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. The river.Reckon he s in there, he said.Langham sped off, his vigorous pace takinghim to the end of the garden in seconds.Oliverran after him, out of breath by the time hereached his side.They stared down anembankment at the river, a rushing, gambollingmass of frothy water, the current mean andunforgiving. Can t see a damn thing in this fading light, Langham complained. And the spume isn thelping much either.Like a rowdy damn oceandown there.What s up with that? 220 SARAH MASTERS No idea. Well, we need to check it out, whether welike it or not.Fuck s sake, he said as henavigated the slash of embankment. Last thingI expected was going out to find Shields sorry,tight arse. Hope that s figurative speech and not fromintimate knowledge, Oliver said, following himdown the hill. Damn right it is.I wouldn t fuck him if hewas the last man on Earth. Langham laughed,reaching the bottom, pausing to catch his breath. Shouldn t joke really.Officer killed in the line ofduty and all that.Funny, but I m relieved hewasn t involved.I d begun to think he was. Oliver stood beside him, lungs heavy from thechilly air.It was going to be a cold one tonight. Me too.It pointed that way.And he was such anarsehole. Shouldn t speak ill of the dead. Langhamwalked toward the bank edge, head moving leftand right. Why not? I m not going to say he was agood bloke just because he s dead.He wasn t.221 SUGAR STRANDSHe was a wanker.Being dead doesn t changethat. S pose you re right.Shit. What? There he is.I know I said you shouldn tspeak ill, but& Langham laughed, bent overdouble, hands planted on his knees.It was thekind of laugh that bordered on hysteria. What s so funny? Where is he? Oliver staredat the water, seeing nothing but rushing froth. There! Langham pointed, wiping his wetcheeks.Oliver gazed that way.Couldn t stop the smilethat spread on his face, the chuckle that rumbledout of him. Oh, fuck. Shields bare arse stuck out of the water, andnothing else. Seems this Robert has a sense of humour, Oliver said. Seems he does.Wouldn t have wanted to behim, though, pulling down those trousers. Me neither.Bit sick, don t you think? A little, but hey, people do the strangestthings. Langham used his phone, telling222 SARAH MASTERSwhoever was on the other line they needed ateam down here, forensics too.And how thefuck had the other officers missed a great bigarse poking out of the river? That body needsgetting out of there fast.Photos taken.Theway that river s going, it ll wash any evidenceaway. We don t even know Robert s surname. No, and that s something we need to findout. He called the station, using orders for somedesk jockey to root out the information.He cut offthe call. Best part of my job, that. What is? Oliver stared at Shields arse.Hisvision blurred, mind weary of the constantbattering it d had all day, but not before he caughtsight of something he d rather not have. Having someone else do the dirty work. Seems like we ve got enough dirty work of ourown judging by that crack. Crack? Shields arse crack.He shit himself before hedied. Aww, fuck.Why did you have to go and pointthat out? Christ.I feel sorry for him now. 223 SUGAR STRANDSOliver sighed, and even though he hated toadmit it, he said, Me too.Me fucking too. * * * *The call came in that one Robert Sandersand his companion, Peter Newbury, had beenapprehended at the local airport.Robert hadbeen a nightmare to contain, his strength thatof ten men.It took several officers to take himdown.It wasn t a huge airfield, more a strip of landsurrounded by grass and a pitiful excuse for acontrol tower, which lurched to one side asthough the wind had pushed it a little too hardfor a little too long.He d been taken to thestation, would be left in a cell over night untilLangham could interview him in the morning.He didn t have time now they were on their wayto Mrs Rosé s, having received word that GlennClose had been spotted at the park opposite thehouses
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