#outofconverses

    “ Good morning, everyone.”  Jenkinson started. “I have the pleasure to introduce Detective Sergeant Sophie Holmes. She’ll help us with the Latimer’s case – once people are already starting to speculate too much –  and all of the others to come.” She looked at Hardy for a second and continued. “Holmes and Hardy had worked together once, so maybe you might feel a little bit more comfortable in the first days.” The Chief Superintendent finished looking at Sophie with a small smile.

    Sophie forced a smile on her face and let out a breath. Great then, Jenkinson didn’t knew about what happened. Or maybe she was a very good actress. But the woman was counting on that her secret would still remain as a secret for longer. After the Chief left, most of the officers welcomed Holmes and went back to work. But of course there was a certain person not slightly happy with her arrival.

    “Holmes!” Alec Hardy shouted from inside his room. “Inside. Now!”

    She took a deep breath and passed by Miller, who leaned her head toward Alec’s room and whispered a ‘Good luck with him’ followed by the trace a grimace. Sophie grinned, shrugging. “I think only a miracle can save me now.” Grinning, the woman kept walking until reach the door.

    Hardy started at her with a serious expression, a trace of anger and sadness on his eyes. The eyes she could read with just a second, the eyes she knew so well. When he spoke, all that appeared was the anger.

    “What the hell are you doing here?” His familiar Scottish accent was there again, like an old melody to her ears. “In how much manners do you plan to ruin my life?”

    Okay. So it was time to put into practice the few rules she’d established. First: not yell or have any emotional response, like crying and getting nervous. “Well, in the response of your first question, what I’m doing here has something to do with a little thing called transfer. Did you ever heard of it? Hope so.” She smiled sarcastically at him. “And about the second question, I don’t really know what you want to hear from me. Sir.” Accentuating the last word with a bit of petulance, the woman looked at him with crossed arms.

    Alec sighed and took his glasses off. “Well then, Sergeant Holmes. Your answered weren’t very satisfying, but there’s no problem. But I’d like to remind you that I’m still your supervisor – as I’ve always been. Don’t think that only because we know each from the past I will tolerate any indiscipline in my team.”  He arched his eyebrows at her, letting out a breath next. “You can go now.”

    Sophie walked back to her new desk and put herself to work. Working in a case, it didn’t matter which one, was almost always the same standards procedures. Of course sometimes a few things changed, or were added or were taken off – It depended on the circumstances. But now there was something more she would have to deal with: herself. Her emotions were coming all at once in times like this. And she couldn’t let them take over. Taking a deep breath and trying to control her breath, she slowly sent the tears away, making sure no one noticed she wasn’t okay. Good news: she managed to control herself. Bad news: she needed an ice cream.