Sawyer stared. “The repair crew,” he murmured.
“Mm,” Ciaran replied quietly. “The same containment crew as before.”
Hadeom strode toward them, boots splashing through the grass. His expression never changed as he looked past Sawyer to the water as if he just had to see it for himself. He nodded once, as if that confirmed something, then he looked at Sawyer. “Detective.” Then he spared a glance at Ciaran. “Mr Brenner.”
Sawyer didn’t care for that tone much at all. He grimaced through a smile and gestured toward the police station. “Shall we?”
The three of them headed over, the containment crew following.
Inside the police station, Sawyer stood the umbrella upside down in the corner and was just about to take his coat off, but what he saw made him pause. He’d expected a reaction from the containment team, or hell, just a single second glance would have been natural.
But they simply filed in, not even giving the busted bars a second glance, as if fixing iron bars that had been torn like wet cardboard was something they dealt with often.
They wasted no time, getting straight to work. One of the technicians cracked open a steel case. Inside were not welding tools, but heavy restraint bolts, silver stakes, coils of chain, and strange black cylindrical instrument etched with tiny white symbols.
Another technician took out what looked like a high-tech control panel. Sawyer had seen enough sci-fi movies and TV to know weird shit when he saw it.
And this was weird shit. There were no angle grinders, no saws of any kind?—
“Should we go somewhere else?” Hadeom asked. “It’s about to get very loud in here.”
Sawyer doubted that. He wanted to see what this cylinder could do, and he was just about to say as much when Ciaran cleared his throat. “Sure. My shop is right next door.”
Ciaran led the way, quickly opening the front door and holding it until the three of them were inside.
Ciaran had his coat off so fast, Sawyer was surprised it didn’t rip at the seams. Sawyer shook out of his coat, careful of his plaster cast, and hung it on the hook rack by the door. He then smiled at Hadeom and gestured to the spare hook. “Your coat?”
Hadeom slipped off his coat, revealing a tight black turtleneck and fitted black pants. He was muscular, clearly very fit, and had the build of a fighter. Sawyer was surprised, though he probably shouldn’t have been. Hadeom’s suits certainly hid a multitude?—
Ciaran nudged Sawyer, giving him an angry, pointed glare. He hadn’t meant to stare, and it wasn’t as if Sawyer would ever be interested in another man, and Hadeom, thankfully, had his back to them, leaning over a glass counter to see inside.
“What?” Sawyer mouthed with a shrug. “I’m surprised, not impressed.”
Ciaran’s eyes burned with jealous fire?—
“Interesting place you have here,” Hadeom said, finally turning around to make eye contact. Then his gaze scanned past the brass compasses and faded naval charts to the old map of Tenebrae Cove. He strode over to it, studying it for a long moment before facing them again, this time with what Sawyer thought might be an actual smile. “I like this,” he said.
“It’s an old mining map,” Sawyer said.
“Mm.” Hadeom stared at Ciaran. “You’re a salvage diver, yes?”
“Yes,” Ciaran replied.
“Interesting,” he said, nodding slowly. Then he looked at Sawyer. “And you two are, what, exactly?” Then he nodded to Sawyer’s left hand. “You stood together last time I was here, and that’s a very interesting piece of jewellery on your ring finger.”
Sawyer contemplated in that split second how to best respond, and he went with the whole truth. “We are bonded mates. Ciaran is my...” He shrugged. “Partner. Husband, for the want of a better term.”
Hadeom stared at him and almost smiled, though Sawyer wasn’t sure if he’d call it that. “Interesting,” he said again.
“Permanent,” Sawyer added. “Non-negotiable. If we’re throwing around adjectives.”
Ciaran chuckled and gave Sawyer a bit of a nudge. A reminder to not repeat the Cern incident yesterday.
“Not something we chose,” Sawyer went on. “But something I wouldn’t change, even if I could.”
“Mmm.” Hadeom nodded slowly again, looking around the room. “So, you haven’t forwarded any updates on Salem, as I requested.”
There it was. Straight to the nitty-gritty.
