’s romance had even reached the ears of the Major Crime Unit.
After completing the first round of paperwork, they followed Chichi and David through the morgue. “You get suited up in there.” She pointed towards a dingy little room containing various lockers and shelves. “David and I’ll get scrubbed up. Any issues with the suits, just let one of the techs know.”
All three of them nodded, and Blake dressed quickly in the white forensic suit, pushing back his wayward hair, slotting the protective goggles over his glasses and drawing up the hood.
A loud clattering sound followed by groaning echoed through the room. “Ew! They’re still wet!” Duncan cried, holding up a pair of white Wellington boots. “Nothing worse than soggy socks.”
Pember chuckled, offering Duncan a tissue as he quietly pulled on his own boots from a rack behind the door. Running his finger along the shelves, Blake had no such luck in finding a pair to fit. He needed a size eleven but only found nines. Not wanting to linger in the morgue any longer than necessary, he huffed and pulled the smaller boots off the rack.
“Want me to ask one of the techs for a bigger size?” Pember said, eyeing him from beside the lockers.
Blake shook his head. “These’ll be fine. I heard toes are a luxury anyway.”
