Page 38 of Under His Skin

Despite this strange… camaraderie building between him and Anna, Tracht resented everything about her. That she actually knew him this well, that she’d seen through him all this time, that she’d gotten him pulled into this mess, that Alex was gone because of this shit.

He had the primitive urge to break the stem of his wineglass and make a mess, although he wouldn’t lose control like that. He didn’t need Anna to know just how affected he was.

“I’m going,” he announced to her, to which she snorted. Tracht stood up and didn’t bother saying good night, too busy trying to ignore the way the skin around his neck itched. He needed something he could control, something he could subjugate.

As soon as he was back in the guest room, though, he realized he’d made a mistake, because Alex was not waiting for him, ready to take whatever punishment Tracht felt like doling out.

Tracht caught himself before his hand could start scratching at his collar.

The only other possible distraction was work. Tracht pulled out his tablet and called Singh.

She responded fairly quickly, her expression bemused. “Captain?”

“Dr. Singh. I wanted to check in on you. How are you faring?”

She knew him too well to accept that at face value. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “How I’m faring? Don’t you mean, you want to know whether I’ll wait around for you or whether I’ll take the next ship back to Atalanta to be with my husband and girlfriend?”

That had, indeed, been a mild worry. Tracht tipped his head at her in acknowledgement. “Yes, I had wondered. I should hope that the, ah, benefits of working on the Sigrun would outweigh the desire to return home immediately. That and the promised raise if you decided to stay.”

Tracht had no desire to interview another doctor. It had been hard enough to find Singh, with her perfectly aligned kinks. Finding somebody suitable on short notice would be next to impossible.

“You know, some things money can’t buy.” But Singh sighed and readjusted her screen. She was apparently in a hotel room somewhere. “At least I can do calls to Charles and Nadia. We’re having a lot of fun teasing her, but it would be much nicer if I could touch either of them. But why did you really call? I know we aren’t friends.”

Tracht thought about his next words carefully, sitting down on the desk chair to stall. Finally he said, “I did indeed wonder if you’d changed your mind. But I might have a small request.”

“Oh?”

“Alex has been called as a witness in the trial, for what purpose I have no idea. But it means the prosecution has decided that Alex may not reside with me for the time being, and that I may not have contact with him. If you have the free time—”

“No.” Singh answered flatly. “Sorry, but no. I’m not getting involved in any of this. It’s bad enough that the Internal Affairs department called me and grilled me about my relationship to you and your sister, and demanded to comb over my finances. I’m not dipping my toes any more into this mess.”

The refusal shocked Tracht. It wasn’t an unreasonable request, he was fairly sure of that, and Singh had seemed to tolerate Alex. He started to reconsider whether he wanted her on the ship after all.

Some of his anger must have shown on his face, because Singh added, “I am very, very sorry that this is happening to you, and I know how upset you are about Alex. I’m honestly very glad that I’m not anywhere near you right now. But as we’ve both agreed, we are not friends. You’re my employer. I don’t dislike you, but I am never going to stick my neck out for you.

“And I think that’s all I have to say on this matter. If you have a problem with this, feel free to fire me. It’ll make my decision a lot easier.”

Then she hung up on him. Tracht couldn’t believe she’d hung up on him.

Before he could do anything rash, he put the tablet aside and took long breaths to steady himself. Galanis, Franziska, Anna, and now Singh. He wanted to beat somebody.

He wanted to beat Alex, mostly.

After another few breaths, Tracht felt his hands steady. He picked up the tablet again and called Bahjat this time. It took her a few moments to answer, but answer she did.

“Captain! Has there been a change in anything?”

At least there was somebody who still followed his orders.

Tracht shook his head quickly. “No changes to the situation with the Sigrun, unfortunately, but… are you busy right now?”

Bahjat looked over her shoulder, then shrugged. “Not really.”

Under other circumstances, Tracht might have wondered about the other person who was clearly in the room, but Tracht really didn’t care. He noted that she was wearing earbuds, which was enough privacy for him.

“This morning, the authorities came to end the contract between Alex and me. Apparently they want Alex to stand as a witness against Anna, and wanted to remove him from… undue influence. I’ve been barred from all forms of communication with him. If you have time, I would… appreciate it if you could check in on him.”

Bahjat didn’t answer for a few seconds. Tracht wondered briefly how Espinosa would have handled a request like this. Would she have refused out of her deep hatred for Alex, or would she have agreed simply because Tracht had ordered it?

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