He sipped his cider and placed the cup on a table while he folded his cingulum carefully and placed it into its box. They rented the space behind the village hall, and had to pack up their belongings after each meeting. It wasn’t ideal and Fred was on the lookout for something permanent. He had thought of his own office that he’d had built in the garden, but one of the most important rules of their denomination was that the meeting place should be on neutral ground. Compromises of the orders were rare, and the hierarchical structure, along with the length of time it took to progress between ranks, ensured a smooth and safe environment. But, occasionally, it had been known for an outsider to penetrate their sanctity, and when that happened, one did not want it to be on one’s own soil.

Chapter 5

The Lakes air had a nip in it, and Kelly realised miserably that August was but a memory. Even the sky looked darker earlier now. Someone said the longest day was in June, but Kelly swore that it was sometime in August – just before the lights were abruptly turned out in September. Rob fastened the buttons on his suit. Kelly closed her grey Burberry mac around her. Today was the first day she’d worn trousers for weeks. The wind caught her long auburn hair, which was still tinged with gold from the summer sun. Rob towered over her with his six-foot frame and they shuffled to her waiting car. They slammed the doors once inside and Kelly put the heating on full.

‘I don’t know how she survived up there. Have you been to the circle, Rob?’

‘No.’

‘You’ll love it; it’s wild. The nakedness bothers me. Did she strip herself because she was in the latter stages of hypothermia? Or was she dumped?’

‘She’s potentially an adult, responsible for herself.’

‘Exactly, that’s what bothers me, because she’s not behaving like an adult, by all accounts.’

They set off for the hospital across town. Kelly had been inside the Penrith and Lakes Hospital more times than she’d care to remember. The last had been with her mother as she slipped away. The memory jarred her senses but she pushed it aside. In any given day, there were a thousand moments that reminded her of her mother: it could be a shop, a view of the mountains, a telephone call, or someone’s perfume. It never left. The boxes of her possessions still filled Kelly’s spare room, as well as a few of Ted’s rooms too. Her mother and Ted had reignited their romance too late, and now she made sure that she kept the connection alive.