Alex sucked in her breath. "Some of us don't have the luxury of waking up like that," she told him. "Some of us stay stranded in this bloody place."

It sounded like a ridiculous thing to say, but her tone was completely devoid of mirth. The gentleness was gone, too. If anything else, she just sounded tired.

"Maybe... Maybe we should go somewhere else and talk," she said. "Half of the Met is down there taking bets about how wide the radius of your body splatter will be, and I think it's time to send them all home disappointed."