Read Exit Music (2007) for Free Online

he’d made the offer, she’d stared at him and asked if anything was wrong. He’d shaken his head, and she’d said he must be after a favor, then.
    “Who knows how often we’ll get the chance, once I’m retired,” he’d explained.
    They went to an upstairs bistro on West Nicolson Street, where the dish of the day was venison pie. It came with chips and garden peas, over all of which Rebus dumped a quarter of a bottle of HP sauce. He was limiting himself to a half-pint of Deuchar’s and had managed four drags on a cigarette before stepping over the threshold. Between mouthfuls of pie crust, he told her about Ray Duff and asked if everything was okay at Todorov’s flat.
    “Reckon young Colin has a thing going for Phyllida?” Clarke mused. Detective Constables Phyllida Hawes and Colin Tibbet shared the CID suite at Gayfield Square with Rebus and Clarke. Until recently, all four had worked under the baleful gaze of Detective Inspector Derek Starr, but Starr, seeking the further advancement that he saw as his right, was on secondment to police headquarters on Fettes Avenue. The rumor was that once Rebus walked into the sunset, Clarke would take his place, promoted inspector. It was a rumor Clarke herself was trying not to listen to.
    “Why do you ask?” Rebus lifted his glass, noting that it was already almost empty.
    “They just seem very comfortable with one another.”
    Rebus stared at her, trying for a look of pained surprise. “And we’re not?”
    “We’re fine,” she answered with a smile. “But I think they’ve been on a couple of dates—not that they want anyone to know.”
    “You reckon they’re snuggling up just now in the dead man’s bed?”
    Clarke wrinkled her nose at the suggestion. Then, half a minute later: “I’m just wondering how to handle it.”
    “You mean once I’m out of the way and you’re in charge?” Rebus put down his fork and gave her a glare.
    “ You’re the one who wants all the loose ends tied up,” she complained.
    “Maybe so, but I’ve never thought of myself as an agony aunt.” He lifted his glass again, only to find that he’d finished it.
    “Do you want coffee?” she asked, making it sound like a peace offering. He shook his head and started patting his pockets.
    “What I need is a proper smoke.” He found the packet and rose to his feet. “You get yourself a coffee while I’m outside.”
    “What about this afternoon?”
    He thought for a moment. “We’ll get more done if we divvy it up—you go see the librarian again, I’ll hit King’s Stables Road.”
    “Fine,” she said, not bothering to disguise the fact that it wasn’t really fine at all. Rebus stood his ground for a moment, as if about to muster some words, then waved the cigarette in her direction and headed for the door.
    “And thanks for the lunch,” she said, as soon as he was out of earshot.
    Rebus thought he knew why they could barely hold a five-minute conversation without starting to snipe at each other. It was bound to be a tense time, him leaving the field of battle, her on the cusp of promotion. They’d worked together so long—been friends almost as long. . . . Bound to be a tense time.
    Everyone assumed that they’d slept together at some point down the line, but no way either of them would have let it happen. How could they have worked as partners afterwards? It would have been all or nothing, and they both loved the job too much to let anything else get in the way. The one thing he’d made her promise was that there’d be no surprise parties his last week at work. Their boss at Gayfield Square had even offered to host something, but Rebus had thanked him with a shake of the head.
    “You’re the longest-serving officer in CID,” DCI Macrae had persisted.
    “Then it’s the folk who’ve put up with me who deserve the medal,” Rebus had retorted.
    The cordon was still in place at the bottom of Raeburn Wynd, but one of the locals ducked beneath the