Snapping her eyes open, Daisy knew exactly what to do. Opening the van door, she fired the engine and steered the van so close to the house that one wheel ended up in the flower bed. Jasper’s hammering on the partition behind her had reached a crescendo, but with this kind of focus, it was no more distracting than a gentle, continuous hum. Opening the door, Daisy levered herself onto the roof of the van and cupped her hands to shout.

“Open the window and jump down!”

Susan opened the window, but only so she could shout, “ARE YOU INSANE?”

“I’ll catch you!”

“Why can’t a few of you just come in through the back and open the door?” Susan looked helplessly at the group huddled below, McGraw’s anxious frown, Ed Gemmell clutched up against Esther in concern. “This is a terrible idea.”

“Susan Ptolemy, do you trust me to catch you?” Daisy said with marrow-deep conviction.

Susan’s eyes met Daisy’s. Susan Ptolemy trusted no one.

But maybe she should.

The sound of her two best friends hitting the van roof and screaming as they slid off was one Esther hadn’t anticipated when she’d set out that night. As it was, she and the two boys hurtled to where Susan and Daisy were dangling down in front of the windshield.

With no great delicacy, Esther and Ed Gemmell helped maneuver Daisy off the roof and onto the ground. Only a couple of paces away, she noticed the tenderness with which McGraw guided Susan off the roof, arms sliding under hers to support her weight as she flopped from the roof and into his chest. Almost as soon as he’d lowered her to the ground, the two stepped apart, each looking in every direction except at each other.

A dull thud came from inside the van, followed by a faint, “Hello? Please . . . please can you let me out? Herbal tea is a diuretic. I’m dying for a pee.”

Epilogue

In many ways, things had simply gone back to the way they were. Reggie returned to his course, Daisy to her routine, and Esther to relying upon Ed Gemmell’s notes rather than attending lectures herself (anything good enough for the almost-impossible-to-please Vectra was good enough for Esther). Susan’s hackles still rose when McGraw’s name crept into conversation.