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Nina wasn’t surprised to see the autopsy room looking less full than usual, with the public holiday meaning they were minimally staffed, but she was surprised to find only Susie there, arranging instruments on a metal tray and staring into middle distance. She made a point of shutting the door loudly behind her.
Susie jumped a little, and when her eyes settled on Nina a blush appeared on her cheeks. “Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” Nina said slowly. She held eye contact with the other woman for a few seconds, taking in the features she remembered brightening excitedly during a discussion in The Dirty Robber the previous evening about an article in latest issue of New Scientist, until the reason for her visit entered her mind again. “Have you seen Detective Rizzoli?”
Susie coughed before she spoke. “She’s having lunch with Dr Isles,” she said, gesturing towards Maura’s office, where the door was closed and the blinds were pulled over the windows.
“I get the feeling they don’t want visitors,” Nina said, just at the moment that a noise like the sound of a stack of papers hitting the floor echoed through the room.
“Yes, I think that is a reasonable assumption,” Susie said, the laugh she was suppressing visible to Nina by the way she held her lips tight together after speaking.
“Does this happen regularly?” Nina asked, her eyebrows raised.
“About once a month, with a slight bias towards Thursdays,” Susie replied.
Nina raised her eyebrows. "Have you got that on a chart somewhere?" She asked.
"Of course not, that would be intrusive," Susie said, trying to keep her expression neutral when a gasp followed by a shushing noise came from the direction of the office. "I just have a very good memory."
"For all the important stuff, huh?" Nina said with a smile. She took a small step, intending to leave, before stopping herself. “You know, we could always go for lunch,” she said.
Susie didn’t hold back her laugh this time, and it was Nina’s turn to blush.
“I meant, like, actual lunch, of course. At the cafe,” she said.
Susie’s eyes were sparkling, and Nina wondered what made that so compelling to her.
“Sure,” Susie said, and with only a brief pause to take her lab coat off, she followed Nina out.