'All grups say that.' 'Grups' was their special word for grown-ups. 'Are you coming to see me soon, Daddy? I've done some pictures for you, I did them with finger-paints. Nanny's cross about the walls, but she didn't smack me, she never does. Are you coming to see me, Daddy?'

Childes hesitated. 'I'm not sure, Gabby. You know I want to, don't you?'

'Are you too busy at your schools? I told my new friends you were a teacher, but Lucy didn't believe me. She said teachers didn't teach video games. I tried to explain, Daddy, but you know how thicko some children can be. When it's holiday time, can I come and see you?'

So many uncertainties in his mind, but he told her yes, anyway.

'But I don't want to go on a boat this time, Daddy,' she said after her initial pleasure, her voice becoming low.

'No, you'll come by plane, like always.'

'I mean there a I don't want to go on a boat like last time.'

'When we cruised round the island on that little motor-boat, when we went to all those sandy beaches? I thought you enjoyed that.'

'I don't like water any more.'

That was all she would say.

'Why not, Gabby? You used to.'

Silence for a while. Then: 'Can Mummy come too?'

'Yes, of course, if she'd like to. Maybe Mummy'll let you stay on for a month or so.' Forget those black uncertainties, he told himself. Let these promises bring you out on the other side. Think of them as weapons against . . . whatever was about to happen.

'Really? D'you really mean it? I can stay with you for more than two weeks?'

'It's up to your mother.'

'Will you ask her now a please?'

'Uh, no, Gabby, not just yet. I've got something that needs . . . well, it needs clearing up first. Then I'll know everything for certain.'

'But you won't forget you promised?'

'I won't forget.'

'Okay, Daddy. Miss Puddles is here and she wants to say hello.'

'Tell her meow from me.'

'She says meow back. Not really, but I can tell she's thinking it. Nanny's bought a basket for her, but she likes sleeping on top of the fridge.'

'Nanny does?'

'Silly. D'you want to speak to Mummy again? She's going to read me a story in bed.'

No, he wanted to ask her about the water. Small children often developed sudden and irrational fears that bothered them for a while, then disappeared just as quickly, but Childes had been disconcerted by what Gabby had said. Perhaps she'd seen a bad TV movie, or one of the other kids had told her a drowning story. No matter; he hadn't been keen on water himself for some time. 'Yes,' he said, 'find Mummy for me. Listen, I'll speak to you soon, all right?'

'Yes. Lubboo, Daddy!'

For a fleeting, terrifying moment, Childes felt he might never hear his daughter say that to him again. The feeling passed, a cold breeze rustling through a tree.

'I love you, too, Gabby.'

She mouthed six rapid kisses down the phone and he returned one big one.

Just before Gabby rested the receiver, she said, 'Oh and Daddy, tell Annabel I miss her and tell her about my new school.'

He heard the clunk as the phone was laid down and Gabby's voice growing fainter as she went looking for her mother.

'Gabby-'

She was gone.

Had he misheard? More probably, Gabby had meant to say Amy. Tell Amy I miss her . . . Her little friend Annabel was dead, Gabby knew that by now. Fran had explained that Annabel wouldn't be coming back.

'Me again, Jon.' Fran's voice sounded rushed as usual.

Childes gave his head a little shake a or was it a shudder? a to clear his thoughts. 'Fran, has Gabby been acting okay lately?'

'Hardly. The move's upset her more than she lets on and starting a new school is always a mite traumatic anyway.' Her tone changed. 'I get a weird feeling when you start asking about Gabby nowadays.'

'No premonitions, Fran. Honest. Has she mentioned Annabel to you?'

'Several times. But she's not as distressed as you'd have thought. What makes you ask?'

'I just get the impression she believes her friend is still alive.'

Fran did not answer immediately. Eventually she said, 'Gabby's been dreaming a lot recently. Not particularly bad dreams, nightmares, anything like that; she's taken to talking in her sleep a lot.'

'Does she mention Annabel's name?'

'She did once or twice at first; not any more, though. I think she's accepted she'll never see her again.'

'Why is she suddenly afraid of water?'

'What?'

'She seems to have gone off boats and water.'

'That's a new one on me. Fire I could understand, after what you've been through. But water? That I can't figure.'

'You told her about La Roche?'

'Sure. Her daddy's a hero; she's entitled to know.'

'Hardly a hero.'

'Modest, too.'

'A few over here would like to know how I got to the school so fast, even before the Fire Department had been alerted.'

'The police surely don't suspect you?'

'I wouldn't put it that strongly, but let's say nobody's clapped me on the back yet.'

'Oh, Jon, I can't believe this. They can't be that stupid! You barely got out of there alive yourself. And you rescued those two little-'

'I left seven others to die.'

'You tried to save them, you did your best. You told me that, Jon.'

'What happened was because of me.'

'Stop being such a bloody martyr and start talking sense. Just because some psychopath has chosen you for a crazy personal vendetta, it doesn't mean you're to blame. None of what's happened has been within your control. Now tell me what these hick policemen are up to.'

'You have to see things from their point of view.'

'Like hell I do.'

'They wanted to know what had made me go to the school before the fire started.'

'That must have been difficult to explain. Explain it to me again.'

'I've told you, Fran; let's not do a re-run. Anyway, their questions came thick and fast even while I was still in a hospital bed having oxygen pumped into me.'

'The ungrateful-'

'They had a burnt-out school, lives lost, a murdered policeman a what would you expect? That's twice I was ahead of anyone else at the scene of a crime.'

'So they suspect you of arson and murder. That's terrific. Jon, why the hell don't you get back over here, right now, take a late plane, or the first one tomorrow morning? Why put up with all this?'

'I don't think they'd like that.'

'They can't hold you there.'

'Maybe they can. I'm not leaving, Fran. Not yet.'

Her exasperation bordered on raw anger. 'Why?'

'Because it's here. And while that's so, you and Gabby are safe, don't you understand that?'

She did. She said so. Quietly.

Childes went through into the sitting room, heading for the small array of drinks kept on the bookshelf opposite the door. He lifted the whisky bottle, twisted the top. And stopped. That's not going to help, he told himself. Not tonight.

He returned the bottle.

The room was shaded, only a table lamp providing light. The curtains were drawn back at both ends of the sitting room, open to the night, and he saw the sky was sheered an eerie metallic blue. Childes closed the curtains nearest to him, those at the front of the cottage, then walked the length of the room to the other window. Outside, the moon, white and only faintly smudged, not yet high in its cloudless territory, resembled a communion wafer, flat and delicately tissue thin. He drew the curtains against the night.

Hands tucked deep into the pockets of his cord jeans, Childes went to the coffee table near the room's centre, his movement slow, almost sauntering (except there was nothing casual in his demeanour). A two-day stubble darkened his chin and there was an intensity to his fixed gaze that was oddly both weary and alert as he stood over the low table, looking down. In his eyes, too, was a steady resoluteness.

He lowered himself onto the edge of the sofa facing the coffee table, leaning forward, elbows on knees, observing the tiny round object on the smooth wooden surface.

The lamp's reflection infused a hint of warmth into the moonstone's translucent coldness, while liquid blue, toned to indigo, shimmered a wintry variegation.

He stared into the moonstone's depths, like some old-fashioned clairvoyant gazing into a crystal ball, as though fascinated by the subtle shades; in truth, he looked beyond that interior, seeking perhaps the innermost part of his own self. But searching for something else as well: grasping for a link, a connection, an access code.

All he found was names. And unearthly faces. Kelly, Patricia, Adele, Caroline, Isobel, Sarah-Jane. And Kathryn Bates, Matron. All dead. Ashes. Estelle Piprelly. Ashes.

Annabel. Dead.

But: Jeanette, alive. Amy, sweet Amy. Alive. And Gabby. Alive.

Strangely, these last three were not as strong in his vision as the others; thoughts of them were shallow, somehow irrelevant, not part of this new thing.

His thoughts lingered with the dead.

Even those he had not known.

The prostitute. The boy, violated in his grave. The old man with the top of his head sawn off. Others in the asylum. He did not want to envisage them, nor hear their voices, for he sought something a someone a else; but their images and sounds pulsated before him, throbbed inside his mind . . . palpitating . . . growing, fading . . . growing, fading . . . expanding, contracting . . . a swelling, deflating, incorporeal balloon . . . a misty white ball . . . a moon- a He gasped, his hand jumping to his forehead, the pain sudden and sharp, cutting through the dull ache that had troubled him throughout the day. He slumped back on the sofa.

His mind had almost touched . . .

'Vivienne?'

'Yes?'

'It's Jonathan Childes. I'm sorry to bother you this late.' The silence at the other end of the phone lasted for a while. 'Just closing the door,' Vivienne said. Childes imagined Paul Sebire was on the other side of that door. 'How are you, Jonathan? Have you recovered from that dreadful experience?'

'I'm okay,' he replied. Physically, at least, he added to himself.

'Amy's very proud of what you did. So am I.'

'I wish-'

'I know. You wish you could have saved those other girls, too. But you did all you could, you must realize that. I just hope they soon catch the madman responsible. Now, I don't suppose you want to waste time chatting to me. Amy's resting in her room, but I can put you through to her. I know she isn't sleeping because I've only just left her a we were discussing you, as a matter of fact. She'll be glad you called.'

'You're sure it's okay?'

Vivienne laughed quietly. 'Positive. Um . . . I'll have to sneak upstairs and tell her rather than call up.'

'Her father?'

'Her father. He's not as bad as you might think, Jonathan, he just likes to give that impression. He'll come round eventually, you'll see. I'll put the phone down now, and go up to Amy.'

He waited, his head still aching, the dull throb of before. A click, then Amy was on the line.