In the rear-view mirror, Hawkins watched the outer gate starting to scrape its way home. Closing the gap.

Trapping her.

‘I understand your perspective, really I do. It’s just …’

She waited for him to jump in, offer some kind of clue to the required answer.

He didn’t.

‘Things are moving so fast,’ she flailed. ‘Maybe I just need a bit longer to get used to the whole marriage thing.’

Mike made one of his dissatisfied clicks, shook his head. ‘Sorry, Toni, I don’t buy that. We ain’t teenagers. We should be moving forwards, not back.’

Ahead of them, the inner gate vibrated, clanged twice, and began to haul itself open.

‘Is this what happened with Paul?’ he asked suddenly. ‘You let him pull you so far, but when things got real, you flipped. Came running to me.’

‘That’s harsh. I fell in love with you.’

‘Or was I just the cheapest ticket outta there?’

She huffed. ‘You really think I’m that shallow?’

‘No, but you ain’t done much lately to prove otherwise.’

‘Fine. Where’s the nearest registry office?’

‘I’m not saying fast is better.’ He sounded more weary than annoyed. ‘Why is it always extremes with you?’

‘Sorry.’ Hawkins blinked hard. ‘Look, I can see where this conversation is going, and I don’t want that. Tell me how to sort this out.’

He breathed for a moment, then shrugged. ‘Just level with me.’

The one thing she’d hoped he wouldn’t say.

As the inner gate passed halfway, Hawkins realized she was holding the clutch down, preventing the stop/start system from cutting in. She let up, hearing the engine die.

‘I …’ she began without direction, pausing to align her thoughts. ‘Marriage just feels … incompatible with detective work.’

‘Plenty of folks do both.’

‘I meant for me.’

‘Oh.’

‘It’s the hours,’ she continued, ‘the risk. Especially as we both do it. There have been enough close calls recently that I don’t know if the two are reconcilable.’

He looked at her. ‘So what, you want out of this relationship?’

‘No.’ She sighed. ‘It means I’m finding it hard to decide which I want more.’

That drew silence.

Eventually he asked, ‘Are you telling me you’d look at a change of career?’

‘Maybe.’ Hawkins tore her eyes off the horizon to look at him. ‘Brian, you know, my counsellor, keeps asking the same thing.’

‘Yeah? What do you tell him?’

‘I tend to dodge the question.’

‘And next time he asks?’

‘Probably that under this chaotic exterior there might be a talented businesswoman.’

Mike waved at the dashboard. ‘I always thought you’d be great at selling cars.’

She snorted. ‘That’s not exactly what I had in mind. More along the lines of recruitment, or journalism, perhaps.’

‘Right.’ He laughed. ‘You always did relish a good interrogation.’

She returned his smile. ‘How about you?’

‘I’m not sure. Swimwear model? Racing driver?’