"Oh, famous? I knew it! How famous? Like who is she?" Brady did a little jiggle, fetching his little notepad and pen from his pocket. "This will be big, I can feel it. A famous person on our shores, literally! It will put Mystery Cove back on the world's radar for sure, not to mention our tattler for breaking the story."

Tattler sounded strangely like a rattler, and Hector did not like the sound of that. He could already imagine it, the Brady Moriarty Headline: A Beached Celebrity Saved From Gruesome Death!

More so, he could imagine Chief Higgins' reaction. 'Hector Juan Martinez!' —for the Chief always scolded him the way his mother scolded him, using his full name. 'How could you not fill me in on this case earlier? Do you not know how big it is? A celebrity almost died in your town, under your watch. If she had, you would be scrutinised, demonised, forced to leave the force because you didn't handle it right...'

"Uh..." was all Hector managed when panic gripped his chest. Shit, Chief Higgins! He'll kill me if I fuck this up.

"Well, go on, spill the tea!" Brady waited with wide, excited eyes. "Who is she?"

Behind him, Lewis shook his head, deadpan-staring at Hector.

Hector could almost hear the man's thoughts. Idiot! He was probably calling Hector an idiot.

Lewis turned to Brady. "You come anywhere near the patient again, and I'll drag you to his silly little locker room"—pointing at Hector—"report you for harassment, and lock you up overnight myself."

"A night with Inspector Hector?" Brady laughed. "I won't mind it at all."

"I'm warning you!" Lewis glared at Brady as Hector side-stepped, away from the man, not wanting Nurse Lewis to get the wrong idea about their relationship. "Do not come inside unless you are dying and in need of medical assistance."

"Geez, you'd think I intruded in on his home or something." Brady softly chuckled once Lewis went inside. Tilting his head at Hector, he carried on, "So? Where were we?" He poised his notepad in front of him, ready to write the words that would spill from Hector's lips.

Hector felt a dribble of sweat run down his back. Lewis still stood inside the door, staring at them. Then the man narrowed his eyes at him.

'Remember, if any nosy tabloid pokes around while you're on a sensitive case, it's best not to tell them anything,' he recalled Chief Higgins's words as he'd handed Hector the keys to Mystery Cove's one and only police beat. 'Until you know for sure what you're dealing with, it's best we play our cards close to our chest in this line of business. Especially if you ever hope to get out of the town you grew up in.'

Well, that was it, wasn't it? Hector really, really wanted to get out of the town he grew up in. He cleared his throat and brushed Brady off. "It's an active case, Brady. I cannot comment."

"Where're you going?" Brady called from behind.

"It's none of your business. Go home."

"It is my business, Heck. Everything that happens in this town is my business. I'm the head of a newspaper, and it's my responsibility to write about the things that happen here!" As Hector slipped through the doors of the hospital, Brady was saying, "And I'll dig up this story. You hear me? One way or another!"

Inside the quiet hospital lobby, if you could even call the reception area a lobby, with its one trauma counter and two rows of four-seat-bench, Lewis growled at him. "Watch what you say around him."

Hector pulled at his collar. "I didn't say anything."

"You almost did." Lewis stared him down, from his giant six-foot-four-inches height. "He's been constantly harassing the poor woman all morning. And you just told him she's someone famous. It's like leaving meat out when vultures are around."

Hector swallowed nervously. He hadn't thought of that. Brady, being a vulture, a gossip vulture. "How is she?"

"Annoyed."

Hector wasn't sure if Lewis was talking about Devi Dhungel or himself.

"Can I see her?"

Lewis chewed his cheek a moment. "So is she really famous?"

Hector felt colour rush to his cheeks. "Apparently. Some famous author who's gone 'missing' since the night before."

Lewis nodded, looking out the glass in the door. "Missing?"

"Presumed dead." Hector followed his gaze, only to see Brady was studying them with a scowl on his face. He felt his mouth dry out. "Since there is a search team out at sea from yesterday morning and they haven't found a body yet."

Lewis nodded again as the two of them stood watching Brady watch them. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"About what?" Hector blinked.

"Someone tried to kill her last night. You know what that means?"

Someone hates her? Hector shrugged.

Lewis turned to him, unfurling his arm. "Do you even know what you're doing?"

Hector swallowed once more and pulled at his collar. Was it that obvious that he was virtually a rookie? "Something like this has never happened here before." Lewis scoffed under his breath but Hector heard it loud and clear. "I'm a little overwhelmed," he finally admitted. "It's my first... case... like this."

"Hmmph." Hector caught Lewis glance out the glass again. "You better keep that guy shut up, or he'll blather all about how she turned up on your beach. Or whoever tried to off her the other night will know they didn't succeed."

Hector hadn't thought of that! "What?"

Lewis turned to Hector once more, with a softer look on his face than he'd sported till now. "Someone tried to kill her, mate. What do you think they'll do when they learn she's in a tiny little town with a baby cop to protect her?"

Hector blanched. He was pretty sure he blanched, white as a bed sheet. "What?" he mumbled again. "What does that mean?" never mind that Lewis had just called him a baby cop. He was, one—no denying that. It was as obvious as the scruffy hair on his face.

"It means be careful who you trust, Hector. Simple. If I were you, I'd keep her being alive a secret until you figure out what happened. At least that's what she's been muttering all morning. That you're a frigging idiot for sending in a journalist after you."

Yep, Hector blanched so hard he lost all of his tan. His heart rattled in its cage much like his nerves were rattling from the realisation. "She said that?"

"I'd be careful in there if I were you." Lewis nodded towards the internal doors that led into the one and only ward they had. "She seems to know how to do your job better than you, and has been demanding we get your boss here and have your ass fired for endangering a life you're supposed to protect."

"She wants me fired?" Of course, she does! Hector flashed a nervous smile. She writes crime for a living. The woman probably knew more about police procedures and crime than Hector learned in his training. Apparently, she was known for deep research, often basing her stories on some a proper case or other.

"Fired with a capital F."

Hector felt a chill run down his back. If he couldn't figure out how to help Devi and do it well, she'd make sure he was a cop no longer. Forget about the promotion. "I fucked up, didn't I?"

"Meh, not the end of the world. Just don't fuck up anymore and give her another reason to hate you."

She hates me? Hector was oddly hurt by that. Well, I'm not her biggest fan either, so there! She's probably not even that good a writer, anyway! "Thanks for the vote of confidence," he mumbled, heading for the ward.

"Oh, and you should probably see Hilde before she leaves for the day. She has something for you," Lewis called out as Hector slipped into the gloomy ward. Shit. How was he going to fix this with Devi?

He swallowed nervously as he stepped towards Devi's bed, its curtain drawn close for her privacy. Privacy he'd just violated without meaning to. How stupid could you get, Heck? He admonished himself. Sending in Brady... "Ms Dhungel?"