‘That’s because they have nothing to add,’ Bliss told him. He followed it up with a grin. ‘Take that as a vote of confidence, Bish. You heard what the Met had to say, you heard the subsequent conversations. They have faith in you to work with media relations and come up with a statement.’
Bishop blew out a long breath. ‘I had no idea it could be this tense.’
Bliss winked at him. ‘You could always do what I did.’
‘Yeah. And what was that?’
‘Blow it so badly they never ask you to do it again.’
Bishop coughed up a dry laugh. ‘Let’s call that Plan B, shall we?’
Bliss joined in. ‘You’ll learn,’ he said softly. ‘You’ll learn.’
Twenty-One
Acknowledging the change in operational status of Phoenix, plus the commitment to putting in some time over the weekend, Bliss took himself out onto the stairway landing to call Emily. She wasn’t out on location, so answered immediately.
‘You sound rested,’ he said after a few seconds of catching up. ‘A night on your own seems to have done you some good.’
‘Actually, it did. I got a few things done around the house, had a nice long soak in the bath and an early night. How about you?’
‘Oh, you know. Same as you, really: did some housework, relaxed in a nice warm soup of my own dead skin, and off to the land of nod before ten.’
‘Of course. That’s so you.’
‘I know. Completely predictable.’
‘Hmm. My guess is you made do with some toast or cereal, washed down with several beers. Then you sat up until the early hours mulling over your new case – if you even went to bed at all.’
She was closer than he liked to admit, so he quickly got them off the topic. ‘I don’t know if you had any plans for later, but if you fancied getting together, tonight might be a good idea; I’ll pretty much be on duty all over the weekend. This murder case has shifted up a gear or two today, and I could be called out at any time even when I do make it home.’
‘In effect, then, if I don’t see you tonight, I probably won’t until Monday at the earliest?’
‘That’s about the size of it. You know how it goes.’
A pause. Something he had become used to in their conversations of late.
‘Jimmy, I’m not sure what to do. Cards on the table: if we do get together tonight, I think I’m probably going to want to discuss us. I realise you’d rather stick needles in your own eyeballs than do that, and to be honest with you I’m a little anxious about it myself. Perhaps it’s better left until we’ve both had a chance to think about our current situation some more.’
Bliss’s initial reaction was to pounce on the way out she had given him – but he saw the flaw in her argument and had to mention it. ‘We can do that if it suits you best,’ he said. ‘But Em, you know better than that. If I’m working all weekend, my mind is going to be wrapped up in the case. I could lie and tell you my every waking thought will be about us, but you know me. I probably won’t think about it again until we see each other on Monday or Tuesday. That’s no slight against you or our relationship. It’s the harsh reality of the situation. Is there any chance of us getting together tonight but not talking about anything meaningful?’
‘You mean we can spend the entire night together provided we don’t address the elephant in the room?’
‘Hey, I know I’ve nothing to be ashamed of equipment-wise, but comparing me to an elephant is probably exaggerating. A bit.’
Emily didn’t laugh. ‘There you go,’ she said, her voice flat. ‘Deflecting again. Right on cue.’
Bliss knew he was – not that he liked her pointing it out. It sounded so cold and clinical when she said it. She had always analysed their relationship more logically than he had. He preferred to go with the flow, allowing things to take their natural course; he had been wondering for some time if things between the two of them had run theirs.
‘I do want to see you,’ he told her sincerely. ‘You have to believe that. I enjoy spending time with you. But I don’t want to waste it talking about us when we could be getting on with being us.’
‘Oh, Jimmy. You see, this is where the compromise aspect of a relationship kicks in. You want one thing, I want another. And when it comes to this specific topic – when I want to talk about what we have and where we’re going – so far I’m the one who’s always had to make that compromise.’
‘Really? Is that what you think?’
‘No, it’s not what I think; it’s the truth of the matter. So I leave it until the next time. And next time I leave it until the next… and so on. So what I’m thinking is, we have to see if you are capable of bending when I most need you to. To sacrifice what you want, to give me a single night during which we discuss all the things I feel we need to get out into the open.’
It suddenly felt extremely hot out on the landing. Bliss sucked in some air. His head began to swirl, and he blinked rapidly, looking to stabilise himself. The reaction came as a result of the rush of sudden pressure Emily had applied. He breathed out deeply. And again. He did not want to take this conversation any further – he was starting to wish he hadn’t called at all – but here he was. As he told others on many occasions, things are as they are, not as we might like them to be. He had to deal with it.
‘Fine,’ he breathed. ‘I don’t know what time I’ll
