A Rose in Shadow

Adam

FRIDAY

Her first class went by in a blur the following morning and Samantha had a hard time concentrating. Her arm was throbbing a bit. Thankfully it was her right arm and she was left-handed so, although an annoyance, it didn't affect her work.

She had carefully chosen her clothing that morning to hide the worst of her bruises, which were even more colourful today. Wearing a smoke grey mock-turtleneck body suit, black skinny jeans and black ankle boots, she was able to cover most of the bruising on her neck and all of the bruising on her arm. By leaving her dark hair loose and flowing down over her shoulders and back she almost covered all of those bruises on her neck that her shirt couldn't hide.

She and Finn walked together into the police station and up to the reception desk. The older man at the desk glanced briefly up from his paperwork before giving a start and staring openly at Samantha, all but ignoring Finn.

"We're here to see Detective McCabe" Finn said sharply after a few moments in an effort to get the man's focus off of Samantha, who was starting to fidget uncomfortably beside him. The sound of Finn's voice broke through to the man and he looked up and cleared his throat. "Of course" he said seemingly embarrassed and glanced down at a note on his desk before once again looking up at Samantha but this time in a more professional manner "You must be Samantha Kincaid".

Taking in her obvious distress at his attention his gaze softened and he quickly spoke, "I'm Sergeant Lyle. I apologize for staring at you, Samantha" he said, "but I'll admit that you surprised me. You have the most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen. My wife tells me that I need to work on my poker face. Clearly I didn't hide my reaction very well" He gave her a shy grin and let out a self-deprecating laugh.

"Just have a seat over there and I'll let Detective McCabe know you are here".

Feeling all kinds of foolish for her reaction, Samantha automatically reached out to touch the man gently on the wrist in a comforting gesture. "It's okay" she said, "I'm just a bit jumpy" and she gave him a sweet smile which lit up her whole face and flashed a dimple. As usual this evoked the Typical Male reaction and Finn noticed a slight blush begin to rise on the officer's neck and face while he grinned adoringly back at Samantha. Finn rolled his eyes.

"Come on you witchy woman" he leaned down to whisper in her ear and pulled her by the hand over to the chairs in the waiting area.

Finn could admit that Samantha did have incredible eyes, so cat-like in their golden colour that even when she was really young it was the first thing that most everyone commented on when meeting her. She also had the ability of looking people directly in the eye and pulling out their deepest confessions, usually much to their belated dismay.

Her mother called her their little bartender, expanding on the cliché that people tell all bartenders their troubles and secrets. She could make you feel like you were the only person in the room and that she had all of the time in the world to listen to you, if that's what you needed. Finn had found himself so many times deep in conversation with her when they were alone together, to only find himself later wondering why on earth he had told her the things that he had.

They had barely sat down when Adam came around the corner. Today he was dressed in a suit and tie, which made Samantha's stomach do funny things, and he walked over to them, first extending his hand to Sam and then to Finn. Samantha could still feel the tingle of his touch when he released her hand.

"Follow me" he said and headed down a hallway to a large open room filled with desks occupied by other police officers.

The dark gray suit appeared to be well tailored and fit Adam nicely. He wore it with a pale gray dress shirt which had a thin white stripe running through. His tie was also gray and Samantha noticed that he was clean shaven this morning and she had caught a scent of cedar or sandalwood from his cologne when he shook her hand. When they met last night he had been sporting a bit of facial scruff. Both looks suited him.