Then she gave him a hug and ran away, leaving everyone in the water gardens to wonder if she’d really been in danger or was just some mad American.

Bennett left the park, crossed over Bayswater Road, and headed into Lancaster Gate tube station. She now assumed Knox had never made it to Speakers’ Corner or the water gardens after all. She didn’t know where he was, and she needed to find him.

Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Bennett took the Central Line from Lancaster Gate to Oxford Circus and, after checking that the man from the park hadn’t followed her or handed her over to another tail, made her way to Kemp House.

She’d decided that Knox’s flat was a good place to start her search for him. It wasn’t until she reached the top floor of the building that she realised something was wrong. As soon as the lift door opened, the acrid smell of smoke hit her. It reminded her of her childhood and the never-ending task of keeping the kitchen fire burning through winter. The sight of the tarpaulin across the door brought her back to the present. She opened the seam, releasing even more old smoke into the corridor, and shouted Knox’s name as she stepped into the flat and saw the destruction.

She found Knox strapped to the bed, smeared with dirt and blood. She rushed to his side and checked his breathing. It was shallow, but it was there. She shook his shoulders and shouted his name again, but he didn’t wake up. She ran out into the kitchen, looking for something to cut him free, but only found the two sets of footprints that led into the open-plan area and the single set and long streak that led away from it. The drawers that lined the kitchen counter were all warped shut.

Bennett tried the bathroom next. Like the bedroom, it had survived mostly intact. She opened the mirrored cupboard that sat on the wall above the sink and found a small pair of scissors. Standing over the bed again, she opened them to make a single blade and slashed at the strips of duct tape holding Knox down. Then she cut the binding around his ankles and wrists. Finally, she ripped the tape off his mouth. She expected the pain of the glue tearing the skin off his lips would bring him round. It didn’t.

Knox wouldn’t wake up because he didn’t want to. His mind was happy exactly where it was, dreaming that he was back at the Festival of Britain with Jack Williams.