“They’ll never prove that,” Silver said. “He may not even be convicted. It will only be Wim’s word against his. We didn’t see him. Liv won’t go to court, she’s disappeared.”

We were passing the spot where the woman who lived on the boat had been murdered in April. They’d never found the murderer. Had it been Jonny? As far as we knew he had never actually killed anyone, though he had come close to it. Still, if a miss is as good as a mile in any circumstances, it’s never so true as between killing someone and nearly doing so. The trees that border the canal here had crowns of dense faded leaves, the water was flat, rocking a little like liquid in a shallow plate, the same dark green as the leaves. Someone had planted a garden near the towpath, bright and variegated as a florist’s shop. I said suddenly how unpleasant it would be if it was some act of Jonny’s that had brought Silver and me together. It was bad enough recalling that it was the violent death of someone that had done so, for if that woman hadn’t been murdered down here and the police cordoned off the towpath, I’d never have hazarded the underpass or been saved from my terrors by Silver.

“It doesn’t matter what it was,” he said, “so long as it happened.” And looking into my anxious face, “Don’t worry,” which made us both laugh, though the voice he had used was like a ghost of the confidence he had once had.

Wim’s fate overshadowed us. But it drew us together again as we clung to each other for support. Silver kissed me and a man coming out of the Prince Alfred whistled. We waved at him as we crossed the street into Torrington Gardens. For a moment I was filled with joy, exhilarated beyond words, at this, Silver’s first spontaneous sign of love for a long time.

The streetlights were almost lost in the heavy dark foliage of the plane trees. Where the scaffolding had stood shrubs crushed by the uprights and putlocks were uncurling and spreading upward, released from their confinement. In the half-dark a squirrel ran through the long grass and leapt for the trunk of an ash tree. Its eyes glittered. I smiled at it, I was smiling at all the world. We used our key, came into the hall. There we took off our shoes and carried them, so as to pass the Nylands’ door as silently as we could.