‘I don’t really need four subjects,’ Dr Anderson said then, ready to make the concession at just the right time. My dad would have been proud. ‘Three will do. Michael can be kept safe, but unharmed. Does that answer your concerns?’

What had happened, in the moments since Claire had given up Myrnin, was pretty amazing, because we’d gone from being on the deadly end of the deal to negotiating for favours, and I didn’t think Dr Anderson had even realised she was being played as thoroughly and masterfully as she’d once played Claire. It was impressive. And a little scary. That funky weapon wasn’t pointed at me any more, even vaguely; it was aimed down at the ground. That didn’t mean it couldn’t come right back up again, if I did something stupid, but by focusing my anger on Claire, I’d won some breathing space from the real target. I’d put Claire and Anderson on the same side, and now they were just working out details.

I just hoped Claire wasn’t buying into what I was selling. I couldn’t really tell now. She still looked pallid, shocked, and fragile and I wanted to take her in my arms so bad it hurt … but that wasn’t what would help either of us right now.

‘You’ll have to sell it to Eve, not me,’ I said. ‘But you back off Michael and I might be able to live with the rest of it. Maybe.’

‘There’s no maybe, Shane. Maybe earns you prison. So I suggest you think hard about your next answer, yes?’

I let the moment drag out, and then finally nodded. I was trying not to look at Myrnin, because he was curled in a fetal ball on the floor, whispering to himself, and if I’d ever thought he’d looked crazy before, well, I’d been wrong. He looked wrecked now, and I wasn’t sure any of those pieces were going back together again. Myrnin had been breakable, and now he looked shattered.

Claire had a dull, hard look in her eyes, one I recognised; she was trying to keep everything inside, to just get through to the next moment without feeling the pain. I knew that look because I’d just about invented it.

‘So what do you want me to say?’ I asked, and looked at her directly. ‘Claire, tell me what you want me to say. You know I’ll do anything for you. I always have.’

She pulled in a sharp, shaking breath, and said, ‘Just say you’ll back me up when I have to talk to Amelie. Tell her you never saw any of them, or any of … this. Tell her that as far as you know, everything’s normal here.’

‘What about Jesse? Amelie sent her to watch your boss, here. She’s going to be suspicious when Jesse goes missing too.’