‘Or for you. If someone wanted to kidnap you, they’d need to make sure you were near enough to the blast to require an ambulance, but far enough away to survive. The room you were in had thick walls that would protect you from the explosion and place you behind the main blast area and also the most seriously wounded who would be looked after first. If Karene hadn’t sought you out …’ Jameson moved his hand to the floor plan of the building. ‘Look at the stairway to the kitchen. This takes you out to an exit. And it’s pretty much opposite the room where you were.’ Jameson pointed to the last photo of the grey-haired man at 19.52. ‘Ten minutes before the bomb goes off, he’s heading up the stairs to the building. Eight minutes later the call for dinner will be made and everyone apart from the twelve of you caught in the blast will leave this building. And I’d bet my money that does not include him. I think he’s coming in to see you, possibly to engage you in conversation and keep you where they need you to be.’

‘That’s a stretch, isn’t it?’

‘Is it? Look here at the CCTV footage showing all the ambulances congregating along the side of the building, all except this one.’ Jameson pointed to the image of a sole ambulance caught on a different CCTV camera.

‘It’s going around to the back.’

Jameson pointed at the building map again. ‘To this rear exit.’

‘Was this guy one of the twelve injured?’

‘He wasn’t with you in the immediate aftermath according to Karene, so he must have been capable of moving away and the Detective Superintendent in charge is certain that all those in attendance are accounted for.’

‘Except for this guy?’

‘No. He says all those with tickets to attend are accounted for.’

Harry thought about it. ‘So he wasn’t officially there?’

‘If they wanted you injured but alive, his job may have been to ensure that.’

‘You think he was in league with the bomber?’

‘And the dummy ambulance crew.’

Something flickered in Harry’s memory, too fleeting to understand.

‘What?’ said Jameson.

Harry shook his head.

‘You look like you remembered something.’

‘Nothing tangible.’ Harry tried to bring the memory back but it was gone. ‘Why do you think this is happening to me? Any insights from your background?’

‘Well … there’s a few things that don’t add up. A terrorist bomb is a sophisticated cover for kidnap but then there’s the botched attack at Stanford Hall. On top of that, the brutality of how they tortured your cousin doesn’t fit with the surgical precision needed to wipe your memory. And the taunting emails Karene’s getting—’