I, Spy? (Sophie Green Mysteries, No. 1) (Sophie Green Mystery)

real live finger.”
    “Actually, it’s a real dead finger,” Luke said, going into the kitchen again and looking for something to put the finger on. He ended up with a plate, which I resolved to smash immediately.
    I watched him get out his phone and speed-dial. “Lexy? Can you access the autopsy of that body? The Mansfield one.”
    How many bodies did they have on the go?
    “Was it, by any chance, missing a finger?”
    There was a pause. My heart was hammering. Someone sent me a severed finger in the post.
    Someone sent me a fucking severed finger in the post.
    “Several. And toes too? Marvellous. Did they check in the mechanism? Okay. Thanks.”
    He switched the phone off and looked at me.
    “There are more to come?” I said, and my voice was rather shaky.
    Luke sighed and stared at the finger. “He was missing all his toes and all but the last two fingers of his left hand. The police assumed they’d been ripped off by the mechanism but the autopsy says they were cleanly cut.”
    “But why only leave two?” I satdown as casually as I could, trying to sound like I wasn’t about to pass out. I took some deep breaths. It wasn’t that gross. It was just… Well, okay, it was that gross, but Tammy left dead things all over the place for me to find. Sometimes I didn’t find them until they were mouldy. That was way grosser, right?
    Someone sent me a finger. That was just… I mean, what kind of weird lunatic did that? It was gross, and I was officially offended.
    Luke shrugged. “Maybe he got interrupted.”
    I love the way when people are talking about murders and stuff they always call the murderer a “he”. Like a woman would never do such a thing.
    Ha!
    “Sophie—” Luke was looking at me closely, “—are you okay?”
    I thought about it. I mean, I’ve never been sent a finger in the post before. I didn’t really know how to react. Was I shocked? Was I scared? Was I mostly disgusted?
    “I think I am,” I said eventually, having pinpointed my uppermost emotion as dismay that I’d have to wait to sleep with Luke. “I don’t suppose…?”
    He already had his phone out. He didn’t look like sex was the first thing on his mind, for once. “What?”
    “Nothing.”
    Luke took charge, and not for the first time I wondered if he’d ever let me do the cool stuff. When would I get to ask Alexa about autopsy things? When would I call the police about severed fingers? When would I get a damned gun?
    At the back of my mind, I started to form a plan.
    “Okay,” said Luke eventually, “we’re going to take this up to the station and then…” He looked at me again. “Sophie?”
    “Yes?”
    “Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t want me to take you up to your parents’ or anything?”
    I made a face. I was a bloody secret agent now. I did not need to run to my parents every time something gruesome happened.
    “I’m fine,” I snapped. “Can you drop me at the office so I can get my car?”
    We were silent in the car. I started to look around and notice things…things like the hands-free phone kit and the police radio that was currently switched off. I never understood how police kept up-to-date with those things. I mean, we had them at the airport, and occasionally if I got the supervisor’s board or I was closing flights, I got the radio. And I found it impossible to concentrate on what I was supposed to be doing and listen out for the radio at the same time. People always had to call me twice and then usually phone me as well, and I could never clearly pick up what they were saying.
    And I’m a woman, and we’re supposed to be able to do several things at once. God knows how your average copper deals with it.
    We pulled into the optimistically named airport business park and swung around the back to the SO17 office. Luke stopped the car and put a hand over mine as I started to unfasten my seat belt.
    “Wait,” he said.
    “What? Why?”
    “About what happened earlier…”
    I felt my face start to get hot again. “Hmm?”
    He gave me a tiny grin. “Maybe we should forget about it. At least until this is over?”
    Forget about a kiss like that? Well, several kisses like that. I’ve never felt anything like that before in my life. I thought only Rhett and Scarlett kissed like that.
    Those kisses would keep me going for a damn long time.
    “Oh, that?” I said, as airily as I could. “I’ve already forgotten.”
    Luke opened the door, grinning. “Liar.”
    Alexa’s