Page 188 of Slack Tide Kill

"John," she croaked. Her own voice sounded foreign. "You didn't have to."

He smiled and squeezed her hand. "It wasn't that hard. I'm kind of working here, right now. William Harvey Hospital."

"Where's that?"

"Ashford. The gateway to Europe."

She looked back at him blankly.

"About 20 miles north of Dungeness? It's on the Channel tunnel corridor?"

Now she laughed. None of that meant anything to her. "Got it. Well, you can stick around, if you like."

He nodded seriously. "Waiting on that second date."

"Wait. You think … Rye Castle counted as the first?"

"It all counts." He winked. "Anyway. It's a bit redundant to say, when I can see it all laid out," he gestured to her bandaged limbs, "but how do you feel?"

She took a moment. Taking stock of the breaks, fractures and bruises. Above all that, though, was the lightness. Like a burden had lifted. Maybe that was being back on the job. Maybe it was having Liam back by her side.

"Good, actually. Were you in the ambulance that brought me in?"

"No. I was late out there, helped with Gloria." His eyes narrowed. "Why, you thought you saw me?"

She snorted. "Don't let it … go to your head."

"Too late."

Warmth spread in her chest. She couldn't handle that right now.

"And Mayhew," she said quickly. "Is she OK?"

Logan's expression sobered. "She was in respiratory distress when we arrived. The tide had risen to her neck. But we got her out and warmed her up. She's in ICU here, but I think she'll be discharged today."

That was another relief, lightening her further. "And the reactor?"

"Secure, as far as anyone knows. DI Gemmell's downstairs right now, running half of Kent's police force through the canteen. It's actually one of the few places with reliable power, after the storm knocked out everything south of the M20."

She'd forgotten about that. The storm. "Casualties?"

"Only one, as I've heard it. A man at Scots Float."

His image came back to Sally. The man in the hi-vis vest who'd driven them out to the pumps. "Hoskins."

"Yeah. Jeremy Hoskins." He paused a moment. "The whole marsh is still underwater. The level's barely dropped, and they're saying weeks to fully drain."

"Weeks?"

"With Scots Float and the sea walls out. And some of it may never drain. I heard there's fields out past Brenzett that have been dry for 200 years, but they'll be something else from now on."

Sally tried to picture that. Romney Marsh, returned to a marsh. "How are the residents doing?"

"Lots of people unhoused. Lots of roads out, too, and many areas only navigable by boat. There's a massive rescue effort underway, led by the Coastguard." He smiled, and she saw the weariness in him too. "We're all on double shifts."

"But no one else died."

He squeezed her hand. "Seems not. Massive property damage, yes. Pumps, sea walls, lots to be rebuilt. A whole new system, maybe. But the worst averted."