Jameson showed Harry to the larger of the two bedrooms. ‘The bathroom’s just down the hall. I’ll put the kettle on.’ Jameson left him to get settled and when he returned a few minutes later with a mug of tea, Peterson was asleep on the bed. He put the tea down, stood for a moment to check Harry’s breathing sounded good, then quietly closed the door and left the man to rest.

45

Bloom and Karene arrived at the safe house around four p.m. They had caught the train to Portsmouth and then taken a taxi to the Fareham Community Hospital, walking the last quarter of a mile to the address Jameson had given them as instructed. The house itself was on a residential street, but it didn’t look like a residence. It was a small, single-storey white box of a building with business-style venetian blinds covering the floor to ceiling windows and a large black front door. It sat in a patch of parched, overgrown grass behind a six-foot metal gate. It looked like an industrial unit, the office of some local business that had closed down long ago. Bloom was impressed.

‘It looks deserted,’ she said to Jameson as he walked to the gate to let them in.

‘That’s the idea.’

Inside, the place was furnished with a modern white kitchen and open-plan living area. The lighting had been cleverly designed so that it felt airy despite the closed blinds.

‘No one followed you then?’ Jameson said. He was smiling as though it was a joke, but Bloom knew he was concerned.

‘We did everything you said. Paid cash. Travelled separately to Waterloo. Kept our eye on anyone who was making the same journey as us.’

‘Where’s Harry?’ asked Karene.

‘Sleeping. The bedrooms are in the back.’

Karene walked on through.

‘How is he?’ asked Bloom. ‘He shouldn’t really be moving around this much with a head injury.’

‘I think the journey wiped him out. He’s been asleep since he arrived. I’ve checked on him. He’s breathing fine.’

Caroline Peterson arrived at the house at six thirty p.m. in a taxi that dropped her at the end of the street. Harry was still asleep. His body was healing and he’d had a traumatic few days; it was hardly surprising.

‘This is a questionable situation, don’t you think,’ she said on arrival. ‘Harry should be in hospital, not shacked up in some godforsaken bachelor pad. What is this place anyway?’

‘Invisible. And you need to keep it that way.’ Jameson offered Caroline a seat on the couch but she remained standing. ‘It’s only for a few days.’

‘Is this your doing?’ she said to Karene. ‘Because I think it’s incredibly selfish.’

Bloom stepped in before Karene had a chance to bite. ‘As I said on the phone, there was an incident at the rehabilitation centre and he wasn’t safe there any more.’