His fangs tingled again.
Don’t you descend, you fuckers, not even a millimeter.
Saul called after her departing frame, “We’ll regroup in an hour, Hale is doing a case overview with the team.”
Oliver saw the tiny pause in her step, then she flung over her shoulder, “Sure,” and disappeared into her office, almost but not quite slamming the door.
Saul looked over at Oliver with an eyebrow waggle. “Wonder what got into her?” he mused. “She looked like she’d been bitten.”
Oliver narrowed his eyes, but Saul, being Saul was, yet again, oblivious to his faux pas. “Unfortunate turn of phrase,” Oliver remarked drily.
Saul flushed a darker shade of green. “Ah yeah, didn’t mean to make a pun. But she did look shaken up, don’t you reckon?” He scratched his head. “Hope she’s not disappointed she won’t be working with me on the case. She must know I haven’t got the time, or the expertise, for that matter.”
“You underestimate yourself, Saul,” Oliver purred, finally managing to get his pulse to slow. “You are an excellent detective.”
Saul grunted. “Drowning in paperwork these days. Don’t know how you got it all done when you were in charge.”
“I put in long hours. It will be a luxury to just have this case to focus on,” Oliver said. He drummed the desk with long fingers. “So, is your intention that Clare works with me on the case?”
“Underyou, sir.”
Ye gods. Saul was putting his big orc foot in it right, left and center.
“I work better alone.”
“There’s too much to do for one person, even one of your caliber. She’ll answer to you. Give her paperwork if you must, but frankly, that would be a huge waste of her talents.”
Oliver silenced a groan. “What’s brought her back to Motham PD?”
Saul moved closer. “There’s a personal involvement.”
“In what way?”
“Natalie Spriggs, the last human to go missing, was an old friend of hers. She promised Natalie’s mom she’d help find her.”
“Fuck.” Oliver raked a hand through his hair. “Personal involvement often clouds an officer’s judgment.”
“She’s the only applicant we got, and she’s brilliant, you know that. I’ve lost so many staff lately, they’re all moving to jobs with better pay. I’m hoping she might stay on after this secondment.”
“Then give her something that will tempt her to stay. Put her in charge of feral gang management.” It was a last-ditch attempt to keep her away from him. It failed.
“That’s the one area I have covered. We’ll offer her more options later, but for the next few weeks, she’s all yours.”
Oliver ground his molars together. “Good to know. Now, if you don’t mind giving me half an hour, I’ll go over the files prior to my presentation.”
“Sure, let’s all convene at 10.30. I’ll get Misha to go buy some Bellamy’s cake.”
Oliver gave a cursory wave of the hand. Tea and cake, all genteel and civilized, with the woman he’d last seen naked, wet, and wanton in bed.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
Sweet gods, he should be hightailing it out of here. But he could no more do that than he could fly to the moon.
As much as he tried to deny it, the truth was, he’d felt more alive since Clare walked into his office ten minutes ago than he had for a single moment these past three years.
Which rather screwed him, didn’t it?
CHAPTER 10
