How much farther is it to the nearest village?" Baxter asked.
He and Halls were in the middle of the countryside. The night was very dark and there
was no traffic on the roads. They could not see a house or even a public phone box
anywhere.
"It must be on the other side of that hill" Halls answered.
"I hope so! We've been walking for twenty minutes now! When we started, you said it
was only ten minutes away!" Baxter said angrily.
He was tired and his jaw hurt. He could already imagine the Chief Inspector's
comments at their next interview. The Chief Inspector was a very sarcastic man. "Well.
Baxter, perhaps you would explain all this to me. It seems you had a car when you saw
Coke and that he had it after he saw you. Very interesting. How shall we explain all this
to the papers? Shall we say something like The police are always ready to help'?