‘Honestly, sir …’

‘It’s an order,’ Tom says, and the orderly stands back reluctantly as Tom eases himself onto the pavement. ‘Thanks for the lift,’ Tom says, as the worried-looking man salutes him.

Now that he is standing, watching the orderly drive away, Tom’s head is starting to swim again. He finds himself staring into the square. There are people moving about in the shadows beneath the trees, bent shapes, shuffling and bending. He realises they are scavenging for twigs to burn. He limps across the road and down the marble steps leading into the park. After a while his leg feels as if it is about to give way so he sits down on the bottom step. I should draw this, he thinks, but his eye is caught by a dog, skeletal, with chewed ears, who is watching the wood-gatherers in its turn.

‘I’m going back,’ he says aloud, and tries to stand up, but a stabbing pain in his leg forces him back down. He is just gathering himself for another attempt when he sees someone waving to him from across the road: it is Chris Dimitriou, with Earl McCall behind him.

‘Tom?’

‘Oh. Hello, Chris.’ Tom waves a hand. ‘You couldn’t give me a hand up, could you?’

‘What the hell’s happened to you, old man?’ McCall asks as he puts a hand under one of Tom’s arms. Dimitriou takes the other arm, and Tom manages to stand, leaning heavily on his friends. ‘We were looking for you last night. Seferis had us round for dinner. I thought you were invited?’

‘No,’ says Tom. ‘I need to go now, chaps.’

‘Are you all right, Tom?’ Dimitriou is looking him over. ‘Christ, you’re wounded!’

‘I’m fine. Really. I have to go back to Koumoundourou Square.’

‘What’s over there, Tom?’ They are leading him over to one of the iron benches.

‘I found her,’ Tom says.

McCall lights a cigarette and gives it to him. ‘Oh, man,’ he says.

‘Zoë Valavani?’ Dimitriou sits down next to Tom. ‘I’m so sorry, old chap.’

‘I found her, and now I have to bury her. I can’t leave her for the dogs. I can’t leave her …’ He closes his eyes. ‘Like that.’

‘You need to go to hospital.’

‘I will. I will. But first I need to bury her. She’s all alone. Do you understand?’ He finds the cap badge in his pocket and takes it out. ‘She had this. She was holding on to it all this time. We’d both been holding on to each other. And when I found her …’ He presses his fingers against his eyelids to blot out the image. ‘It wasn’t enough. I didn’t save her. We haven’t saved anyone, Chris. Now please let me go.’