In A Heartbeat (On Hold Indefinitely)

Chapter 1

Ruby

     “Right, you ready?” James asked her gently.

     “Hrm?” James gave her a look. Ruby was good, very good when it came to interviewing witnesses. However, that morning, Ruby had been quiet; spending most of the car journey staring out of the passenger side window, immersed in her own thoughts.

Sam was careful. He only left bruises where they couldn't be seen. Unless she was wearing a bikini, which was extremely unlikely, whether they had bad weather or not.

James’ question snapped her out of her thoughts.

James was her ultimate rival. They bickered over everything a case had to offer and they both had their equal shares of being proved right, each time causing a brief spurt of resentment between them. They were both intelligent individuals and were both the same age; their birthdays being within a month of each other. As of the previous week, Ruby and James were both 27, still incredibly young for the positions they were in. James had the oddest shade of light brown hair, when he was out in the sun, you could just about catch all of the different shades of brown. He had deep blue eyes; they were the kind of eyes that mirror a person’s soul. He was about 5 foot 9”, taller than her by 2 inches. With those traits in mind, she had no idea how he was single. Through the competitiveness, she supposed they were close friends; they were together for most of the week and she’d gotten to know him well, through years of working their way up the ranks to make it where they were.

James was part of a team of 6, including herself, that worked together in Scotland Yard. When an investigation was taking place, she tried to keep the same people together. The other four she’d choose were:

DC Taylor Rowe, DS Robert Morley, DI Patrick Chapman and DC Willow Jones. They were sat in James’ Volvo S60, outside a witness’ house.

     “Yeah, I’m ready.” She reached for the door handle.

     “Wait.” He lightly grasped her forearm and his amazing blue eyes gazed into hers. “What’s wrong?”

     “Nothing. I’m fine.” She tried to sound convincing but by the look that James gave her, it was obviously not convincing enough. “Come on.” She shook off his arm and got out of the car.

The cool May air cleared her head but didn’t stop her chest, abdomen and forearms from throbbing. She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. She strode up to the house beside James and they exchanged one last glance before he knocked on the door.