“Oh mio Dio, he’s coming over,” Aurora whispered into the back of Ren’s head.

Martin Harper ran his son slowly and methodically over with his eyes, taking in every detail. Ren wished he hadn’t worn such a raggedy T-shirt, one with a hole in the side that showed snatches of his olive skin.

He wished for a moment that his hair wasn’t short and gelled, that his chest wasn’t flat against the fabric of his shirt. For one traitorous moment he wished that he was still Rosa. His father’s daughter standing before the Commander’s disappointed gaze, that over the years had faded from visceral contempt to a much worse resigned sadness.

“It’s been a while,” Martin stated, his voice heavy in bass and light in emotion.

“Year or so,” Ren nodded awkwardly. It seemed so farcical that his father sounded chiding at this, as if Ren was some wayward son who just continually forgot to call his parents. That they hadn’t ended things the way they did. That Ren hadn’t cried himself to sleep every day for six months.

“Ren?” Gabriel approached them with a quizzical frown and a respectful nod to the Commander.

“Fuck no,” Ren groaned, quietly enough that only Aurora could hear him.

“Mr. Harper?” Aurora pushed forwards with a bright smile on her face, trying to engage the older man’s attention. “How come all these police are here? What’s happened?”

Ren looked up at this, he was curious too and clearly if the Commander was here then it couldn’t be a burglary or break in. Martin sighed and gestured to scene behind them, “There’s been a murder.”

“Bullshit,” Ren swore making his father glare at him.

“Who?” Aurora’s eyes were wide and a look of genuine shock replaced the forced smile on her face.

“One of the professors, name of Walter something -” Martin gestured to Gabriel who had come to stand next to them. Gabriel managed to tear his confused gaze away from Ren long enough to answer.

“Walter Möller,” Gabriel filled in quickly to cover his distraction.

“Professor Möller?” Aurora exclaimed. “But Ren just saw him on –“

Ren elbowed Aurora hard in the ribs, eliciting an indignant ‘oof’ sound that clearly both Gabriel and his father noticed and they simultaneously fixed Ren with an eerily similar stare.

“I,” Ren began quietly. He really didn’t want to have to tell anyone about the document folder that was now burning a hole in his backpack hotter than Dante’s ninth circle of Hell. “I saw him taking a walk a couple of evening’s ago.”

“Which evening?” Gabriel asked immediately, whipping out a notepad and swiping a gold metal biro from behind his ear. For a brief moment Ren forgot the context of everything and just watched the way the morning sun caught Gabriel’s face and made it look like he was cut from stone, his skin dappled in hues of honeyed almond.

A nudge from Aurora made Ren finally blink and gulp back to reality.

“Saturday evening, in Soho,” Ren replied, feeling his face heat up horribly and turn red. Gabriel’s mouth now hung open slightly as his own gaze shifted awkwardly between the Commander and Ren.

“What the hell were you doing in Soho on a Saturday night?” Martin’s voice was hard and cold.

“Excuse me, Commander,” Gabriel coughed and it gratified Ren slightly to see at least the other man was starting to manifest a soft blush across his high cheeks. “Do you know this young man?”

“Of course I do, he’s my kid,” Martin replied woodenly and matter of factly. There was neither shame nor pride inherent in his words. Martin Harper was always a man of measured tones, apart from when he lost his temper.

Ren felt small and tiny under the intense stares that Aurora, Martin and Gabriel were giving him.

“And,” Ren glanced to see Gabriel swallow heavily and continue talking, “he’s a student at this Institute?”

Martin nodded once, his eyes not leaving Ren. The last time he had seen his son, Ren had been bandaged across his chest, a fluid collection bag strapped to his side.

“I’m sorry Sir,” Gabriel continued, clicking his pen, “we’re going to have to –“

“Question him. Of course you will Malzieu.”

Ren raised his eyebrows, his father had used what he assumed must be Gabriel’s last name. He wondered why the Commander knew this particular inspector by name? How close were they? Perhaps it was only natural if they were in the same department.

“It’s your case Malzieu,” Martin continued, oblivious to the mental gymnastics happening in Ren’s head. “I trust you will get us results as quickly and efficiently as you always do.”

Praise.

Ren’s jaw dropped, his mouth agape. He had so rarely heard praise come from his eternally pessimistic father. He couldn’t quite comprehend that he was now hearing it for the man stood across from him.

The same man who had had him pinned heavily against a wall on Saturday night, mouthing his neck and whispering obscenities into his ear. Ren’s stomach somersaulted in slow motion as Martin moved to turn away.

“How’s mama?” Ren garbled out before he could stop himself. “He imagined Jiaying out to do her morning shop, arguing with the vendors and feeling all the fruit diligently for only the ripest picks.

“Tired,” Martin replied. It was a simple word but it steered like a winged barb through the air before embedding itself in Ren’s chest. Before Ren could even ask why, his father had strode off towards a group of uniformed officers.

Ren took his time before looking back at Gabriel. The inspector shook his head whilst sighing, a faint disbelieving smirk across his face. “The Commander’s son? Seriously?”

Ren shrugged, not sure what answer Gabriel was expecting other than a corroborating affirmative.

“Jesus, Mary, if I’d known you were Harper’s kid,” Gabriel paused to run his hand down his face, still shaking his head.

“How old are you?” Aurora suddenly interjected, her head cocked to one side quizzically. Ren pinched her arm as she batted him away.

“What?” Gabriel scrunched up his face.

“You’re an ispettore right?” Aurora continued, making Ren wish the paved slabs of the courtyard would suddenly crack open and Pluto himself would reach up to drag Ren down to the depths of the Underworld. A more pleasant experience, he imagined, than the one he was going through right now. “I mean ‘Inspector’, so you’ve got be at least –“

“I’m thirty-two,” Gabriel replied before Aurora could even make her guess. He sighed again and gestured to Ren. “I’m going to need you to come down the station to make a statement and answer some questions.”

Ren nodded miserably as Gabriel shouted something across to a uniformed officer.

“Why was my father here though?” Ren shook his head, something still wasn’t adding up. Murders, although unusual for this area, still didn’t seem big enough to drag a Commander from his office. Half of him wanted to imagine it was because Martin had heard the location detail of the Istituto dei Classici and had immediately thought of seeing his son.

“It wasn’t a normal murder,” Gabriel replied bluntly. Perhaps if Ren hadn’t been the son of the Commander, Gabriel would have chosen not to expand on this information.

Details of open cases were rarely revealed to members of the public, especially those who were about to give a witness statement. But Gabriel stopped and looked hard at Ren and Aurora before saying, “the professor’s organs were removed, like some sort of cult practice.”

“Dio carne!” Aurora swore at the same time a different set of expletives came from Ren’s mouth.

“Yeah,” Gabriel gave them a grim smile, “it’s a media blackout so the Commander wants answers as quickly as possible.”

“I’m going with Ren to the station,” Aurora announced, enough force in her voice to make it sound like a challenge for anyone who might dare suggest otherwise.

“Fine,” Gabriel shrugged, “but be prepared to stay there a long time.”

“How long?” Ren frowned.

“Walter Möller was killed sometime in the early hours of Sunday morning,” Gabriel replied, fixing Ren with a strange look. “I think you might have been the last person to see him alive.”

“Dio carne,” Aurora repeated as Ren started to feel faint.