Across the water there were figures on the viaduct, waving their arms. They’d seen her, and the people in the helicopter would soon if they hadn’t already, but for those on the ground it wouldn’t be a simple thing to locate her. She was well hidden, in a small cove that could only be accessed by wading through brambles and stingers, scrambling over uneven ground. She’d twisted an ankle, stubbed her toe, gone on regardless. Her legs were torn to shreds, and she’d lost a shoe. She kicked the other off and it landed toe-down, sticking out of a crack in the mud.

She still had time, but only if she hurried. Bishop and Selver didn’t seem concerned, only eager. Go, they seemed to say, now. They had led her to this place, working together like divining rods, and all she had to do was complete the last part. Under the water, they would see their mother again, and Morgan and Riley would be returned to her. If she could bear it. If she believed it. And yet, the doubts persisted.

The search teams were drawing closer. Given time, she knew that the officers on the ground would eventually find her, maybe arrest her. She heard a shout from someone searching, the crackle of police radios not too far away in the woodland on her side of the bank. Meanwhile the helicopter hung overhead, pressing down with relentless noise and thudding blades. They started bellowing at her through a loudspeaker, to wait, to stay where she was. She stepped forward into the water and the helicopter seemed to retreat, circling back and away. She heard her name, then. It was Patrick. From somewhere close by he begged her to wait. He sounded desperate. She stepped back from the water, her legs gave way underneath her and she sat down hard onto a ledge of dried mud. Perhaps she couldn’t do it, perhaps she ought not to, perhaps she was wrong after all.

In her arms the creatures started to sing, and the doubts receded. Then those doubts were replaced with certainty as a third voice joined in, rich and low. It was her, the woman, from under the water. The time was here. She scanned the water for signs, for the exact place she ought to enter, but the surface of the reservoir was opaque with ripples from the helicopter, a broken mirror.

There was no time for further hesitation. Lifting the creatures in the perfect shape of her sons, Lauren stood and walked into the water.

Chapter 41

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Harper left her car and sprinted past the roadblock to the top of the great brick arches, the structure of the viaduct spanning the width of the valley. Spotting Thrupp, she pushed through to the front of the helpless collection of officers standing near the railing.