The Starling Saviour

Chapter 56

'Aria!'

Lance's voice travelled down the hallway and into the lab as soon as I got into work that morning, and he sounded angry. Very angry.

'How could you?' He carried on in a raised, highly irritated voice, the rest of the small team of scientists around me staring at me with wide eyes. 'How could you let this happen?'

'What... Happen?' I asked as I trembled slightly.

I would easily choose being abducted over facing the wrath of Quentin Lance any day.

'You know what happened,' he hissed, lowering his volume as he spotted the other scientists watching us. 'Cone with me, now.'

I quickly followed, not knowing what to think. What had I done that was so awful?

'Why was The Hood's blood ordered to be destroyed?' He interrogated me at once, seeming as though he was annoyed at life itself. 'You know that was vital for investigation, and you just let your team get rid of it?'

'Why are you pinning this on me?' I wondered slowly, realising that my plan hadn't worked that well after all. 'I had no idea this was happening!'

'Convenient, isn't it, how the thing that would solve our investigation suddenly disappears?' Lance accused me of something underhand.

Of course, he was right, but he didn't need to know that.

'Honestly, I have no idea why this happened,' I carried on lying, rather convincingly if I say so myself. 'There must have been some error on our systems last night, they have been quite glitchy recently.'

'You can't blame a glitch, Miss Coleman,' Lance narrowed his eyes at me.

'Why would I want to sabotage our investigation?' I pointed out. 'I'm on your side, Detective. Why wouldn't I be?'

'I'll take your word for it, then,' Lance said sarcastically. 'But if anything like this happens again, I will be putting an official inquiry in to what really went on here.'

He grew closer towards me, trying to intimate me, or something.

'If I find out you were involved in this, I will make sure you get what you deserve.'

'What's going on here?' Tommy appeared next to me protectively.

'I was just, er, making sure Aria knew what is expected around here,' Lance grimaced at Tommy's presence, before sending me a deadly stare and returning to his desk.

'Saved by Tommy Merlyn, how surprising,' I joked, making him laugh after having to become so serious.

'What did he want?' Tommy asked, slightly concerned about what he had just witnessed.

'Nothing, there's just been a screw up at the lab, and Detective Lance was trying to get to the bottom of it,' I described vaguely.

'With intimidation and threats?' Tommy commented. 'Well, I guess he is a detective, and I just gave him another reason to absolutely hate my guts.'

'I'm sure he'll grow to like you, with time,' I reassured Tommy. 'You are dating his daughter, after all. You're almost part of the family.'