Yes, you told me before, the kids who grow up with affinity are better adjusted.

So I did. But the degree to which they've involved themselves in this consensus mentality is astounding. You'd normally expect one or two unable to cope, but we haven't found one single case. Maybe I should keep the psychiatrists on after all, they make a fascinating study.

Sure. You were talking about Wing-Tsit Chong.

She gave a miscreant smile. No. It's you who's interested.

Corrine!

OK. Spare me the third degree. You saw how frail he was?

Yeah.i felt a sudden chill. Not another terminal illness?

Not exactly an illness, just something we all suffer from eventually: old age. He is over ninety, after all. I could keep him alive for several more years, maybe even stretch it out for over a decade. We have the appropriate life-support techniques nowadays, especially for someone as important as him. But he turned down all my offers. I can hardly insist; and he's quite happy doing what he does, sitting and thinking all day long. I hope I go like that when it's my turn; out there in the clean air watching the swans paddle about, rather than in a hospital bed smothering in machinery.

How long has he got?

Sorry, detective, that's something I can't give you a precise answer to. I'd say anything up to a couple of years, providing he doesn't overtax himself. Fortunately Hoi Yin makes sure he doesn't.

Yes,i said emphatically, so I noticed. Do you know how the two of them met?

She's his student, so she always told me. They were both already here when I arrived four years ago. And in all that time she's never been involved with anyone. Surprisingly, because enough have tried. Was that what you came over to ask me about? Gossip on Hoi Yin? There's no need to turn up in person, that's what affinity is for. Bloody marvellous faculty, isn't it? You'll have to practise using it. A lot of people experiment once they've had their symbionts implanted. Sex is a popular field of exploration with the teenagers, and the teenagers at heart.

Sex?

Yes. Affinity is the only true way to find out what it really feels like from the other side.

Christ. As Chief of Police I think it's my duty to access your record; how you were ever granted a practitioner's licence to minister to the sick is beyond me.

Dear oh dear, I do believe our hardened criminologist is blushing. Aren't you the remotest bit curious?

No.

Liar. I was. It's . . . interesting. Knowing exactly how to please your partner.

I'll take your word for it.the damnedest thing was, now she had mentioned it the notion seemed to have lodged in my mind. curiosity is a terrifying weapon.

So if it isn't sex, and it isn't how to meet the divine Miss Hoi Yin socially, what did you come here for?

I went to the window wall behind her, and shut the louvre blinds. Silver-grey light cast dusky shadows across the office.