“Sir, I’d like to escort the suspect to our interrogation quarter.”

“You won’t have to and you can’t.” He quickly turned her down. “Other people will handle it.”

“But I might be able to get some valuable information.” She protested.

“Didn’t you say your cover wasn’t blown?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then keep it that way. No reason to risk retaliation. You never know what kind of influence they have on the outside even being locked up. Now come, they’re gonna be here any minute now.”

He didn’t understand, nobody did. Tina felt herself stuck in an impossible situation. If she were to tell them the truth, that she was in love with a criminal, that she had been hiding details from the investigation, what would they do to her? And more importantly, how would it affect Bette? “Don’t get your hopes up.” She told herself as she followed the Sergeant, “maybe it’s not her. Maybe she’s still alive and not caught.”

But despite her effort to calm down, she could not deny the strange sensation bubbling in her chest. It might have been the jumping of her eyelid, or the prickling of her hair, but she could feel it, she could feel her, as real as it had been the other night. There was something in the air that enveloped her, a presence from a distance that was out of her reach, but existed.

Max led her to a room with a giant glass on the wall, to watch everything going on in the adjacent room. The actual interrogation room was brightly lit, but yet to be occupied. Sergeant Sweeney paged a text to his assisting detective, who promptly came, with two other officers. “I thought you two were escorting the suspect?” He glared at the officers.

The two shrugged and laid out their palms, “the feds won’t let us.” “Yeah, they say they’ll only allow you and Kroll interact with the suspect.” “And the rest of us are dismissed.”

“What the fuck?” Max cursed, “well, off you go then. And let Lieutenant Kroll know.” He paced around in the room for a couple of minutes, and eventually saw the blonde hiding in the shadow, lingering. “Tina, you’re dismissed too.”