"But I saw him," Jason insisted.

The woman looked up at Robbins and then Beth, confusion in her eyes.

"I think we need to have a little chat," said Robbins. "Alone."

~

The dead man had watched from a distance. Watched as Robbins and the doctor arrived, accompanied by two uniforms----one of them the black man who'd come for him at the house.

Then he'd seen her arrive on foot. Caroline. Her hair was much shorter than he remembered, but still that raven black, still framing the pretty face he could recall cupping in his hands----so vividly they hadto be his memories. He couldn't stop the recollections then; they came with a vengeance and he closed his eyes to savor them. The first time they'd met at that café one Saturday afternoon, and he'd looked up from his drink to see her walk in with one of her old girlfriends. They'd exchanged quick glances the whole way through their coffees----he'd actually made his last much longer than usual----until eventually the friend, Sally, noticed and came over to him because it looked like neither of them were going to do a thing about it.

"So, you single?" she'd said getting to the point right away.

"Er... yes."

"So is she. What are you waiting for? She's free tonight."

The inevitable first date complete with nerves, the 'getting to know you' conversations, the first time he'd walked her to her flat, and kissed her lips.

The first time they'd shared a bed, after a party when they'd drunk more than they should have, but not so much they couldn't do anything about it when they got back to her place.

He could feel the movement of her beneath him even now, her hips arching, legs hooking around him as she often did, urging him on with her moans.

Their wedding day, her standing there in that white dress, looking almost... almost like an angel. And when he'd danced with her and looked into those deep blue eyes, he'd known he would love her forever.

Then suddenly he saw the other images again, felt the pain this time----heard the scream, cracking of bone, the blood... saw the light, saw the tunnel...

Snapping his eyes open he noticed Caroline emerge from the school, holding Jason's hand. He almost went to her then, just as he'd been compelled to do before. But for one thing she was crying, and for another she was getting into the back of the squad car, the police about to escort her home.

It wasn't the right time yet. He knew that.

But soon, as he'd told Jason, he'd see them again.

~

"So where do we go from here?" asked Beth as they stood by the car and watched Valentine drive off.

"My superiors will want to try and contain this," Robbins said, not really answering her question.

"That's going to be a bit difficult." Beth leaned on the top of the car. "For starters, we don't know where he is. We don't really know whathe is."

"He's a problem," said Robbins. "They'll bring in... outsiders. I've seen it happen before."

Beth raised an eyebrow. "You've seen thishappen before?"

"Not this exactly, but other situations just as serious. I once saw a whole crime squad get muscled out when there was all that terrorism stuff."

"With the best will in the world, Steve, this is not a terrorist threat situation."

"You're right. It's much, much worse. There isn't a handbook about what to do when a dead man comes back and wants to talk to his family."

"So you're accepting the possibility that this could be Matthew Daley now?"

Robbins rubbed his face with his hands. "Oh, I don't know what to think anymore. But I do know we need to find him." He thought for a few moments, then said. "When we get back to the station, I think the best thing you can do is head to the hospital. Do those DNA tests before they bring in a bunch of government scientists I don't know. Get me some answers."

"And what are you going to do?"

"My job," he told her. "I'm the detective, remember?"

Chapter Nine

Caroline Hills poured herself a brandy.

Jason was upstairs in his bedroom, TV blaring. Today hadn't really fazed him at all, but that was kids for you. He spent half his time in a fantasyland anyway. She, however, was still trying to get her head around what she'd been told. It wasn't everyday you found out someone was impersonating your dead husband. Although, hadn't there been something in the Chief Inspector's voice, something in the looks that doctor kept giving him? Like they were holding things back from her. Then she'd pushed for it; pushed for answers which they'd given, eventually. Told her what they knew, told her what had happened over the last couple of days. And it was then that she wished they'd simply kept lying to her. It was then that she felt as if she was losing her mind.

It was like that scene from Dallaswhen Bobby Ewing had turned up in the shower and the previous season had been a dream. Had her life for the last seven years been a dream too? Had the tears she'd cried for months been just a nightmare, had facing life as a single parent just been a hallucination? Had finding someone else, when she thought she'd never love again, been just----

Jesus, what was she going to say to Rob? What could she say when she didn't even understand herself? The words they'd spoken, she'd thought they were a joke at first----kept expecting them all to start laughing at any moment, for a presenter to come out and tell her where the hidden cameras were. In poor taste, but a joke all the same. Yet when she put it together with what Jason had said, that's when it really hit home.

"Why wasn't I told about this before?" she screamed through the tears (though would she have believed it----did she even now?). "I'm still his widow, aren't I?"

But was she? Was she still his widow now that he might be out there somewhere, back from the grave? Caroline gulped the brandy, the fiery liquid scorching her throat, and poured herself another.

She carried it to the window and looked out through the net curtains. The police car was still out front, down the street, in case the man should try to make contact with Jason again. Caroline's hand shook at the very thought of it. If he should come here, if she was to see him...

Forget the fact that he was meant to be at rest----how wouldshe feel seeing someone she never thought she'd see again... at least not here on Earth? But even that, what faith she'd boasted had gone, along with her husband, while his mother had been exactly the opposite: her belief was strengthened by the loss of her boy. While Irene had taken comfort in the fact that Matthew would be with God now, Caroline had railed against a deity that would snatch away the man she loved (still loved?) so casually, so cruelly. She would have rung the woman, save for the fact that they'd parted on such bad terms. And as for the fact that Caroline had remarried...

Now, somehow, there was a chance that the man they'd both loved so much was back. (How? How was that possible?) She dropped into a chair and drank more of the alcohol.

And waited for her husband to return from work.

~

Robbins spread out the files on his desk, running his hands through his short hair.

He looked at the notes DCI Croft had left behind him, all leading to dead ends. There had been an investigation into Matthew's death, of course there had----the media had demanded it----but it had turned up precisely nothing. In fact, reading this, Robbins couldn't help wondering if it was the pressure he'd been under that had led to Croft's retirement and his eventual heart attack, paving the way for Robbins' transfer and promotion.