Page 138 of Slack Tide Kill

"Where's he going?" Sally asked.

"DCI's orders," Hawlin answered. His tone was strangely flat, and she remembered what Chakrati had said about the two of them. Local kids, done good; making it as a beat copper with regional police. His loss had to be the greatest. Now he had a bandage around his head and one eye was bloodshot, but he was still here. "No officer goes out without basic armament. Not after, well…" His gaze strayed to the shrine on the wall.

Sally nodded. In moments Simms returned with a utility belt already loaded with cuffs, batons and PAVA. "You left these in the ambulance, ma'am."

"Thank you." She buckled the belt on. "What about a vehicle?"

"You'll love this," Liam said and started away.

"Love what?"

He led them out of the station and into the rainy rear lot. Icy water soaked Sally's scalp and shoulders in seconds as they walked across, then Liam pointed. "There she blows."

A standard issue patrol car stood before them; white, fluorescent yellow and blue, with a light bar on the roof.

"Huh," Sally said. "Bit of a throwback."

Liam held up the keys. "It's this or hitchhiking." He opened the door and dropped into the driver's seat.

Sally got in the passenger side.

"Everything just how I remember it," Liam said, looking over the controls. He pushed up a lever on the side of the steering column, and the light bar began to strobe blue and red. "Shit. I wanted the wipers."

"It's all coming back to you?"

"Like a glove." He switched off the bar, got the wipers on the second try and headed out of the lot.

60 GIANT'S PULSE

They drove in silence out of Rye and onto the coast road. The rain came down in heavy curtains, while off to their right the sea thrashed low on the beach.

"So this is an amber advisory," Sally said.

"Storm Isla, it's called." Something spattered noisily against the driver's side window, and Liam flinched. "Damn. What was that?"

"Foam getting whipped off the waves," Sally said, looking past him. "They should probably close this road."

"That was foam? It's like our first day again, when you got machine-gunned by the beach."

"Still got the welts to prove it."

Liam looked over. "How is all that? All those cuts." He hesitated. "And your throat."

She raised one hand unconsciously to her neck. "Better, thanks. Still hurts to swallow. My eyes are the worst, though. PAVA's a killer." She paused. "And you? The other night, I mean. I spent hours in Rye, looking for you."

Liam took a moment, maybe thinking that through. "I heard. Bumped into that paramedic yesterday at the cottage. Logan."

Sally felt her cheeks coloring slightly. She remembered her fingers on his shoulder, the warmth coursing through her. "Oh yes?"

"He told me you'd gone in every pub across town. Freaking people out, he said. Like some mad revenant ghost."

Sally breathed a small sigh of relief. She wasn't sure why. She'd done nothing with Logan. Not even a kiss. But still, the way they'd talked, the intimacy? It felt somehow wrong, especially while Liam was out there somewhere, alone. "I was haunted, that's true."

"I know." Liam reset his grip on the wheel but said nothing more.

They turned north up Jury's Gap then looped east at Lydd. The road signs were barely visible through the rain as they headed northeast toward Dymchurch. Sally opened the file from Flaherty and scanned through.

After a few minutes Liam spoke. "I've read it all. What's your take?"