Inspector Rames

Chapter 26

"Is one of those for me?"

I stopped in the middle of the mortuary's examination room and put my coffee cups on an empty table. "Both are. They're poisoned."

Cassia, in scrubs and a ponytail again, raised an eyebrow. "Thanks."

I smiled faintly. "They're not for you to drink, idiot. I want you to tell me whether they contain cyanide."

"And here I was, thinking my sister had bought me a coffee for the first time in my career." She frowned, and her jovial tone faded. "Are you all right? You haven't drunk any, have you?"

"I'm fine. So, can you test them?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'll have to send a sample to the lab for a proper confirmation, but I can take an unofficial look now. Why do you think they've been poisoned?" She picked one up and looked at it curiously.

"I bumped into Sebastian at Coffee Glitch. He stopped me from drinking mine because he thought he'd seen the barista slip something in it. Both smell like bitter almonds."

"Jesus." She put the cup down and closed her eyes. "And you nearly drank it. Is it The Diamond murderer?"

"I don't know. I called the incident in, so Dixon wants to see me now. And I need to find the barista."

"Of course. Go."

I got as far as the doors before I turned around again. "I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I didn't mean to push you."

Cassia shrugged. "It's fine. I'm sorry for storming out. If you want the truth, Miles and I are going through a rocky patch. But that's all. We'll pull through."

Her words settled on my shoulders like a weight. A rocky patch?

I thought about pushing it again. In the end, all I did was tug her tablet out of my bag. "Alex fixed this for you, by the way."

"I was wondering when you were going to give that back. Thank him for me."

"Will do. See you later."

***

I called my mother on my way to the police station and checked that Mitzy was all right. She confirmed that she was, but the blood test results hadn't come through yet. Then she made me promise again that I would have dinner with the family soon. I pretended that I hadn't just brushed shoulders with death and hung up.

When I entered the station, I went straight to Dixon's office. Alex was already in there, standing behind the chief superintendent's desk. Dixon was frowning at the screen of a tablet and saying something I couldn't hear through the glass walls.

I knocked on the door and opened it. Both men looked up with grey faces, and I held out my hands. "I'm fine, I'm fine."

Alex came towards me, his jaw tight. "You didn't drink any?"

"No."

"Where is it now?" Dixon asked.

"I took both cups straight to Cassia, sir. She's going to test them for cyanide, but there's really no question about it. They smelled of bitter almonds."

Not everyone has the ability to detect the smell of cyanide. I hadn't known that I did until I'd taken the lid off my cup.

"That's only half the story," Dixon said. "Someone's left a threat for you. I was just showing Alex."

I went behind his desk. The touchglass divider at the front of the station could be used by the public for all sorts of things, including filing complaints. On Dixon's screen was a complaint addressed to me, its details typed in red.