‘They’d have to be outside the physical constraints of themselves.’

‘Right.’

‘As we all will be. Eventually. It’s one of the very few certainties of life, in fact.’

If he were in the cold light of day, if other people were around, Will would probably have laughed her implication off. But in this dimly lit room, with just this utterly compelling woman, after all the many strange occurrences that have led him here, he feels a fizzing in his veins. These things may sound crazy, but they feel like truth.

‘With me?’ she asks.

‘I think I am.’ There’s heat in his eyes. ‘Lots of people see ghosts, don’t they? It’s not even that unusual, is it?’

But he can’t voice the question that this acceptance leads him to: why me? What do they want with me?

‘You’ve maybe made a leap there that you don’t need to.’

‘You are talking about ghosts, right?’

‘I’m not sure I am.’

‘So what are you talking about?’

‘Something far less supernatural, that’s for sure. We’re talking about a conscious state that is well understood by science.’

‘By which you mean death?’

‘Aha! No, Will! That’s the leap too far. Not death. Dying. The strange business of dying.’

‘Is it a strange business?’

‘The very strangest, Will.’ A shadow falls over her face. ‘When you’ve been with someone as they die, you realize what a complex thing death is. It’s not like a machine switching off, I promise you. Everything that life means, gone in a few moments of oxygen starvation? Does that seem right to you? Does it feel right?’

‘I suppose not.’

‘One day you’ll perhaps find yourself holding someone’s hand as they go. You’ll see what I mean.’

Will can’t help but think of Nain and the turn for the worse she’s taken these last couple of days; barely able to leave her chair, memory shot to bits.

‘You OK?’ Ms Calloway whispers.

Will dismisses the thought. ‘So what is it that happens when someone dies? What happens to this consciousness?’

‘Gosh, you’re hitting me with some terrifically huge questions, Will! I don’t think anyone can answer that with any authority. But there are good theories.’

‘Like?’

‘Firstly, let’s take a moment to appreciate that there is no “moment of death” as such. Things stop at different times – the heart, the lungs. The digestive system, for example, carries on doing its thing at a molecular level for weeks. But what concerns us here is conscious thought.’

‘The brain.’

‘Exactly. The mind. Thought; imagination; perception – when do these things stop?’

‘No clue.’