‘That’s who returned my call. Harry’s boss. He said this was procedure and not a civilian matter.’

‘So they’ve moved all the injured personnel to their own facility?’

‘I don’t know. That’s what he implied. Shall I ring Derriford Hospital?’

‘I’ll get Jameson on it.’ Bloom also suspected that Jameson might be able to get them in to see Harry but she didn’t want to raise Karene’s hopes. She started walking again.

Karene didn’t respond. Bloom wondered if the connection had failed; the signal in hospitals was notoriously patchy. ‘Hello?’ she said pressing the phone to her ear.

‘There’s something else,’ said Karene.

‘Go on?’

‘Someone’s playing games, Augusta. Someone knows something and they’re taunting me.’

‘What kind of games?’ asked Bloom. She didn’t like the sound of this.

‘I’ve had an email. It didn’t say much – just asks how well I know Harry – but they’re implying he’s done something wrong.’

‘Is this someone you know?’

‘The email was anonymous.’

‘Do they know Harry?’ asked Bloom.

‘If they did, they wouldn’t be suggesting what they’re suggesting. He’s a good man. He’s dedicated his whole career to helping others. I’m not having anyone say otherwise.’

‘We should try to be open-minded.’

‘They’re saying that I don’t really know him, that I should suspect him of God knows what.’

‘Karene?’ This was why she never worked with her friends and family. They expected total support without even the hint of a challenge.

‘No,’ said Karene. ‘I’m not having it. With everything he’s going through, everything he’s got coming. I’m not having some idiot thinking they can attack him when he can’t defend himself.’

Bloom thought about that as she crossed the road to her office and an idea began to form. ‘Can you come into the city later today?’

‘I’ve got nothing else to do.’

‘Karene. You’re an expert in resilience. Be resilient.’ They said their goodbyes and Bloom walked into the building and down the stairs to her office to brief Jameson and to see if he could find any roads into the rehabilitation centre.

‘I’ve had three more emails from this idiot,’ said Karene as she walked into the office and dropped her bag on to the spare chair by the door. ‘Where’s Marcus?’

‘He’s working on something for me. What do the new emails say?’

Karene sat down in Jameson’s chair and swivelled to face Bloom. ‘They’re all the same. No text in the body of the email, just a question in the subject line.’ She took her phone from her jacket pocket, unlocked the screen and handed it to Bloom.

There were three consecutive emails at the top of Karene’s inbox.