Adam felt the nudge to his arm more intensely than normal, and he slightly shifted his shoulder because of it, fingers curled tightly into a fist. Raising his eyes to glance up at Noelle, somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt a complicated flicker of relief to see a familiar face. He also felt strangely disarmed, and disarmed was the last thing he wanted to feel right then. Noelle was... well, the bane of his professional life, or so he'd tell her, but the idea of accidentally hurting her in his present state drove a sharp discomfort through his chest.
Her question, casual as it seemed, was impossible to answer without condemning himself either way. He had a choice between agreeing that he was being a lazy cop, or informing her that he was one who'd been directly involved. So he went with a not-quite-answer, replying, "They've got enough guys on the job." The lie felt a little bitter in his mouth, but he was going to wait this out, because - hell, he hadn't even thought what he was going to say to anyone about this.