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Had his dad finally died? Why else would somebody be calling in the middle of the night? He thumbed the screen and said, “Hello?”
“Mr. Hughes? Beckett Hughes?”
An official voice. Why? The census, not realizing he’d moved? No, they wouldn’t have his new number. It had to be family. It had to be— He said, “Yeah. It’s the middle of the bloody night. I’m in the States, so if this is—”
“Detective Inspector Burnside,” the voice said. “Queensland Police.”
Wait. Itwashis family.Please let it be Dad,he thought, and knew that your wishes counted for exactly nothing. “What is it?” he asked.
“We have new information about your wife’s death. I’d like to discuss it with you.”
“What?” He tried to think. “It’s two years ago. More. Why— and who’re you?”
“As we’re in receipt of new information,” Burnside said stiffly, “I’ve been assigned to the case.”
Beckett registered that Quinn had sat up and was on her knees beside him, unselfconsciously naked. He asked, “What new information?”
“A witness,” Burnside said.
“Awitness?”He had his hand in his hair. “Now? How?”
“Yes. I’d like to discuss that with you.”
Quinn was making urgent gestures at him. “Speaker,” she stage-whispered. “Put it on speaker.”
He did. Seemed as good a plan as any. None of this was making any sense to him. “Tell me what you’ve found,” he said. “I could probably discuss it better if it wasn’t the middle of the night. As I said. It’s …” He checked. “Nearly three o’clock on Monday morning. Which means it’s Sunday evening there. What …” He had to stop and swallow. “What’s this witness? What did they say?”
“I’d prefer to discuss it in person,” Burnside said.
Beckett stared at the phone. That was how little sense this was making. “That’s going to be hard,” he said, “as I’m here and you’re there. Suppose you tell me on the phone. Suppose you tell me right now.”
“I could apply for an extradition order, of course,” Burnside said. “But it’ll be easier on you to come in yourself.”
Quinn was making some kind of face. Moving her arms, too. He couldn’t tell what she meant. He said, slowly, because he couldn’t believe it, “Are you saying you’re planning to arrest me? For what?”
“That’s one option,” Burnside said. “Or, as I said, you can come in and talk to me.”
Quinn’s arm motions were more urgent now. “Hang up,” she hissed. “Hangup.”
“I’m … I’m going to need to confer with my … my lawyer about that,” Beckett said. “I’ll ring you back.”
“Don’t take too long,” Burnside said.
“No worries,” Beckett said. “I won’t.” And rang off.
* * *
Quinn said,“First thing we need to do is find you a criminal lawyer in Australia.” Beckett was still just sitting there, looking dazed. She said, more sharply, “Beckett. We need to find you a—”
“I heard you,” he said. “But this makes no sense.”
“I know,” she said. “That’s why we take it step by step. The first step is—”
He said, “Don’t you want to know whether it’s true? That I did—whatever it is they think?”
“Of course it’s not true. But something is very, very strange here. If it’s really Sunday afternoon there, we can’t find an attorney tonight anyway. I’ll call some people in the morning and reach out. Somebody will know somebody who knows somebody. First, though, I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Everything you know.” She got out of bed and started pulling on her clothes. “Come on. Let’s go make coffee. Do you have a note pad?”
“A what?”
