The Lost One (DI Olivia Austin Book 5): A fast-paced crime thriller by Nic Roberts

Author:Nic Roberts [Roberts, Nic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

13

Olivia’s eyes felt heavy as she packed up her desk for the evening. She’d study the case at home—preferably over a bottle of wine—and hopefully come back to the office fresh in the morning. She’d made up her mind to look over the transcripts of Epson’s interview with the parents. It would give her more context as well as help give her focus going into Tuesday.

She eyed Archie as she picked up her bag. He’d already begun to dive into his work; his chin rested atop his palm, eyes studying his computer screen.

“Thank you,” she blurted out.

He looked up, his eyes questioning her own.

“For what?”

Men could be so daft sometimes, Olivia thought to herself.

“A good team member pushes for what’s right,” she explained. “And sometimes that means a different perspective.” She settled onto the side of Archie’s desk to chat. “You’re stubborn. So am I. It’ll make for an interesting work relationship, but I think once we figure out each other’s rhythm, we could be really good for one another.”

He’d been watching her as she gave her little speech, and Olivia couldn’t help but feel as though she were under a microscope.

“Sex crimes,” he offered after a moment, and if his voice hadn’t been as clear as a lark, she would have seriously questioned if she had heard him correctly.

“I’m sorry?” she asked, concern scrunching her face a bit tighter.

“My old unit. Back in Bristol. It was sex crimes.” With that, Archie turned back to his work.

“That’s heavy,” Olivia replied, a gentle smile forming at the fact that her partner had finally given up a piece of information about himself. “Thanks for letting me know.”

I think that’s the first time he’s made me smile, she realised.

“Don’t stay up too late,” she warned, pacing over to the hall. “I’ll need you fresh in the morning.”

DS Elmhurst gave her another nod at that.

“See you tomorrow, Inspector.”

She gave him one last look.

“You’re an enigma to me,” she admitted, and it took her a second to realise that she’d said it out loud. Instinctually, she wanted to take it back, to immediately apologise. Instead, however, she kept her gaze level.

“And you to me,” came her new partners reply. He gave her the briefest smile then; it was a smile that Olivia hadn’t seen from Archie yet. There was a level of earnestness to it, something that felt like it was reserved for her, or at the very least for quiet moments.

“I look forward to getting to know you better,” Olivia returned, and with that she was off, whisking herself down the corridor and out to the open air.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.