‘Hey!’ shouted Rico from the next room. ‘The pretty white girl’s on TV!’

Tom and Kate stared at each other.

‘Come see, come see!’ yelled Rico.

They went through to the smoky fug of the TV room. Someone had flicked channels to the news. The mute symbol shone bright and blocky in the top right of the screen, obscuring Kate’s picture.

Tom felt the blood drain from his head. He stumbled forward, stepping over people and pillows to get closer to the TV. Now his parents’ faces were filling the screen. The camera pulled back to reveal they were seated on a rostrum at what looked like a press conference or something.

Beside them sat Hal and Marcie Folan, Kate’s parents.

He heard Kate swear. ‘Jesus, what is this?’

‘Puff, hit the volume,’ Ramone snapped.

‘… Anderson, originally believed to have drowned near Seattle in mid-August in a tragic accident, and Seattle resident Kate Folan are both wanted for questioning in connection with a double homicide in New Orleans.’

Two faces were flashed up, a broad-faced Inuit type and a shrivelled old man. Tom felt his world tilt. Both men were in the pay of Takapa. Together, they’d nearly killed Tom. But Kate’s mother had arrived on the scene just as Tom had started to fight back. She’d killed both men so she could have Tom herself –and he’d only escaped with his life thanks to Adam Blood joining the fight.

But clearly Marcie was now putting her murders to further use.

The TV cameras came in for a close-up on Marcie and Hal. Flash bulbs popped and glared from the front rows of the conference.

‘Whatever you’ve done, whatever drove you to do it,’ Marcie said, her voice studiedly weak with false emotion, ‘Tom, Kate, we ask that you give yourselves up now …’

Hal nodded. The grief on his face looked real enough.

As Marcie looked straight into the camera, Tom felt like she was staring directly into his own eyes. ‘The consequences, should you not, will be so much worse,’ she continued. Another flash went off, but Tom knew that wasn’t the cause of the unmistakable spark of gold that spun through Marcie’s eyes. ‘And you have to know your parents need you here.’

A different camera, placed more to the side of the rostrum, zoomed in on Carrie Anderson, Tom’s mom. He hadn’t seen her for three months but she seemed to have aged about ten years. She looked grey and haggard.

‘Tom,’ she sobbed. ‘I don’t know how we can survive this unless you come back to us soon, baby.’

Marcie moved into the shot, placed a comforting hand on Carrie’s shoulder.

And with a casual glance at the camera, she licked her lips.

Chapter Three

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CHAPTER THREE

The news anchorman rounded things up by announcing the pair were rumoured to be in New York City.