But now it came towards her and she scented it, not knowing what scent betrayed it, heard it, hearing nothing.

She did not turn her head.

Through the blue reflection of the Virgin, the leopard’s shadow passed and put out the light.

He was here.

Of course, where but here would he wait for her, away from the sun, under the shadows. Where she must come eventually. Or had he known to the moment, her hand on the door, her body slumped upon the wooden pew.

She turned after all, and saw Adamus standing above her.

Chapter Eight

Once when she was about five she had been separated from her mother in a department store. Someone had eventually taken her through the bustling, towering giant world of the shop to where her mother waited. The impression lingered that her mother had not come to find her, and that her mother had not been pleased to have her returned, for Rachaela was instantly slapped.

‘How did you know,’ she said, ‘I’d come here?’

‘You like old buildings. Sanctuary.’

‘How long have you been searching for me?’

‘Not long.’

‘And in the daylight too,’ she said archly.

He wore a black leather coat, too young for him if he had looked his age. But he did not. He wore no sunglasses. They would be in his pocket, ready for the day. Glad of the overcast? But the sun had come out now.

‘I don’t like the light,’ he said. ‘I can cope with it.’

‘And it was imperative that you found me.’

‘You were lost.’

His words fitted so exactly her own approximation of her state.

‘No I wasn’t lost,’ she said. ‘I meant to get to London.’

‘That’s rather complicated from here, I seem to recall.’

‘One train a week and they told me the wrong day. Or I’d have been gone.’

‘Then I should have had to wait until you came back.’

‘I would never have come near you.’

‘You think not.’

‘I know not. You can’t make me go back with you. If you touch me I’ll start to scream.’

‘That would be noisy.’

‘I mean it, Adamus.’

‘How medieval that sounds in your mouth. Interesting. Anna only makes it sound Victorian.’

‘I won’t play any more games. I’m going to a hotel. I’ll catch the train on—when it comes.’

‘All right,’ he said. ‘If you want.’

‘So you’ve chased after me for nothing.’

‘Except the pleasure of seeing you again.’

He sat down beside her in the pew. His blackness shut off the blue window, the blessing hands of the Virgin. It would.