“How?”
She couldn’t tell him about Doug yet. No point in getting his hopes up as well as hers. Instead she shrugged. “I don’t know.” She looked around. “Do you want to pack all of this up?”
“No. We may have to come back.”
Lee drove them towards town, coming in from the north-west. Before they reached the intersection to turn into town, he pulled into a beach car park. “Call Sam. Get him to meet us at the northern boat ramp.”
Nhiari rang Sam’s mobile. When he answered, she said, “Are you at the marina?”
“Yeah. Just finished tying up. Sherlock’s taking the students back to the house.”
“Did you get Andrew’s laptop?”
He grunted. “Of course.”
His indignation made her smile. “Can you bring it to the northern boat ramp?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there.”
She hung up and Lee stepped onto the running board of the car, scanning the road to town with binoculars.
Right. They’d see Sam drive past and could tell whether any other vehicles were with him. It was about ten minutes before they spotted his car. Lee watched for another five minutes until he was satisfied and got back behind the wheel. “Keep watching.”
Nhiari scanned the road, but it was quiet. When Lee pulled into the boat ramp, only Sam was there. He leaned against his roo bar, staring out at the ocean as if he was contemplating life.
“You get out, get it and then get back in,” Lee said.
“We can trust Sam.”
“Youcan trust him. He’s got no reason to trust me.”
Nhiari got out and Lee did a U-turn to face the exit as she walked over to Sam. He turned and smiled at her, the wind blowing his longish strawberry-blond hair around his face. “Good to see you, Senior Constable.”
She smiled back. “Likewise Sam.”
Sam nodded behind her to where Lee waited for her, the engine still running. “You OK?”
“Yeah. You can trust him.”
Sam frowned and shifted to get the laptop from the back seat. “You not sticking around?”
“Not yet. There’s still a bit to do. Tell Dot I’ll get her the information and be in touch later. Have you heard how Oliver is?” She reached for the laptop and he reluctantly gave it to her.
“Still in surgery. We’ll go there next. Do you know what happened?”
“No.” But it was time they got together and worked through everything. She should be able to convince Lee it was for the best. “We’ll be in touch.”
Sam stopped her with a hand on her arm. “You’re really all right?”
Her heart warmed. “Yes, Sam, but thank you for your concern. I’ve got this.”
He nodded and let go of her arm. “Stay safe.”
“You too.” She went around Lee’s car and got in. Lee nodded acknowledgement at Sam, which the ex-soldier returned. Then he drove off.
“Think he’ll follow us?” Lee asked.
“No, but we might need to worry about where Sherlock is.” There wasn’t enough time for Brandon to get into town.
