Tilly laughed. ‘I am, actually. It was just quicker seeing there was only the two of us to get round the chores. How was the hospital food?’

‘Better than Sophie’s.’ He grinned now, looking more his old self. ‘But that’s not high praise. I suppose the professor’s gone?’

‘Left at daybreak, thank God! You should hear that man snore.’

‘That bad, eh? Well, I could really do with a cuppa so I’ll leave you to your man. Catch you later,’ he said, heading to the steps.

Connor now rounded the vehicle, his arms held out. She stepped into them, kissing him hungrily. ‘I’ve missed you. Everything fixed, paperwork done?’

‘In triplicate.’ His eyes creased and he held her back to search her face. ‘You’re okay, my sweet?’

‘I am now. Whose vehicle is it?’

‘A mate’s. He’s flying out Wednesday to collect it. The department’s paying. And I’ve got a fortnight off.’

‘That’s wonderful. So were you planning on spending it here?’

He gave her an incredulous look. ‘What do you think?’ he asked, then grinned sheepishly as she smiled. ‘Okay, you got me.’

‘Just checking. Is there any news on Matt’s mates? Did the police find them?’

‘They’ve got the driver – traced him through his vehicle.’ He shrugged. ‘The cops’ll work their way through his known associates, so they could get lucky.’

‘And the refugee boat that sank – did they find out about that?’

‘Des said they’re liaising with the Indonesians, and the Malaysians – it could have come from either country. But, you know, it may not have been on a register. It had to have been a clapped-out old wreck in the first place for it to sink. It could well have been sitting on a mud bank up a tidal creek for years.’ He lifted his shoulders, let them fall. ‘When money matters more than human life . . .’

‘Yes.’ She shivered, and not just for the rapidly cooling air. ‘I can’t get past it, Connor, knowing that Gerry was involved in something like that. I can forgive him the rest, the trafficking of animals, even the drugs, but the callousness of that . . . It’s wholesale murder, even if the victims were willing to chance it. Those men, including Gerry, sent them to their deaths as surely as if they’d shot them.’

Connor hugged her and she huddled against the broad warmth of his body, pressing one palm to where his heart beat like a metronome beneath his shirt. ‘He saved you’—his breath stirred her hair—‘remember that.’