She waved goodbye to Inspector Monroe who was frowning not waving when she drove away.

Reggie pushed the reluctant sash of the bedroom window as far up as it would go to welcome in some fresh air. There were men working under arc-lights on the track, accompanied by the constant clatter and whine of the heavy machinery. A huge crane was lifting a carriage from the track. The carriage swung in the air like a toy. A massive, bone-white moon was rising in the sky, shining indifferently on the unnatural scene below.

It was too noisy to sleep in the neglected back bedroom, even with the window closed, and there was no way that Reggie would contemplate sleeping in Ms MacDonald's own bedroom at the front, awash with the stale scents of dirty laundry and half-used medicines.

She caught sight of herselfin the mirror on the dressing table. The bruise on her forehead was turning black.

Sadie had spent the last hour tracking the ghostly scent of Banjo around the house but now was flopped miserably in the living room. Reggie supposed that when someone went away it must seem to their pets that they'd simply disappeared off the face of the earth. Here one minute, gone the next. Dr Hunter said Sadie was lucky because she didn't know that she was going to die one day but Reggie said she wanted to know when she was going to die because then she could avoid it. No one could avoid death, ofcourse, but you could avoid a premature death at the hands of idiots. (,Not always,' Dr Hunter said.)

After foraging in Ms MacDonald's bare cupboards Reggie came up with half a packet ofstale Ritz crackers but struck gold when she discovered the Cash 'n' Carry-sized stash of Tunnock's Caramel Wafers that Ms MacDonald kept for her supper. She shared the Ritz crackers with Sadie and ate a caramel wafer.

Would Chief Inspector Monroe really look for Dr Hunter? It seemed doubtful somehow. Why had she come to Dr Hunter's house on Tuesday? 'Oh, something and nothing,' she said. 'To do with a patient.' She was a good liar but then so was Reggie. It took one to know one.

Something and nothing. This and that. Here and there. People certainly were very evasive around Reggie.

Reggie decided to sleep on the sofa. Sadie jumped into an armchair and turned round and round until she was satisfied with it and then settled down with a huge sigh as if she was getting rid of the day from her body. The sofa Reggie was sleeping on still bore the faint imprint of Banjo's body but there was a kind of comfort in that. It had been an unbelievably difficult day. Hard times, indeed.

Some time in the night, Sadie left the chair and joined Reggie on the sofa. Reggie supposed she needed comfort too. She put her arm round the dog and listened to the strong heartbeat in her big chest. The dog didn't smell of anything much but dog. It had never occurred to Reggie before but usually Sadie smelled of Dr Hunter's perfume. Dr Hunter must spend quite a lot of time hugging Sadie for that to happen. If Dr Hunter was OK she would have phoned, if not to speak to Reggie then to Sadie (Hello, puppy, how's my gorgeous girl?).

Where was Dr Hunter? Elle revient. What if she didn't?

Why had Dr Hunter stepped out of her shoes and walked out of her life? There were so many questions and no answers. Someone had to hunt for Dr Hunter. Ha.

Ad Lucem JACKSON FELT A PANG OF SOMETHING VERY LIKE LONELINESS. HE wanted someone he knew to know he was here. Josie, for example. (Any wife in a storm.) No, not Josie (Now what have you done, Jackson?). Julia, perhaps. She would be sympathetic (Oh, sweetie) but probably not in a way that would make him feel better.

'What time is it?'

'Six o'clock,' Nurse Fuzzy said. ('My name's actually Marian.')

'In the morning?'

'No.'

'In the evening?'

'Yes.'

He had to check, just in case there was another time ofday where six o'clock could park. Everything else had been turned upside down, why not time itself. 'Can I have the phone?'

'No. You will rest if it kills you,' the nurse said. She was Irish. That figured, she sounded like his mother. 'Ifit's your wife you're worried about then I'm sure we'll manage to get in touch with her tomorrow. There's always a lot of confusion in the wake of an accident, so there is.'

'I know. 1 used to be a policeman,' Jackson said. 'Did you now? Then you'll do what you're told and go back to sleep.'

He wondered when the gratitude would kick in. The 'I almost died but I've been given a second chance' thing. Wasn't that what you were supposed to feel after a near-death experience? A sudden falling away of fear, a resolution to make the most of every day from now on. A new Jackson to step out of the hull of the old one and be reborn into the rest of his life. He didn't feel any of that. He felt sore and tired.

'Are you going to stand there and glare at me until 1 fall asleep?'

'Yes,' Nurse Fuzzy said. Nurse Marian Fuzzy.

He was woken by something brushing his cheek, a butterfly wing, or a kiss. More likely a kiss than a butterfly wing.

'Hello, stranger,' a familiar voice said.

'Fuzzy,' he mumbled.

He opened his eyes and she was there. Of course. He had a moment of supernatural clarity. He was with the wrong woman. He had been going the wrong way. This was the right way. The right woman.

'Hello, you,' he said. He had been mute for decades and now suddenly he'd been given a voice. 'I was thinking about you,' Jackson said. 'I just didn't know it.'

Her eyes were black pools of exhaustion. She was prettier than he remembered. She put a finger on his lips and said, 'Shh. You had me at fuzzy.' She laughed. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen her laugh before.

Everything suddenly shifted into place.

'I love you,' he said.

Fiat Lux THANK GOD, THERE WAS NO ONE SITTING AT THE DINING TABLE WHEN she came in. There was a note from Patrick instead, propped up against an arrangement ofhot-house lilies that hadn't been there this morning. She hated lilies. She was sure their perfume had been specially bred to disguise the smell ofrotting flesh, that was why they always pitched up at funerals. Eating at Lazio's biforehand, Patrick's note said. Come and join us if you get in on time. 'Beforehand' -before what?

The idea of more eating and drinking with Bridget and Tim was enough to make Louise vomit. And anyway she had eaten already. She had gone from the hospital to a drive-thru' McDonald's and picked up Happy Meals for the Needlers. The kids didn't get to go to burger joints any more, too public. They had eaten round the TV watching the DVD of Shrek the Third. Louise had picked at some fries. She hadn't been able to eat meat in days, couldn't stomach the idea of putting dead flesh inside her live flesh.

'Happy Meal,' Alison said with her thin-lipped smile, not a smile at all. 'Not had many of them.'

'Don't you have a home to go to?' Alison said halfWay through the mOVIe.

'Well .. .' Louise said. Which she could see wasn't really the right answer.

*

She realized that she had left Decker's driving licence at the hospital. She had meant to bring it away with her. It had felt like evidence but she couldn't think of what exactly.

Of course she had forgotten the licence, she had forgotten everything. She had forgotten herself for a moment.

She had flashed her warrant card and got on to the wards. Access all areas. They would have to tear that warrant card out of her hands when she left the police force. Then she had walked through wards full of train crash survivors until she found him.

He wasn't dead, although he looked all broken up. An Australian doctor she spoke to said it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Louise stroked the back of his hand, there was a black bruise where the IV went in. The doctor said he had been 'out for the count' (a medical term, apparently) but was OK now.