Jade spotted Sanders at the end of the bar, looking no less handsome than before. She ordered a beer and sat down next to him.

“So what did you want to tell me?” she asked him.

“I’m glad you came.”

He finished his drink and ordered another one. “Yes, the information I came across. We have a young man in the call centre, Wilson Magubane. I sensed something odd and did a bit of amateur investigating on my own, and I think you might want to come back and talk to him. Apparently, he professed love to Tasneem a few months ago and he was flatly refused. Some people heard him speaking harshly about the girl, as if it was not an issue he was willing to accept. I’m not sure it means he’s the murderer. I just thought you should know.”

“Yes … thanks. It’s important. At this point, everything is a lead.”

“So the investigation is not going too well?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Jade said.

Sanders laughed. “Well, I suspect you always get your man.”

She sensed the sub-text to that and responded in kind. “Not always.”

“So Detective Jade Khan, what’s your story?” Sanders said, and smiled at her.

“My story?”

“You know: married, single, it’s complicated?”

Jade smiled and called the bartender over for another beer, to delay her answer. “Have we left the professional sphere now, Sanders?”

“Yes, I believe we have, Jade.” He covered her hand that was resting on the bar with his own. “You’re gorgeous.”

“Thanks.”

She’d suspected this was part of the reason he asked her to meet him after hours, and now here they were, across a table together. She considered all angles. And perhaps it was the beer going to her head, or the fact that she was tired of being alone after a long series of deadbeats and weirdos, or that Sanders was one of the most beautiful men she’d ever met, but she saw no problem continuing.

“I’m single.”

“Well, that’s not right.” He leaned forward and kissed her. “But it’s lucky for me.”

Jade didn’t ask him about his availability; she didn’t want to know. She kissed him back and that seemed enough conversation for both of them.

***

Tell us what you think: Is it right for Jade and Sanders to start a personal relationship in the middle of the investigation into Tasneem’s murder?