Lewis put the phone down and set his mouth in a line. Laura would be furious, he expected, roped into police business just when they thought they were beyond the reach of the Oxfordshire police station. He should have known; being a policeman meant you were on call no matter who was being born or needed babysitting or was dying, unless it was yourself in that last category, and even then you'd better be pretty far gone. But, the chance to nail Jack Cornish! He decided to present this to Laura as an opportunity to see Sicily, something he'd resisted out of . . . well, out of fear, if he was honest with himself. Fear based not only on news reports of Sicily's crime rate and mafia influence, but also he remembered Morse banging on about Sicilian food. And as he recalled, it had too much to do with sea creatures and too little to do with proper cooking. But he knew Sicily had a rich heritage and beautiful scenery, so he swallowed hard, worked up an opening line, and went out to the terrace to break the news as gently as he could.
Robbie and Laura arrived in Sicily well ahead of Hathaway. But they wouldn't venture beyond Catania to Vigàta, where the police station was, without their favorite interpreter in tow. James had warned Lewis that he had gotten the impression that the Sicilian inspector might be a bit temperamental, and this attitude was combined with Lewis's certainty that every Italian police officer would be at least untrusting, or worse, untrustworthy, when it came to intervention by a foreigner. He remembered when he and Morse had gone to Italy; the determination of the local police to share the absolute minimum of information meant they wasted a lot of time and chased numerous incorrect leads. Had the detectives all worked together, both sides would have had faster results. While he didn't remember his relationship with the Italian police as being especially unfavorable, the cultural differences, combined with the language difficulties with this Sicilian inspector, were enough to keep him far away until Hathaway's plane came in later that evening. Instead, Robbie and Laura sought out a dinner of local street-food cuisine, primarily under Laura's guidance.
They were drawn to a street-side grill wafting delicious scents their way, and Laura noted the menu board, checking the listings against her pocket Italian-English dictionary. "Robbie, try this – it smells so good, doesn't it? Look, it's not fish or anything, you can tell this is good ol' red meat!" Laura pointed to the offering of a local street vendor, from whose grill wafted odors and sounds of sizzling meat. Lewis peered at the thin slices of meat spitting and browning over the coals. It did smell enticing, if unfamiliar. And it obviously wasn't something from the sea. They had made it a bit of a tradition between them, indulging in street-vendor and takeaway food, ever since that riverside fish-and-chips dinner they'd shared when the Glyndebourne weekend fell through.
He conceded, and they had a delicious dinner of . . . whatever it was the guy was grilling.
"So? How did you like it?" Laura asked, licking the grease from her fingers.
Robbie wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. "It was good! Tender, and nicely flavored . . . not beef, though, was it?" He was more guessing than anything else. Otherwise, she would have told him, wouldn't she?
"Erm, no." She studied the offerings in a shoe shop window, and cleared her throat discreetly. "Horse."
He choked a little, fighting a gag reflex. "Horse?! You mean . . . HORSE horse?!"
She took the offensive, turning sharply toward him. "Yes, of course, horse horse, what other kind of horse is there? You said you liked it, what does it matter what species it came from?" She sniffed dismissively. "Sicily is known for it, I thought you'd have known."
He swallowed hard, repressing the urge to respond, and they spent the next few hours wordlessly peering into shop windows and reading brass plaques attached to various historic structures.
They were still tense when they collected Hathaway from his evening flight and headed south to Vigàta; specifically to the Marinella area, which had the advantage of being beachside. Hathaway concluded easily (and correctly) that Laura had made the arrangements. They found their small hotel and got checked in and settled into their rooms.
Laura didn't say anything, but went about briskly arranging their things in the room. Lewis knew she was still in a mood about the horse incident. He didn't want to argue. Didn't want to ruin what little time they had left together without criminal activity once again interrupting their private lives. He took a breath and softened, turning his best puppy-eyed look on her, full force.
"I'm sorry, Laura. It just took me by surprise, okay? And I'm not very happy about us having to change plans to accommodate the Oxfordshire police department." He looked past her shoulder and continued. "Maybe I should retire. Then we would only have one set of work demands to answer to. It'd be a lot easier for us to get away." He added, upon reflection: "To get away and to stay away until we're ready to go back."
His retreat had the desired effect. "I'm sorry if it seems like I tricked you, I didn't mean to." She slipped her arm through his. Let's just enjoy this lovely evening, alright? It might be the last one of our holiday."
They spent the rest of the evening down in the area of the city that was immediately adjacent to the sea. A long, quiet stroll on the beach put them both in the right mood, and they ended up arm-in-arm, observing the several other beach-walkers, and even one late-night swimmer, who pulled himself out of the sea after his long swim, and disappeared into a beachfront house.
Lewis watched him with a bit of longing. "That's the life, i'n'it? Step out of your house onto the beach, take a swim whenever you want . . . I bet that bloke doesn't have a care in the world."
"And you'd like that?" Laura studied his response.
"Yeah, I think I would." He looked down at her and grinned. "That wouldn't always have been my response. But it is now."
She smiled back at him, and they found comfort in each other's embrace.