Chloe went back inside, returning moments later with the notebook. I took it from her, holding it tentatively, as if it might burn me. I tucked it under my arm and stepped out past the gate, feeling dizzy, disconnected from my body. I wondered if I was in shock.

She followed me, stopping at the gate. ‘You ought to know that I’ve asked for extra mission time – anything that’ll take me away from the island for a while. I thought I’d had enough time to get over things, but I think maybe it’s still too soon after all.’ She looked at her house, then back at me. ‘If you want to get hold of the other notebooks for any reason, feel free to just walk in and take them.’

‘Maybe once you’re back . . .’

‘If I’m back,’ she said, ‘it’ll be barely, if at all, for at least the foreseeable future.’ She swallowed hard. ‘Please don’t take it the wrong way, but I’d rather you kept your distance for now.’

I watched her retreat, closing her door without looking back. I made my way home, feeling chilly despite the afternoon sunshine.

THIRTEEN

Seventy-two hours later I heard a knock at my front door and found Rozalia standing on my doorstep.

‘Can I come in?’

‘Sure,’ I said, despite a whole welter of misgivings, and pulled the door wide.

She stepped past me and walked into my kitchen for the second time that week. I turned and followed, feeling irritable and tired from a lack of sleep. I’d been having some pretty bad nightmares the last couple of nights.

‘I’ll get straight to the point,’ she said, turning to face me. ‘I need your help. Are you scheduled to go on any missions any time soon?’

I scratched my head and yawned. ‘Only the big one we’re scheduled to take part in tomorrow morning,’ I said. I had spent the best part of the last three days taking trips into Government House in the centre of town, to give recorded statements in Kip Mayer’s office regarding the circumstances of Nadia’s death.

Rozalia nodded. ‘Great. I need you to go back with me to where Nadia died. Tonight. It’ll be quick, I promise. In fact, we’ll be finished in time for the morning’s mission.’

I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times before I understood she really was asking what I thought she was. ‘Tonight?’ I shook my head. ‘Not a chance in hell. You heard me when I said I had a mission in the morning, didn’t you? How long is this going to take, exactly?’

She stepped closer to me, a beseeching look on her face. ‘Not long. This is important, Jerry. There’s no one else can show me just where . . . everything happened.’