His white teeth flashed with a broad grin and he winked. "Trust me, honey. I can do this. Now let's go get you that evidence."
Alex braked at the guard's station, his smile disappearing as he held up the ID badge, suddenly looking bored. Perfect. I felt my stomach settle as the tired looking guard took a cursory glance at his ID then looked to me. I flashed my badge up, giving him a little half smile, which he returned before waving us through.
"Told you he wouldn't really check them." I cocked my head.
I buttoned my jacket once I got out of the car, adjusting my low ponytail and making sure I held my shoulders back. I was a confident woman although still a new agent, so I had to have a slight trepidation about me. Not that challenging considering the killer bees demolishing my stomach as we walked towards the warehouse entrance.
I swung open the door and let Alex go through first, watching with a smirk as his serious expression morphed to a soft look of surprise. His blue eyes glinted as he swanned towards the desk.
"Hi." His voice was husky as he flashed his ID badge at the middle-aged lady behind the counter. No wedding ring, a little well-placed make up, short curls and pearl earrings. Nice combination.
Her eyelashes fluttered a little as she took in the charming Agent Green.
He leaned against the counter, his blue gaze drinking her in. "I'm Agent Green and this is my colleague, Agent Wilcox."
I flicked my ID up so she could take a quick glance. "Hi. We're here for an evidence box." I fumbled Alex's phone out of my pocket and looked at the screen. "Case number 42896."
She gave me a hard look.
"Margery." Alex pointed at the badge clipped onto her pocket. "I used to have a girlfriend named Margery. She was a peach. I sometimes wonder if she was the one that got away, you know?" He tipped his head, running his eyes approvingly down her body. "Margery. Mmmm. I think I'll love that name forever."
A blush lit her cheeks as she fluffed the back of her hair. With a flick of the mouse and a few keystrokes she brought up a screen full of numbers that I couldn't quite read. "That's a cold case."
"Yeah." Alex nodded. "Something's popped and our boss wanted us to come and collect. Might be able to reopen the case and solve this puppy." Alex grinned, making Margery chuckle.
"I'll just go and get it for you." She stood, smoothing down her skirt and enjoying the way Alex's eyes lingered over her body as she slowly turned.
The caged door clicked shut behind her and I turned to Alex with a droll frown. "You've had a lot of sex in your life, haven't you?"
He gave me a coy smile and a little shrug that made my eyes roll.
I stepped back from the counter, shoving my hands into my pockets, nerves rounding over me again. I hoped she was quick as I paced away from the counter, keeping my head down so the cameras couldn't get a full view of my face.
The door clicked and I spun to see the lady return with a slight frown.
"Sorry about this, but it's not there."
My heart didn't just sink, it plummeted. I tried to even out my expression and look curious rather than heart broken.
"Let me just recheck this case number and see if I can find some history."
Alex's smile was encouraging as she slipped into her seat. Her gaze kept flicking back to his flirty expression, her cheeks growing redder by the second. I found it irritating, yet knew it was the right move. She'd do a better job for us if she liked him.
It took three centuries of keystrokes and tutting from Margery, but finally she nodded. "Here it is." She cleared her throat. "Okay, so those files were damaged in a flood. I wonder why that wasn't flagged properly. I don't usually have to dig for information like this," she mumbled before squinting at the screen again, obviously not wanting to use the glasses sitting next to her keyboard. "The room the cold case files used to be stored in had a leak in the roof and a bunch of evidence boxes were damaged, so they had to be discarded."
"So there's nothing?" I swallowed my clipped tone and forced a grin. "Nothing was salvaged?"
"According to this, it was all lost."
"Well, that is a shame." Alex tapped the counter. "But not the end of the world. We'll still pursue this lead. Something else will pop, don't you worry, Wilcox. There'll still be photos and digital reports, so we're not left empty-handed." He threw a sideways glance at Margery and whispered, "You gotta love the zest of these newbies though, right?"
She chuckled.
Reaching over the counter, he held his hand out to her and winked. "It was very nice to meet you. In no way was this a wasted trip today."
His enigmatic smile lit the room, as did her blush. She gave a soft titter as she shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too, Agent Green."
Alex turned to me and flicked his head towards the exit. I gave Margery a close-mouthed smile as I left the room, knowing I needed to hold myself together until we were off site.