I really didn’t want to look at Claire directly, because despite the apparent concern in her words, her voice had a fragile, hard tone I didn’t like. I don’t know what would have been worse, seeing pity from her, or seeing … something else. Instead, I stared at a discoloured spot on the table and scraped at it with my thumbnail as I continued my story. ‘Derrick and the other guy came stumbling out less than a minute later, and Derrick looked hurt. They tossed him in the van too, and took off.

‘Do you know where they took them?’

‘Not a clue,’ I said, ‘but I got a picture of the van and the plate, plus at least one of the guys.’ I dug out my phone and passed it to Jesse, who navigated the menus with an impressive amount of ease, considering she was an ancient bloodsucker; I’d already worked out that she had to be pretty old, because she wasn’t particularly worried about the sun. Even with the hoodie and hat, most vampires would have been scared, but Jesse seemed cool and calm and not the least bit flammable. ‘Maybe you’ve got some contacts who can use that?’

‘Likely,’ Jesse said. ‘All right, Claire, you obviously can’t go back home. Whether this was some separate event related to your friend – and I’m going to have her background and family checked – or whether this had to do with you and your work with Dr Anderson, it’s not safe for you there, and it’s our fault you stayed as long as you did in a difficult situation. When you reported the first event to Irene, I should have insisted you get out of that house immediately, but she was convinced that they were only looking for the device, and since it had been moved …’

‘Wait,’ I said. ‘What event are we talking about?’ Because it seemed to me that I’d missed something important. Something Claire should have told me.

It was probably wrong for me to be upset about that, considering how much I’d kept from her, though. Didn’t stop me.

When she didn’t immediately start talking, though, Jesse spilt it for her. ‘Two spy types let themselves into the house the other night,’ she said. ‘While Claire was there. She hid, and they searched the place. Nobody got hurt.’

I felt my jaw go tight, and I tried really hard not to clench my teeth too much. ‘Until now, you mean. Unless you don’t count humans getting abducted as hurt.’