As children, Peter and I had dreamed of coming across a great mystery, a puzzle that only we could solve by means of deciphering various clues. What was in it for us? What reward had we expected?

More recent arrivals pressed forward. There was the urge to see. The man was hidden again from sight by the crowd. The ambulance—or was it the police?—drew nearer. Either way, soon the real detectives would arrive. They would get their tape out and seal off the area. Out would come the notebooks, the pencils to take down the answers to their questions. I had seen it all before.

The phone at the Whites rang and rang. I hung on grimly, estimating the time it would take for either the vicar or Patricia to lay aside their book, put on their slippers, and descend the long and winding vicarage stairs. Eventually, Patricia picked up.

“Peter?” Her voice was flustered, hopeful. I imagined her hurrying down in her flannelette, gripping the bannister, thinking I was her son. I felt bad for not waiting till the morning.

“No, it’s me. It’s … Andy.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry it’s so late.”

“Is there news, dear?”

“No, not yet. Listen, are you sure you can’t remember who Peter was working for?”

“No, I told you. I thought I had it written down, but I’ve been through everything, everything in the bureau, and all of Richard’s papers in case I’d … It was … it was two names and one of them was a foreign—” She was as close to tears as I had ever heard her.

“But you do have Peter’s address? Thing is, I thought I’d pop round. I mean, it’s late but he’s likely to be home now. If he’s not gone away, that is.”

I waited while she fetched her address book and made her repeat it to me until I had it by memory. Birthday cards, Christmas cards, thank-you cards—to Patricia, they were what separated us from the beasts. I didn’t doubt she still sent cards to people she hadn’t seen in fifty years.

“He might be cross. Do you think he’ll be cross, Andy? When he was still at home, he’d have the most frightful rages if I went near his room. His bed would be full of toast crumbs and there wouldn’t be a teacup left anywhere else in the house…” She trailed off. “You’ll let us know, won’t you?”