Suddenly, her other arm was pulled violently upwards, and the skull slipped from her hand. The dimming stars and the beautiful song were replaced with searing pain in her chest and eyes as she was pulled out of the lake by two sopping, fully uniformed officers who dumped her onto her knees, where she began vomiting water onto the dried mud at the side of the reservoir.

She’d failed. She’d been distracted and forgotten what she was doing when she needed to find Lauren and the boys. They needed her to save them, to get them out, before it was too late. Thrupp’s voice stopped her as she tried to crawl back towards the edge of the water.

“You stupid bloody idiot,” said Thrupp. “Why do you never listen to me?”

Harper rested on her side, just for a moment, just to get her breath. The air in her lungs seemed to be made of knives. She tried to answer, but at first she could do nothing but cough. When the spasms in her lungs ceased she croaked out, “How did you get here so quick?”

“I got a lift,” said Thrupp, gesturing at the helicopter. “You could have done that, too. There was no need for you to swim. That was what I was trying to tell you.”

“I didn’t find them,” she said. “I need to go back in.”

“No, you don’t.”

“But sir, what about the babies?” Harper could barely see, but she squinted up at Thrupp from her curled position on the ground. She pushed herself to her knees. “They’ll drown, if someone doesn’t get them out.”

“Don’t worry, we got them. Look.”

Harper looked to where he was pointing. There on the shore, a little further away, was Lauren Tranter, wrapped in a blanket. She was crying, and hugging two small bundles to her. Patrick was there too, crouching next to his wife. He tried to take one of the bundles from her but she shouted no, turning away from him. Harper couldn’t see what was in the bundles. She couldn’t see their faces, whether they moved or breathed.

“Did you get to them in time?” said Harper, steeling herself for the answer. But before Thrupp could respond she heard a baby crying and another one joined in. Tears burst from Harper’s eyes and she sank down onto her knees in silent thanks.

The sun was low, the water reflecting the spread of reds and pinks as it set behind the hill. The helicopter had gone away, leaving a kind of peace broken only by Lauren’s voice in the shadows, over and over,

“Morgan, Riley, you came back to me, you came back.”

Chapter 42

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO