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       The Flourishing Merlina Garance          THE FLOURISHING Copyright © 2023 by Garance Merlin  Cover art by Alex Torres  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express written consent of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations for the purpose of reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. This book contains sexually explicit content which is suitable only for mature adults. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and events are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.   ISBN: 978-2-9588027-0-7  First edition May 20, 2023   Table of contents Title page Copyright Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Did you like this story? Acknowledgements About the author Content warnings Chapter 1 Andy comes in five minutes late, and with a headache. She hasn’t been drinking, it’s just… one of those days. The station isn’t so busy this morning, when she walks into the lobby, vaguely waves in the direction of the receptionist and steps into the lift, scanning the magnetic badge that allows her to call the third floor. People move away when she makes a beeline for the coffee machine, which is, granted, a terrible idea for the migraine. She's already slumping at her desk when Claire shows up barely a minute after her and sits on the corner of it. She towers over Andy who looks up at her, chin in her palm and squinting against the neon lights. Andy and Claire have been an informal team for years, now. It came naturally, sticking together, when Andy finally got that DI position and transferred to Leicester, and the first person she was introduced to was DI Claire Atkins, whom she had actually met two nights prior, and almost kissed in a local gay bar. Two queer cops, one Scot and the other black — the decision to forget about that half-arsed attempt at seduction and form an alliance was an easy one to make. Today, Claire is taking out an essential oils roll on from her shirt’s pocket and handing it to Andy. “Oh thank god,” Andy moans, immediately rubbing it all over her face. “‘Thank Claire’ would have sufficed, but you're about to be a lot less thankful in a second.” Andy glares up. She had prepared herself to a calm day of sorting files and typing reports. Claire's frown tells a different story. Andy is half ready to cover her ears when Claire opens her mouth. “Missing person case. Boss wants us both on it.” Andy groans and slips even closer to the surface of her desk, scattering paperwork under her elbows. “Why both of us?” Claire rolls her eyes and doesn’t grace her with an answer, pulling her by the sleeve of the jacket she hasn’t even taken off yet. Andy resists for half a second before caving, thinking about ripping that plaster off. Only that’s not how their jobs work. DCI Harris is waiting for them in his office, phone squeezed between ear and shoulder when they open the door, and he motions for them to come in while he finishes his conversation. He’s been their superior for rounding on eight years, now, and the only thing Andy knows about him, is that he looks like he drinks too much ale and doesn’t put on enough sunscreen when he goes to Spain on holiday. In short, he looks like most English men over fifty and Andy is not too fond of him, or his authority. She falls into a chair and slumps backwards, spreading her legs and crossing her arms. Claire sits on her left and looks at her like you would a child throwing a fit in the candy isle at the supermarket. When Harris finally hangs up his phone, he claps his hands loudly, and Andy bites her lip to stop herself from jumping at his throat for the sudden and unnecessary noise. “Ladies! So glad that you are both available to have a look at this. A Mrs… Parry,” he continues after taking a look down at a report sitting on his desk, “called yesterday, saying her husband hadn’t come home the night before. Obviously, that’s not enough to send two DIs out investigating, but his boss reported him missing as well, so we’re gonna have a look at that.” Andy is already bored at the prospect of investigating a man who likely ran off with his mistress to start over, leaving the poor woman behind. It’s sad, but it happens everyday, and it’s not police work. She still does her best not to fidget while Harris slides the report across the table, looking for all purposes as if he’s getting rid of a piece of trash. Andy wants to continue with the petulant toddler act, but swallows her pride and grabs the piece of paper, wincing against the stabbing pain in her right eye when she tries to focus on the too small print. “All right,” says Claire, “we’ll start by talking to the wife and checking Mr Parry’s phone records, see if his number has been used since he went missing. Won’t we, Andy?” She probably grumbles something unintelligible and they quickly make their way out of their superior’s office. Claire stops them in the corridor before they can reach their office. “Listen, seeing the state you’re in, why don’t you go out and talk to the wife, eh? Will do you good to get some air instead of staying in here looking at your computer screen all day.” Andy rubs a weary hand