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“What’s going on here?”
“Nothing, sir,” Hugh said, quickly pulling away from his wife and moving to straighten up papers as Inspector Robinson came out of his office. He’d just meant to give Dot a quick kiss when she’d come by with the news that Miss Fisher was back and that the house was being aired out and that she wasn’t sure how to break the news to her that they were expecting their first bub and it might be hard to go back to being her partner. Miss Fisher had been gone three months, longer than they’d thought she’d be gone.
Longer than Inspector Robinson had wanted her to be gone, he supposed.
Hugh had rather hoped things would work out between them. He knew Inspector Robinson cared. That had been obvious for a long time. And he’d taken some time away to fly to England. He’d thought Inspector Robinson would go try to woo Miss Fisher, bring her home, but he’d been gone a month and came back alone and wouldn’t talk about it. Anytime Miss Fisher came up he just got quiet and changed the topic and soon Miss Fisher didn’t come up anymore. And now she was back and here and what was he going to do?
Inspector Robinson looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow, then turned to Dot and nodded. “Mrs. Collins.”
“Inspector Robins--” she started to say when the door burst open and everyone turned to see Miss Fisher come in.
“Oh, good, you’re out among the living,” Miss Fisher said as she came in, smiling at Inspector Robinson.
“Did you expect me to be behind my desk, pining away over you?” he asked, and when Hugh turned to look at him he was surprised to see a grin on his face as he leaned against the edge of the counter.
“I was expecting to see you buried behind nine hundred piles of paperwork you might have let pile up on your holiday,” she said, moving closer to him.
“I have a competent senior constable to do paperwork for me,” he said.
“Can he do paperwork tonight around, say, six?” she asked.
Inspector Robinson glanced at him. “That might be a bit unfair to his wife, and she is, after all, your partner.”
“But Jack,” she said with a small pout, reaching over to fiddle with his tie. “I was in the mood for a candlelit supper for two, and as I have my home to myself I would like the company.”
“But as you have your home to yourself, you can have a late supper,” he said. “No need to worry about emptying your home for male company as you needed to when Mrs. Collins lived with you.”
“True,” she conceded with a smile. “When should I expect you, then?”
“No later than eight, provided there are no murders today. And if there are, then I will call you first.”
“To accompany you to the scene?” she asked hopefully.
“Perhaps,” Inspector Robinson said with a grin.
“I do love the way you flirt,” she said with a smile before leaning in and kissing him. To Hugh’s utter surprise, not only did Inspector Robinson not push her away, her reached up to pull her as close as he could with the swinging door between them, kissing her back for a moment before letting her go. Then she moved over to Dot, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Sorry, Hugh. I’m stealing your wife for a bit. I think we need to have some time to catch up, don’t you, Dot?”
“Yes, Miss,” Dot said with wide eyes, following her out of the precinct when Miss Fisher removed her arm from her shoulders and then linked her arm through Dot’s.
Hugh watched them leave with a look of wide-eyed confusion, and then turned to Inspector Robinson, who was looking at a logbook on the counter. “Yes, Constable?” he asked without looking up.
“You and Miss Fisher...you two are…?”
“An item,” Inspector Robinson said, nodding. “Yes.”
“But you never talked about her when you came back,” Hugh said.
“I believed it best to keep my personal life private until she returned, and as you know Miss Fisher, as does your wife, you would have known by day’s end,” Inspector Robinson said with a shrug.
“But why didn’t you get her to come back?” he asked, still confused.
Inspector Robinson looked up. “Miss Fisher and I will never have a typical relationship, Constable Collins. We knew that when we embarked upon it. I will never force her to do anything that impedes her freedom. In return, she will be exclusively with me, because she cares for me. If she wants to leave at a moment’s notice and go to Istanbul, she can go and I may or may not follow, but I’ll know she’ll still love me and I, in turn, will love her. And that’s all I need with her.” He looked down at the log book again, then picked up a pen and pulled over some paper and wrote something down. “That’s the kind of modern woman I chose to be with, and I have never been happier. Now, let me know when Constable Stephens arrives, will you?” With that, Inspector Robinson went to his office and Hugh watched before shaking his head. He didn’t understand, but maybe, with time, he would.