Page 94 of Girl, Unseen

She didn't deserve him. Not after what she'd pulled at the precinct earlier tonight.

'Listen. About earlier. With Ezra. I shouldn't have mentioned the infiltration thing. I put you at risk.'

'It's fine.'

'No, it's not. There are still seven armed cultists out there who know your face now. I got caught up in the moment and-'

Luca reached over and found her wrist. ‘Dark, it’s fine. Turns out those cultists weren’t homicidal maniacs. Only one of them was.’

‘I know, but still.’

‘Still nothing, but there is something we need to talk about.’

We need to talk. Four little words, enough to tie Ella's guts in knots. ‘What about? Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet.’

‘Warmer than an oven. It's just...’ Luca stared out of the window. ‘I don’t know how long I can keep doing this.’

'Doing what?'

'This. Us. Working together. We're supposed to be partners, Ell. But this case has felt like we're on different teams.’

Ella's lungs went tight. Different teams. The locker room euphemism forthis isn't working out. She’d rather have jumped off that balcony with Amelia than hear this from him.

‘What brought this on?’

‘Come on, Ell. You know what. Every time we work a case, I'm watching your back instead of the perp's. And you're doing the same with me.’

‘That's what partners do.’

‘Yeah, but there's partner and then there'spartner.’

‘Right, so what are you saying?’

'I'm saying maybe we need to think about our situation. Being partners in the field and... whatever else we are. It complicates things.'

A part of her knew exactly what he meant. Every time they went into the field together now, part of her brain was tracking his movements, calculating his risks. The kind of distraction that got people killed in their line of work.

'So what's the alternative?'

'We pick one. Partners at home or...' He gestured between them. Partners in the field. We can’t have both. We need distance.'

Ella's heart cracked clean in two. Distance. The death knell of every relationship she'd ever had.

Ella searched for the right words to defuse this emotional bomb but her tongue had turned to lead. She'd always put the job first. Always choose the hunt over the heart. But since she'd met Luca Hawkins four months ago, that had all changed. She wasn't about to go back to the old Ella, the one who forced ex-boyfriends to flee to the other side of the country out of fear for their lives. She'd had another boyfriend die on the job, another partner die on the job.

‘I’d rather have you at home than in the office,’ she said without a second thought. ‘I don’t want distance.’

‘Same.’

‘Well then. We’re in agreement.’

‘I guess we are.’

The plane banked, angling towards the moon. Towards home, whatever that meant anymore. But with Luca by her side, Ella thought she might just find out.

EPILOGUE

ELEMENTALLY, MY DEAR WATSON.

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