‘Are you okay, ma’am?’
Was she okay? Not really. She and Oliver had now kissed twice and she was pretty sure she was going to hell because she thought maybe she was starting tofeelstuff and what the hell was that even about? But she didn’t think Eyebrows was worried about her sexual ormoraldiscombobulation.
‘Yes. Absolutely.’ She nodded vigorously, her eyes widening, trying desperately to convey everything was fine. Although she may have looked slightly manic and possibly not okay.Because she was not okay. ‘I thought someone was trying to break in but it was just Oliver.’ She pointed at him. ‘It’s his house.’
Clearly of a suspicious nature – excellent quality for a police officer she supposed – the officer glanced behind them into the hallway taking in the scattered pieces of her now very dead violin and the mess of paper.
‘I see.’ He eyeballed Oliver. ‘Do you mind if we come in, sir?’
Oliver shook his head. ‘Of course not.’
He fell back and gestured for the officer to enter which he did, followed by the second cop who was younger and ginger. They stepped over the debris in the hallway garishly lit by the flashing blue light, looking at it then at each other as Oliver shut the door. ‘And what happened here?’
‘Well,’ Paige began, ‘as I said, I thought someone was breaking in because Oliver wasn’t supposed to be home until tomorrow night.’
‘It’s true, I was supposed to come home tomorrow.’
‘So when he opened the door,’ Paige continued, ‘I… attacked him with the violin.’
‘And I was carrying some file boxes which I dropped when I slipped on a piece of broken violin and the paper flew out everywhere.’
‘And I slipped too,’ Paige added. ‘And in the…’ She cleared her voice. ‘Confusion.’ Slashdebauchery. ‘That followed, I forgot about having dialled the emergency number. I’m so,sosorry, I know how busy you are. The last thing you need are nuisance calls like this.’
‘I see,’ he repeated, pursing his lips, his eyebrows undulating once more.
They moved slowly down the hallway, entering the open-plan, well-lit area, their eyes continuously sweeping. They stopped in the kitchen. ‘Have you been drinking, ma’am?’
Paige’s gaze flicked to where the officer’s attention was focused. The empty wine bottle stood on the counter,judging her. ‘Um, yes?’
He nodded. ‘How much?’
‘The entire bottle.’ Her gaze slid to Oliver whose expression was inscrutable. Mr Expensive Cognac had better not be judging her. ‘But it was over a couple of hours.’
Okay, that was a slight fudge of the truth but as far as she knew there was no law against getting absolutely stonking drunk in your own home if you wanted to.
The copper nodded as they both turned, two sets of eyes thoroughly assessing her and Oliver in the full light. Both sets drifted to her Danny Dorito T-shirt at the same time and Paige swore she saw the lips of ginger copper, twitch.
‘You two got some ID?’ Eyebrows asked.
‘Ah… sure.’ Oliver reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, furnishing his driver’s licence.
Paige crossed to the table and grabbed hers from her bag and handed it over. He passed them both to ginger cop who wandered down the hallway, murmuring into the radio clipped to his shoulder.
‘The address is my parents’ house,’ Paige added for clarity. ‘I’m just staying here. As a guest.’
Eyebrows flicked a glance at Oliver. ‘That right?’
He nodded. ‘Until the end of February.’
‘And how do you know each other?’
‘I’m friends with his…’Ex.Paige almost stumbled over the word as the thought of Bella sucked the air from her lungs, forcing her to draw in another. ‘With his ex.’
Ginger cop returned and handed the IDs back to Eyebrows with a nod. Clearly, they’d checked out. The older officer returned their IDs.
A couple more questions followed but they left shortly after with cheery goodbyes, obviously satisfied that nothing sinister had gone on tonight. As embarrassing as the incident had been, Paige assumed domestic callouts were relatively common for them and it was good to know they’d arrived promptly and hadn’t been brushed off with hasty assurances.
‘So.’ Oliver, who had accompanied the officers to the door, wandered back into the kitchen, his hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans. ‘That was a thing.’
