Alex and I left the block of flats and hit Flicker Street. It was already warm, and long shadows stretched across the road as the artificial lights imitated the position of the sun. We walked in the direction of the university and the nearest tram stop.

"I can't believe this," I said. "No one has an iron-clad alibi!"

Alex ticked everyone off on his fingers. "No one can testify to Nora's movements between quarter past eight and nine. No one can testify to Riannon's movements between seven and half eight."

"And no one can testify to Janet's movements between half eight and nine," I said. "Yet, anyway. Hopefully, we'll clear that up later."

Alex frowned. "Why are we going back to the station now? Janet was just a floor up from us."

"I want to do what we can with Nora's story first so that we have more answers than questions. We need to check the clocking-out records again and see if she's telling the truth about it being a common occurrence for her to forget." I turned around, suddenly realising that he was behind me. "Come on! Don't dawdle."

"I'm not dawdling." He fell into step with me again and glowered.

I looked at the dark smudges under his eyes and slowed down. "Are you tired?"

"No. I felt fine -- I am fine today."

We followed a bend in the road, and the entrance to Socrico University yawned ahead of us. I glanced at my sergeant again and realised he was slowly losing the colour in his cheeks. "You're not well. Why don't --"

"Inspector Rames!"

Frankie Jarsdel, the niece of our victim, was emerging from the university campus. She was flanked by a blonde girl with the floppiest sun hat I'd ever seen, and none other than Jude Bray, the last passenger I'd herded off the hijacked tram the previous morning.

The trio stopped in front of us, Frankie standing at their head. "Good morning, Inspector. I was wondering if you've made any progress in your investigation yet."

I raised my eyebrows at her cool tone. "Sorry. I'm not at liberty to say this early in the investigation."

"No one's been arrested?" Floppy Hat asked, her voice wavering.

I gave her an unimpressed stare.

"Oh." Frankie turned towards her friends. "This is a flatmate of mine, Becky Elwyn. And this is a classmate, Jude Bray."

"We've already met," Jude said. "You remember that tram hijacking yesterday?"

"Of course." Frankie flipped a strand of brittle hair over her shoulders. "You've only just finished telling me that we have to be back by this afternoon because some officers are coming to take your statement." She looked at me. "Sorry to bother you, Inspector. Will you be allowed to contact me if there's any news...?"

"Of course." I looked at her friends and added, "Privately. As you're a member of the family."

"Thank you. Goodbye." She turned around and led her friends in the direction of the tram stop.

Alex frowned. "There's something off with her."

"Hmm. If that's her flatmate..." I raised my voice. "Becky!"

Floppy Hat stopped and turned around. Frankie and Jude glanced behind them but carried on walking. I beckoned to Floppy Hat, and she came back.

"Becky," I said when she reached us. "Sorry. I just need to ask a routine question. Where was Frankie on Thursday night?"

Becky shrugged. "She went for dinner with Lonn and Janet, and then she went back to our flat and studied. Like she does every Thursday night."

"Were you at the flat, then?"

"No. The rest of us were at Underworld Eclipse -- you know, the club?"

I did know. It was the most popular club in Socrico. "What time did you get back?"

"Maybe one in the morning. Or two? I can't remember."

"So no one but Frankie was in your flat that evening?"

She nodded and looked over her shoulder anxiously, desperately watching her friends. "That's right."

"Okay, thanks. You can go now."

Becky ran to catch up with her friends, who'd passed the tram stop and almost vanished from sight.

I turned to Alex. "Yet another alibi with holes in it. This means no one can testify to Frankie's movements between seven and nine at all."

***

We rode the tram back to the police station. There was only one seat left, but I insisted that Alex took it while I stood and paced. He was still pale.

When we entered the station, we went straight to our office. I pushed the door open and made a beeline for the packet of cookies I'd left on my desk. I shoved one in my mouth and turned around -- and nearly choked on it. "Alex!"

He was standing on the threshold, his head buried in the crook of the arm he'd braced against the door frame. His eyes were closed.

I put my hands on his shoulders. "Alex, go home."

"No." He straightened up and winced. "I'm fine now. I was just a bit dizzy."

"Oh, for God's sake." I raked a hand through my hair and pointed at his desk. "At least sit down."

He managed to get there without fainting. When he'd collapsed in his chair, I carried the cookies over. "Eat. I'm going to get you a drink from the cafeteria. If you feel dizzy, call me. Otherwise, ask the PRBs to check the clocking-out records at Lab S for the whole of May. Just call them. Don't go next door. Don't move at all."

"Okay." He stared at the cookies with little enthusiasm.

My heart panged. "Alex..."

He looked up.

"You were feeling fine this morning. And yesterday morning." I hesitated. "Until we put our monitoring stuff on. I did some research last night, and occasionally people have adverse reactions to video-recording contact lenses. They can include headaches and --"

"No." His voice was cold.

I blinked. "No? I haven't even --"

"No, Amber. I'm fine." He pulled his tabphone out of his pocket. "I'll call the PRBs and check the rest of the records they've already given us. They sent everything from the past week."

I remained rooted to the spot, staring at him. Using his tabphone with one hand, he put a call through to the PRBs on his earpiece with the other. And avoided looking at me.

I turned on my heel and left the room.

***

The cafeteria always reminded me of something from a secondary school. It was a large hall on the first floor of the police station that seemed to be a world away from the cutting-edge office cubes below. Round tables that could seat groups of ten were accompanied by plastic chairs in neon orange and lime green. Only a few were occupied. It was too late for most people to be grabbing breakfast, but too early for lunch.

I was standing at a table near the self-serving area, trying to work out how I was going to carry everything I'd bought. I had two coffees, a sandwich and a chocolate bar for Alex, and three chocolate bars for me. And only two hands.

This was all his fault. I knew that if he hadn't pissed me off, I wouldn't have needed so much chocolate. Then I might have stood a hope in hell of picking it all up.

"A tray," Sebastian said from behind me, "would be a good idea."

I turned around. He was standing a few feet away with a plastic tray in one hand and a vape in the other. I guessed he was here to satisfy the other craving of an overworked man that went hand-in-hand with nicotine: he was eyeing up my coffee like a lion watching a gazelle.

"A tray," I repeated. "Yes."

He set it on the table. "Are you okay, Amber? You've picked up five chocolate bars."

Five? I looked down. Shit, there were five. How had the extra one managed to find its way onto my pile?

I sighed and dumped them onto the tray. "It's Alex."

"What's he done?"

"He's not very well." I worried my bottom lip. "I think it might be these contact lenses we're wearing. He was fine yesterday morning. Then he was ill for most of the day, but he felt okay not long after we reached my flat...until we kitted up this morning." I ripped open a chocolate bar. "I tried to suggest it to him, but he just snapped at me!"

Sebastian leaned against the table and picked up my sergeant's coffee. "You know he probably thinks you're right? If he didn't put any stock in what you were saying, there wouldn't have been any need to shut you down."

"I know. But I don't know what to do. We have to wear this stuff to do the Trials."

Sebastian sipped his stolen coffee and glanced at the tray. "Looking after him will help. If it was you, you'd appreciate that."

"Why isn't it me? I'm shit with technology. Why is it Alex, of all people?"

"That's what he'll be asking himself. He's our tech guru, and everyone in the station knows it. If I had a reputation like that, I'd be humiliated right now too."

I already felt ashamed of my inferiority with electronics. I knew exactly how Alex would be feeling.

"Talk with Sten about it," Sebastian said. "Get him to examine Alex. If he is having a bad reaction, you just need to let him know that he shouldn't be embarrassed."

"Yeah, restoring a man's pride is that easy." I tried not to think too hard about the fact that Sten himself was observing this conversation. "But thanks. I should go back to Alex before he thinks I've just walked out. Oh, Sebastian?"

"I'm still listening." He polished off the coffee and threw the empty cup towards a nearby recycling bin.

"You and Cassia are kind of close. Do you think she's been looking upset lately? Has she said anything to you about Miles?"

Sebastian tensed. "Only that she's still going through a rough patch with him. Short of hitting the guy's head off a wall, I'm not sure what I can do to help."

"Keep an eye on her for me?"

"I meant to help her, not you." He raised an eyebrow. "I'm always keeping an eye on her. Not that she's actually the Rames sister who gets into the most trouble."

I let that one slide. "Well, here's an easy problem you can solve to help a Rames: I'm now one coffee short."

"Sorry. I was desperate." He straightened up with a charmingly unapologetic smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Wait there, and I'll get you another one."

***

I arrived back at our office bearing a plastic tray with the correct number of coffees, one sandwich, and my remaining four chocolate bars. I felt Alex's eyes on me as soon as I kicked the door open, but I avoided looking anywhere near him as I dumped his goods on his desk. Sebastian may have helped me to think up a plan of action for our predicament, but how I was going to broach the subject with my sergeant again was another matter entirely.

"Thanks," he said slowly as I unloaded the tray. "I've finished looking through Nora's records. She was telling the truth -- there are loads of gaps where she's clearly forgotten to clock out."

I risked a glance at him. He looked at the chocolate with one raised eyebrow.

I picked the tray up and marched back to my desk, not trusting myself to speak. He watched as I kicked my chair out and sat down.

After a long moment, he cleared his throat. "So, what now, Amber?"

My self-restraint snapped. "I don't know! What can we do now, Sergeant? You're not well, but you won't let me help or even listen to me. You won't go home, but I can't let you come anywhere with me because I can't even trust you to tell me when you're about to pass out!"

Ringing silence fell almost before the last word had left my lips. All life in the main office stilled, and I realised that they'd heard everything.

I sneaked a glance at Alex. He was sitting with his head in his hands.

Great job, Amber. Full volume was definitely what he needed.

"Shit, I'm sorry." I pressed my fingers against my eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm just going to -- to...go for a walk. I'll talk to Janet." I got up and moved towards the door.

"Amber, wait."

I stopped and closed my eyes.

Behind me, Alex's chair squeaked as he stood. A few seconds later, his hands landed on my shoulders and turned me around. "Look at me."

I opened my eyes and met his, soft and wary.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have snapped at you earlier. Can I blame it on the headache?"

I smiled wanly.

"Really, Amber." He pulled me against his chest. "I am sorry. This is the last thing I wanted. I've just been difficult because I'm so frustrated. But if you let me come with you, I promise I'll sit in the back seat. Let you do all the work."

"Nothing new there, then," I teased.

He laughed and slid his hands around my back, resting his chin on my head. I felt the rise and fall of his chest against mine, but instead of the usual calmness that followed, a thread of panic bolted through me. If we failed the Trials, this would be one of the last times we held each other.

I raised my head. "Alex, please let Sten see if you're having a bad reaction to the contacts later. Please."

He pulled away. "Amber..."

"For me." I plastered on a hopeful smile. "Look, if you promise to let Sten examine you, I'll let you come to Janet's with me."

He sighed. "Fine. I promise."

"Great." I grabbed the coffee and chocolate from my desk. "Let's go."

***

Alex and I caught a tram back to the stop by Socrico University, eating our brunches and finishing our coffees along the way. We walked to Flicker Street at my pace rather than Alex's, then entered the right block and rode the lift up to Janet Temple's flat.

She sounded surprised over the intercom when we rang the doorbell, and she looked it too when the door swung open and revealed her in the entrance hall. "Inspector Rames, Sergeant Sullivan! I wasn't expecting you to come back again."

We crossed the threshold, and I shut the door behind us. "Sorry, Mrs Temple. We just wanted to ask you a few more questions. It would really help the investigation."

"Oh." Her gaze slid away. "Well, all right then. Come in and sit down."

We followed her into the living room. It was in just as much chaos as it had been the previous day, and I almost knocked the sewing kit off the coffee table as I sat. "Whoops, sorry."

Alex sank onto the sofa beside me with an amused smile. Janet put the sewing kit under the table. "I'm sorry about the mess. Would you like anything to drink? I have green tea."

"That sounds great, thanks."

Janet left to put the kettle on. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Green tea is good for you," I said. "Isn't it?"

He scoffed and stood up, strolling to the side of the room. Beneath the window and its deep sill with yellow flowers, there was an elegant chest of drawers. He picked up a framed photograph, then sifted through the papers that had been left next to it.

"That is not sitting in the back seat." I absentmindedly pulled a length of red ribbon around my hand like a knuckle wrap.

Alex looked up with a guilty smile. "Sorry, I can't help myself. And being nosy is hardly taxing."

"I suppose not." I dropped the ribbon and joined him. "What are you looking for? There isn't a folder lying around on here."

"Who says Lonn's project is still in its folder?" Alex skimmed through a few more papers. "We've told everyone that we're looking for it. If I'd taken it, the first thing I'd do is get rid of the recognisable shell."

"Let's see what Janet has to say for herself when we ask her about The Silver Star. If we have reason to believe the folder is here, we can get a warrant."

I took his hand and pulled him back to the sofa. But as soon as we were sitting, he lifted up a folded pile of silk and checked that there was nothing beneath it.

I rolled my eyes and focused on tidying the ribbons. Impatience was threatening to bubble up. Perhaps I should have said no to the green tea. Would it really make Alex feel better if his contact lenses were the problem anyway?

As I picked up the last stray ribbon, my fingers brushed against paper -- thick paper. Not the kind clothes patterns were cut from. I stopped and looked down at the corner I'd uncovered. Someone had written on it by hand.

I pulled the paper free, uprooting several reels of thread. A date and address were scrawled across the top, and I realised that it was a letter. It had been written the previous day.

Alex leaned over my shoulder, and I pushed my glasses further up my nose.

Janet,

Did you think it was all over now that I've gone beyond the grave?

We have not been silenced. Whispers can pass through the veil, and fear will not stop me from telling the truth now. The world will know what we did to him. And what you did to me.

Once, a murderer. Twice, a monster.

Love,

Your Dearly Deceased Lonn