Lee shook his head.
“No.”
“I’ll check the lighthouse is working.”
There wasn’t anything Nhiari could say to that, so she switched the radio off.
“You want to explain?” Lee asked.
“I told her I was safe and to stop searching. It will probably be a day before she calls off the search if we don’t want anyone to be suspicious.” But that didn’t help them if the searchers found them before that. “Any ideas on how to lead them away?”
“Yeah. Stay here.”
He moved to the back of the cave, disappearing into the tunnel.
Nhiari’s mouth dropped open. What was he doing? Did he expect she would stay here when there was help right outside? Her heart ached and though the opportunity was there, she didn’t shift.
He’d given her the Hamiltons’ names, but she still had many more questions.
She wanted to trust him.
Wanted to believe the connection they’d had was more than manipulation, but she didn’t have a great track record with men.
She clenched her hands as she remembered Rodney from the police academy. He stuck out the most in a long line of arseholes. She shook the thought away.
From a police point of view, Lee had information she needed. She glanced at the pack. Perhaps she should find her gun while he was gone. It would be good to be prepared, but would it ruin the trust he’d shown her?
Better if she asked for it back.
Another thought occurred to her. Was he running, not trusting she hadn’t given their position away to Dot?
There were no more calls from outside and while she waited, she spent the time going through the envelope. Lee returned about twenty minutes later. He blinked as if surprised to still see her here.
“What did you do?”
“Called my contact. He’ll radio and say they found traces to the west of the ranges.”
“Who’s your contact?”
He hesitated before saying, “Martin.”
The only Martin she knew was… her mouth dropped open. “Senior Constable Martin Curtis?”
An incline of his head.
Son of a bitch. No wonder they were getting nowhere. Martin was working for the enemy. But the knowledge soothed the part inside her, which was beginning to think she and Dot were being paranoid. “How long?”
“Since the beginning of the year. He was pleased at the opportunity to pull one over Dot.”
“Because she was promoted before him.” It wasn’t a question, but he nodded anyway.
What was it with men with huge, fragile egos? Rodney had been the same back at the academy. Why were they so scared of the female sex? “I look forward to arresting him.”
Lee seemed somewhat amused by her statement, but he didn’t comment.
Nhiari returned to the conversation. “What about those poachers?”
Lee shook his head. “They were a side business Declan had built for himself. I didn’t find out about it until after everything that went down with Penelope and Sam. He should have known better than keeping it going with Sam involved.”
