Criminal Minds (Fox Meridian Book 4) by Niall Teasdale

that kind of concept might not be capable of getting it up to rape someone. Keep digging, and get me an appointment to see Bent.’
    ‘In Rikers?’ There was some alarm in Kit’s voice.
    ‘I’m not going to invite him here for tea and cakes,’ Fox replied. ‘Yes, in Rikers. I’ve been there before. It’s no worse than any visit to Hell.’
    2 nd October.
    ‘Oh… that was terrible,’ Marie moaned, hands cupping her flaming cheeks.
    Sam and Fox, sitting on either side of her on Fox’s sofa, turned to look at her. ‘What was terrible?’ Fox asked.
    ‘Everything! I’m so embarrassed you had to sit through that. I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t in it.’
    Fox smirked. ‘Well, the plot was clichéd and I told Nathan Shark he needed a consultant for the police work bits.’
    ‘And your co-star has the acting ability of driftwood,’ Sam added.
    ‘But you may be being a little hypercritical.’
    ‘Searches on your LifeWeb profile have increased significantly, Marie,’ Belle said as she appeared beside the virtual screen where the credits were still rolling.
    ‘What does significantly mean?’ Marie asked.
    ‘The percentage would make no sense since there were almost none before the stream started. You were averaging seventy per minute until the sex scene.’
    Marie let out a little whimper. ‘And then they fell off?’
    ‘And then they increased to one hundred and sixty-two per minute. This was concurrent with a number of comments being left on your public profile page, some of them lewd, but all of them complimentary. The rate is now at two hundred and nineteen per minute. The lewd comments are less frequent, but the compliments continue.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘You were about the only good thing in it, Marie,’ Fox said.
    ‘And the sex scene was… quite stimulating,’ Sam added.
    ‘It was?’ Marie asked, looking a little bewildered.
    ‘I’ll demonstrate later, but even your wooden colleague failed to demolish it.’
    ‘Even if he acted like a wounded dachshund trying to hump my leg?’
    ‘Even with that.’
    ‘I have Sister Naomi Lind wishing to contact you,’ Belle said.
    ‘Oh, she wants to complain…’ Marie whined.
    ‘Don’t be an idiot,’ Fox told her. ‘Put her through on conference, Belle.’
    Naomi’s avatar was seated, legs crossed, in her uniform, though her wimple was missing. It suggested to Fox that this was a live view and Naomi was off-duty. She was also smiling. ‘Is our young novice taking it badly?’ Naomi asked.
    ‘Just a little,’ Sam replied.
    ‘Sister Naomi,’ Marie said, ‘I am so sorry.’
    ‘Why? M. J. was an exemplary Sister, you portrayed her well. I think NAPA should complain about your love interest, but I’m sure they’re used to police work being handled incompetently in the media.’
    ‘They are,’ Fox confirmed.
    ‘I did a quick straw poll before coming to call you.’
    ‘H-how many of you watched it?’ Marie asked.
    ‘Oh, we put it on in three of the lecture theatres. The general opinion was “needs work, but M. J. shone.” You’re a hit with the Sisters of Corruption, Marie.’
    ‘Well, at least I didn’t let you down. After all the time and effort you put in–’
    ‘ We put in. That’s us and you. I hope the reviews are good tomorrow.’
    Marie sank into her seat, hoping the cushions would swallow her. ‘Oh, I don’t think I’ll be reading those…’
    ~~~
    ‘The story was a hackneyed retelling of a tale so well known that we could almost recite it ourselves,’ Fox read aloud while Marie cringed at Sam’s dining table, ‘and Detective Wallace might as well have been invisible for all his presence on the set–’
    ‘Please stop,’ Marie whimpered.
    ‘–and yet we found ourselves glued to the stream as M. J. and the Ripper , surely as poor a title as any we have seen, unfolded before us. Only the empathy we felt for M. J. Kelly, ably played by total unknown Marie Shaftsbury, kept this tale of murder and lack of suspense from