Inspector Rames

Chapter 42

I spent the rest of the day on the receiving end of worried looks from Alex. Humiliated, I pretended that I hadn't cried in the lobby and buried myself in our work instead.

We had a brief video call with Janet's solicitor, and after a heated argument about client confidentiality and the severity of murder, he confirmed that he had been with Janet at The Silver Star on Thursday night. He had, indeed, been advising her on divorce. When they'd parted ways, he'd gone straight home to his wife, who could confirm it. We contacted her. She did.

There definitely hadn't been any illicit sex with Mrs Temple.

We proceeded to scour news reports for a possible link between Janet and any violent crimes -- something that had happened in her block, something that had happened to someone she knew, something she'd given a journalist a statement about...it took us hours just to search through a few months' worth of local articles, even with the PRBs' help. I gave them the instruction to carry on searching all night.

When officers began swapping shifts next door, we called it a day and packed up. Neither of us had spoken much throughout the afternoon, and I led Alex to Dixon's office with trepidation.

Sten was waiting in there alone. He had, of course, been expecting us to arrive with our spyware still equipped so that he could examine Alex, which made me uncomfortable when I thought too hard about it.

"Inspector Rames, Sergeant Sullivan," he said as we entered. "Have a seat."

I dropped into a chair on our side of the desk. Alex was slower to sit beside me, his eyes wary.

Sten adjusted his lab coat and sat on the edge of the table. "You wanted me to examine you for an adverse reaction to the video contacts?" He addressed Alex alone.

My sergeant glanced at me and cleared his throat. "Yes, please."

"From my data, I gather you've suffered headaches and dizziness." Sten's gaze flicked over Alex's features with clinical coolness. "Anything else?"

"No."

"Did the symptoms persist after you had removed the video contacts yesterday?"

"Yes. But not for long."

"Would you say they had lifted within half an hour of the contacts' removal?"

Alex rubbed his jaw. "I think so."

"And they didn't return again until a little while after you'd put the contacts in this morning?"

"No."

"Then it seems rather decisive."

Alex had the good grace to look sheepish.

Sten examined him, shining a torch into his eyes. He asked Alex to look at various objects around the room and examined the live data on his tablet.

At last, he put the tablet down. "As I thought. You're experiencing a rare side effect of the video-recording contact lenses. In simple terms, your brain is struggling to interpret what you are seeing correctly while you're wearing them, and the result is that a tremendous amount of strain is put on your eyes. That causes your symptoms."

"Why doesn't it happen to me?" I asked.

Sten lifted his shoulders a fraction in what might have been a shrug. "Research into the exact reason why the video contacts can cause this effect is still thin on the ground. Due to their ban for everyday purposes, few are on the market, so there is not much need for it."

I crossed and uncrossed my legs, feeling the need to just jump up and do something that would help Alex. "Can we record what we're doing another way?"