by Max Hudson
“Why do you?” he asked bluntly, tilting his head just slightly to the side. “Do that thing, I mean.”
Simon’s shoulders tensed. Adrian considered taking the question back for approximately half a second, then quickly dismissed the thought. He had never really bothered to apologize for his questions before, he wasn’t about to start now.
“I don’t know,” Simon muttered after another moment or two. “Just habit, I guess. People tend to get nervous around someone a bit taller than they are.”
Adrian’s eyebrows crept up slightly. “You do that to make other people feel comfortable?”
Simon shrugged again and gave a noncommittal grunt in the back of his throat.
Adrian shook his head with a low whistle that was almost impressed. “Damn, Dove. You know, if the world ever pissed you off bad enough for you to risk taking up some space, I’d be first in line to see that particular showdown.”
Simon twisted a bit to look at him, frowning—not angry, at least Adrian didn’t think, more confused. “What the hell does that mean?”
Adrian shrugged and chuckled just as the toaster dinged behind him. He turned to start stacking the bread onto a plate and feeding in two new pieces. “Honestly, I don’t even know. I don’t always make sense in the morning.” He lapsed into quiet for a brief, slightly tense moment. Then, he added, “I really didn’t mean anything by it. Just you don’t have to try to be smaller to make me comfortable. If that’s what you’re doing,” he hastened to add.
“Oh.” Simon turned back to the stove, then sort of started and quickly began moving the bacon onto a plate that Adrian slid his way before starting on the eggs. “Well, uh…thanks?”
More silence. Adrian opened a cabinet and rocked up onto his toes, stretching his hand up to reach for a third plate. Damn, he really should run the dishwasher so he didn’t have to do this—
“Here.”
Rather abruptly, he felt Simon standing behind him, reaching over his head for the plate he had been aiming for. His eyes widened fractionally as he found himself pretty much trapped against the counter, essentially surrounded by the sudden influx of Simon’s body heat. Adrian tried to twist around to say thank you, but all that really accomplished was pressing them closer together. Now, he really was trapped as Simon had to reach out his other hand to brace against the counter when he sort of rocked his balance.
Clutching the plate in one hand, Simon looked down at him, eyes a little wider than normal. Adrian felt his throat go dry, pretty much every inch of his body pressed up against him as they both froze.
Oh God, it is definitely too early for this, he thought nervously, his own eyes rather wide.
Then, slowly, a tiny smile curled at one corner of Simon’s mouth. It wasn’t quite a real smile, the expression more sardonic than anything else. But it still nearly gave Adrian heart palpitations.
“Sure I don’t make you uncomfortable?” Simon murmured. Adrian had to fight back a shiver as he felt his voice rumble through his body.
The question sounded joking, but he could hear the resignation behind the tone.
Not entirely sure why he did it. Adrian replied quietly, “Uncomfortable isn’t exactly the word I would have used.”
Simon’s eyes widened again and they just stood there, staring at each other, for another long, elastic moment.
Then quite abruptly they both jerked their eyes away at the same second. Simon took a sharp step back while Adrian did a sort of sliding-shuffle move to the side. The air in the kitchen was suddenly almost too thick to breathe, and his heartrate had definitely picked up a few beats.
At the same time, they both started to speak.
“So, if you’re ready with the—”
“I’ll just start moving plates to the table—”
They both stopped, glancing at each other. Adrian felt his lips quirk up without him consciously telling them to. Without saying anything else, he picked up the plates with the toast and the bacon and slid over to set them on the small table, then moved toward the coffee maker.
Simon was finishing up with the eggs. To his relief, Adrian felt the tension in the air bleeding gradually.
Well. Mostly relief. At least that was what he told himself.
Topping off two cups of coffee, Adrian moved back to the table at the same time Simon plopped the plate of eggs into the center and took a seat. Vaguely, and slightly pleased, Adrian noticed that his shoulders weren’t quite as hunched as was typical.
“So.” He began dishing out food onto his plate. “I don’t know about you, but I didn’t exactly have any breakthroughs in my sleep about any of this stuff.” He gestured vaguely toward the coffee table, where the files from the night before were still spread out haphazardly.
Simon sighed and shook his head, picking absently at his own food. “No. I mean, nothing we didn’t already talk about.” He paused for a moment, seeming to consider what he said next, then voiced almost cautiously, “But, I still think we should go to—”
“Nope.” Adrian cut him off. “We talked about that. It’s a bad idea to go to the cops.”
Simon frowned. “You talked about it,” he corrected in a grumble. Then he set his jaw and continued, “But I’m telling you again, we have to go to the police.”
His voice rose slightly and Adrian felt his own hairs going up, instinctively bristling against being told what to do—especially since they’d already had that argument last night.
Sensing what he was thinking, Simon narrowed his eyes and hurried on before Adrian could say anything, “Minnie hasn’t been home in a week, right? I think the station would have at least noticed if a detective was skipping work for that long.”
Adrian blinked. “Oh.” Well, yeah, that was a good point. He had assumed Simon meant go to the police, not investigate Minnie’s place of work. Which actually made a lot of sense.
For the first time in a long time, Adrian felt a flush creeping over his cheeks that actually seemed to stem entirely from embarrassment. “Well, that’s—yeah, okay. I see you’re point,” he conceded, looking down at his food for a moment before shoveling in a large bite so he didn’t have to keep talking.
Adrian thought he heard a chuckle from across the table. When he glanced up Simon’s expression was perfectly neutral. He narrowed his eyes and waved his fork in a broad, vague gesture as he swallowed, then added, “But we’ve got to have some kind of plan. We can’t just go waltzing in. Mina’s not exactly my biggest fan, and you’re a civilian.”
Simon arched one eyebrow. “So are you,” he pointed out, though Adrian waved that particular assessment off. “And what do you mean Mina’s not your biggest fan? You said you just caught them coming in and out of work a couple of times, not that you knew her.”
Well. This should be fun, Adrian thought to himself, resigned. “I mean I sort of know her. About as well as I know anyone down there, really,” he bluffed. Then he barreled on with, “And I know I’m a civilian, but my job also has me running interference with cops more often than not. They get half their solid tips down there from me.”
Simon snorted quietly and Adrian blinked at him, indignant. “You don’t believe me?”
“Oh no, I believe you,” Simon assured him. If Adrian didn’t know better, he could have sworn the other man was smirking at him, just slightly. “I’m just suddenly not finding it very difficult to believe that this Mina person doesn’t really like you all that much.”
Adrian huffed and sat back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. “Well that was uncalled for,” he grumbled, but there was the barest hint of amusement in the glint to his eyes and the slight twitching at the corners of his mouth.
Simon smirked in response, brown eyes glittering playfully, and Adrian felt his heart lurch into his throat for approximately half a beat.
If he’d known getting Simon in on the joke helped him look like that, he would have stopped trying to tease a reaction out of him and maybe actually talked a long time ago. Maybe Minnie real
ly had the right idea back then.
.
Chapter Five
Simon Dove
Simon was actually pretty embarrassed to admit that he didn’t exactly know the way to Minnie’s station. At least not off the top of his head. He almost never actually visited her workplace. It made him nervous.
He remembered Minnie laughing at that when he’d admitted it to her. She had assured him that most people felt that way, and that honestly, it was probably better he didn’t try to just drop by. It wasn’t exactly like she had a typical office job or something.
This rule did not, apparently, apply to Adrian, who seemed to know not just exactly where they were going, but which route would get them there quickest at any given time of day. He supposed it made sense. He knew Adrian’s stories, more often than not, revolved around people who were either breaking the law outright in some way, or were toeing dangerously close to that line.
Not for the first time since all this craziness had started—or even before that, if he was being entirely honest—Simon had to swallow down a small flash of jealousy. He knew it was irrational. It wasn’t like he actually wanted Adrian’s job, or even anything similar. He just felt rather boring, by comparison. It was one thing to have a best friend from the age of five who went on to become a cop, and then a detective. It was something different when her other closest friend was some impulse, adventurous journalist who apparently not only had a number of corruption busts under his belt, but could actually prove useful in a situation where you went “missing” with only a few vaguely suspicious text messages attempting to convince your friends that everything was fine.
Evidently oblivious to Simon’s rather morose inner monologue, Adrian pulled into the parking lot of the police station and swung the car around to find a spot not all that far from the side door.
“Uh.” Simon glanced at a nearby sign that indicated this spot was actually not available for civilian use and gestured to it with a sense of vague helplessness. He already had a feeling it wasn’t going to do any good.
This feeling proved correct when Adrian shrugged and shoved his door open, bouncing quickly out of the car. “It’s Minnie’s spot. It’s not like she’s gonna be using it.” His mouth curved into a rather humorless half smiled and he added, “Honestly I’d be thrilled if she did. That would mean this whole thing is over and done with, wouldn’t it?”
Simon sighed and got out of the car more sedately, closing his door with a heavy nod. “Yeah, all right,” he mumbled.
He was starting to figure that it was just easier not to argue with Adrian about the smaller things. Even one day together—and not even a full day at that—had pretty much drained him.
If he were being totally honest it wasn’t just the arguing that was emotionally draining. His mind decided to replay the incident at the counter that morning without his permission, then flickered to the other incident in the doorway to the bedroom. He felt himself starting to flush and ducked his head, trying to will the heat out of his face.
He really needed to get ahold of himself. This was so not the time.
“Here’s the deal.” Adrian was speaking in a soft, clipped tone as they began making their way to the front door of the station. “You can’t be nervous. Nervous is suspicious, and the last thing we need is someone in there to think we’re up to something.”
“We are up to something,” Simon grumbled.
Before the words were even fully out of his mouth, Adrian shot him a quick glare. “Not according to them,” he hissed. “We’re just here to try to catch Minnie at her desk. She wasn’t home last night, canceled dinner and we’re a bit worried. That’s all.”
“Yeah, fine, I get it,” Simon mumbled in response. Despite what Adrian had warned, he could already feel his shoulders curving further forward almost defensively, and his stomach felt like it might have dropped to hang out somewhere near his shoes.
“Hey.”
Adrian’s hand landed on his upper arm and he jumped slightly, then stared down at him with wide eyes.
Adrian smiled at him, and for the briefest moment Simon realized his expression could actually be classified as gentle.
“You remember that thing I said this morning? About wanting to see you; what would happen if you bothered to take up some space?”
Simon blinked. “Um…yes? Sort of hard to forget.” It hadn’t made any sense then, and he really wasn’t sure it did now either.
“Well, give it a shot,” Adrian murmured. He gave Simon’s arm a quick, gentle squeeze, then let his hand drop again. “You’ve got a lot of space available. Use it. You might be less nervous.”
Simon just stared at him for a moment. They had reached the door by that point. Adrian pushed it open with the same ease Simon would have entered the bank to start a shift, as though he did this every day.
He hesitated for a moment longer, almost desperately turning those words over in his mind. Take up some space.
Drawing in a quick, fortifying breath, he experimentally straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin, allowing himself to stretch up to his full height, and followed Adrian into the building.
Evidently, Adrian knew the inside of the station as easily as he knew the quickest route to get there. He marched right up to the officer behind the front desk and flashed a bright smile.
“Hey, Sam! Been a while, how are you doing?”
The officer lifted his head and gave Adrian a quick, up-and-down look of evaluation, then huffed out a breath and propped his elbow on the desk, resting his chin in his palm. “What do you want, Adrian?”
“Want?” Adrian clapped a hand to his chest dramatically. “Must I want anything to be here? I can’t just pop by and see your smiling face?”
“No,” Officer Sam replied, deadpan, while Simon had a quiet heart attack behind Adrian’s back. “You can’t. Legally. Spill, Crow, why are you here?” He arched an eyebrow. “Don’t make me evict you from the property again.” He glanced over Adrian’s shoulder and added with a slight jerk of his chin, “And who’s he?”
Adrian sighed and placed his hands on the desk while Simon desperately tried not to shrink down and simultaneously to process the implications of again. “All right, fine. We’re here to see Minnie. She’s not answering her phone and I figured it’s just about her lunch break, right?” His lips quirked up on one side and he added lightly, “If she’s not completely buried in paperwork, I guess.”
Then, almost an afterthought, he added, “That’s just Si, don’t mind him.”
For just the barest fraction of a second, something in Officer Sam’s eyes flickered. and Simon caught a very slight tension entering his jaw. Then the reaction was gone and he shrugged, shaking his head.
“Sorry, can’t help you. Detective Dowell never clocked in this morning. I think she’s taking a sick day.”
“Really?” Adrian widened his eyes while Simon resisted the urge to shrink back behind him. “Damn. Well,thanks anyway—oh hey.” As if he had only just remembered, he brightened a bit and asked quickly, “Don’t suppose Mina’s in? If she’s got some time I’d really like to talk to her, there’s, uh…there’s this lead I’m working on.”
Simon nearly expired right there on the police station floor. What the hell was that? That was some of the least convincing acting he’d ever seen was what it was. He had thought Adrian was supposed to be good at this!
But, to his immense surprise, Officer Sam—who, he realized once he actually caught a glance of his badge, was properly called Officer Cooper—just sort of smirked and Adrian and shook his head.
“I thought the last time you had a lead with Mina it didn’t exactly go well. To put it delicately?”
Adrian chuckled, sounding nervous, and reached up to scratch the back of his neck. “Well, yeah, it—look is she in or not?”
Officer Cooper sighed and shook his head, glancing down at the papers scattered over the desk in front of him, then flicking his eyes toward the computer just to the right of them
. “Yeah, she’s in. And I really shouldn’t let you go talk to her without a real reason, but…”
His eyes moved back to them, more focused on Adrian than Simon. To his relief, it allowed him to attempt to hide how bewildered he currently felt. With a sharp exhale and an almost fondly exasperated shake of his head, he finished, “Okay, fine. But if she shoots you, there’s fourteen people in this building who will swear up and down that they didn’t see a thing.”
Simon’s eyes widened and his jaw went slightly slack, but Adrian just laughed and gave the policeman a jaunty little mock salute. “Copy that.”
Sam gave him a flat look. “Don’t.”
Adrian laughed again and waved for Simon to follow as he slipped around the desk and headed down what appeared to be the main hallway from the lobby.
Once they’d gotten some distance, Simon quickened his pace slightly so he could walk beside the other man and lowered his voice to a hiss: “What the hell just happened back there?”
“Long story,” Adrian replied out of the corner of his mouth. “I’ll tell you later. Now hush, you’re gonna blow our cover.”
“Our cover—?"
“Shhh.”
They arrived at a door with the words “Detective Inspector Jameson” embossed on the foggy glass and Adrian knocked twice, sharply.
Almost before he had had the chance to pull his hand back completely, the door swung open, revealing a scowling woman with an icy blue glare and features sharp enough to cut glass.
Adrian backpedaled, nearly bumping into Simon as he did, who automatically, lifted a hand to steady him. “Mina! Hey! Were you, ah, expecting someone—?"
“You.” Mina folded her arms and leaned against the doorframe slightly, one leg cocked up and the other foot pressed into the opposite corner of the doorway so she was blocking pretty much their entire view of her office.