He glanced at his watch for the tenth time in as many minutes, then crossed to his desk and sat down very deliberately. The call that had brought him in had been urgent-a high-ranking police officer found murdered-and if Gemma didn’t arrive soon he’d have to go on to the crime scene without her. She’d not been in to work since she had left his flat on Friday evening. And although she had called in and requested leave from the chief superintendent, she had not answered Kincaid’s increasingly frantic calls over the past five days. Tonight Kincaid had asked the duty sergeant to contact her, and she’d responded.

Unable to contain his restlessness, he rose again and had reached to pull his jacket from the coat stand when he heard the soft click of the latch. He turned and saw her standing with her back to the door, watching him, and a foolish grin spread across his face. “Gemma!”

“Hullo, guv.”

“I’ve tried and tried to ring you. I thought something must have happened-”

She was already shaking her head. “I went to my sister’s for a few days. I needed some time-”

“We have to talk.” He moved a step nearer and stopped, examining her. She looked exhausted, her pale face almost transparent against the copper of her hair, and the skin beneath her eyes held faint purple shadows. “Gemma-”

“There’s nothing to say.” She slumped, resting her shoulders against the door as if she needed its support. “It was all a dreadful mistake. You can see that, can’t you?”

He stared at her, astonishment freezing his tongue. “A mistake?” he managed finally, then wiped a hand across his suddenly dry lips. “Gemma, I don’t understand.”

“It never happened.” She took a step towards him, entreating, then stopped as if afraid of his physical proximity.

“It did happen. You can’t change that, and I don’t want to.” He went to her then and put his hands on her shoulders, trying to draw her to him. “Gemma, please, listen to me.” For an instant he thought she might tilt her head into the hollow of his shoulder, relax against him. Then he felt her shoulders tense under his fingers and she pulled away.