39. Duty
Sally sat at the desk in the training room, head resting in her hands, reliving her final rush across the field. Liam shouting at her to stop. Then the tears on his cheeks afterward. The way he'd just stared at nothing.
Maybe she'd broken open the case. Maybe she'd just broken her partner.
Still, she ached to run. Start and just keep going until every bit of feeling was gone. Just like every night, every day, every moment since she'd first come to this country.
She needed another Mud Beast. She needed to get out on the beach and pound sand. She rose to her feet and started pacing. She needed–
The door opened. It was the paramedic again, John Logan.
"No," Sally said sharply, not stopping her pacing. He didn't say anything, just stood there in the doorway holding a tray. Sandwiches, coffee, a chocolate bar. "Leave it and go."
"Believe me, I'd love to do that," Logan said, as calm and steady as ever. "But I've become some kind of gopher for your DCI. Delivering snacks."
"So deliver them. You've done your part, John. You can go."
Logan just tilted his head. "Roarke Rook is in hospital, if you're interested.
Compound fracture of the humerus, with infection a possibility, given it was soaked in that runoff water.
" He looked at her. "It's a possibility for you too, with all your cuts and grazes.
You need a proper shower followed by proper treatment. "
Sally's glare hardened. "From a proper paramedic? Are there no real doctors in Rye?"
He smiled. "You know how much real doctors cost? Come on, Officer Rogers. Besides, you're kind of stinking up the station." He gestured around the training space. "Everyone else is too polite to say anything, so they asked me, the gopher, and…"
He trailed off.
Sally snorted. Doubtless that was a lie, but he had a point. She was back in the ice box anyway, pending further debriefs.
"Fine," she snarled, and stalked directly toward him. "Move."
Back in the shower, foul-smelling water streamed from her body and hair. It did feel good to be clean. Back in the bullpen, heads turned as she emerged. Blond hair pulled back so tightly the scar tissue in her scalp tingled. She eyed them and stalked past.
DI Gemmell raised a hand and shoved a path through chairs toward her. "Officer Rogers, have you got a minute?"
Sally stopped outside the training suite. "We're not supposed to talk. DCI's orders."
"I know, but it's your partner, O'Connell. He, uh… it looks like he's left the station."
Sally stared at him blankly. "What?"
"He's due to give his full debrief, but he's gone."
She frowned. "And you think I know where he is? I've been ordered not to talk to him either."
Gemmell shifted his footing. "He's your partner. Shouldn't you know?"
That pissed her off. "He's his own man. He'll make his own decisions."
"Right, but, this is about you, isn't it? He was a passenger, so he's fine. You were the one driving. This is about clearing you on the use of force and getting you back on duty. And if we want you cleared, we need O'Connell's statement."
She stared. So Liam was missing? She could already imagine where he'd gone. The thought made her stomach turn for reasons that had nothing to do with the crash.
"I'll find him," she said, more sharply than she intended, then consciously softened her tone. "Thanks, Stephen."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Sally."
"Sally, then. We need both of you on this."
She pushed back into the training room. The tray sat on the table next to John Logan and his medical kit. He had it all spread out.
She couldn't face it. "One second," she said, then walked back into the bullpen and up to DI Gemmell. He hadn't even sat down yet.
"Take my statement," she said.
"Err," he said. "I think the DCI wants to do it."
"Is she here?"
"No. She's still at the Listening Ears."
"So you do it. Then I can get out there and find Liam."
He looked at her.
"Use the camera. It'll all be on record. Tell Mayhew I felt sick and I wanted it out of the way. It won't come back on you."
Gemmell's gaze shifted slightly. Like he was seeing her in a new light. "Technically, you're supposed to be debriefed by an officer of higher rank."
"I'm NCA, I don't even have a rank. What matters is the record. Come on, Stephen."
A moment passed. "I'm new here, Sally. I barely know the roads, let alone all the DCI's pet hates, but I do know she won't like this."
"Neither do I." She hesitated. "But Liam's gone off somewhere. He doesn't, ah…" She didn't want to name the real problem. "I need to find him, OK? Then I can bring him back for his debrief, and we move this whole thing along."
Gemmell studied her. Maybe he'd seen enough of Liam to understand what she really meant. "He needs you."
"I think so."
He sighed. "OK. On my head be it, right?" He turned to survey his team. "Chakrati, you're up."
Emily Chakrati's head bobbed up instantly. "Yes, sir?"
"With us. You wanted to be in an interview? Here we go."
Chakrati looked at Sally. From the set of her eyes, Sally could guess she hadn't meant an interview like this, but she snapped up to attention anyway. "Yes, sir."
Gemmell led the way. A cold knot twisted in Sally's gut, picturing Liam in some dodgy backstreet bar, knocking back spirits. Maybe collapsing in a gutter later. She owed him. Mayhew had ordered her not to communicate with him, but this was different.
She followed DI Gemmell into IR1. Chakrati stood by the tripod and camera. Before she knew it, they'd already begun.
"…take your full and formal statement," Gemmell was saying. "Are you prepared to do that at this time, Officer Rogers?"
"Yes," she answered.
"Very well. When you are ready."
Sally looked into the camera and the red light blinked on. Chakrati read out the date, the purpose, the time and the officers present, then Sally began, pouring out the details like an incoming tide. Twenty minutes and it was all done.
Gemmell asked questions. Many were echoes of what Mayhew had asked her at the scene, and she answered them smoothly. The hardest was the one she'd feared.
"If you were in the same position again, would you repeat your actions?"
There was no point lying to that. "Yes. I would."
Gemmell frowned. "You would?"
"I regret the outcome. But I do not regret my choice."
After that, they were done. Chakrati unplugged the camera.
"Good luck," Gemmell said.
"And to you."
Sally headed out. She felt clearer in her own head, with only one duty.
Liam.