“I would have thought,” Arthur said slowly, “that the thing Johnny wants more than anything in the world is to have Amelia back again. That’s what he told you. That’s what we all know. But as that isn’t possible...” He shrugged. “I really don’t know what else he might be planning.”

Lizzie shivered, remembering Johnny’s words the previous night, his fierce protestation that he would do anything he could to bring Amelia back. She could hear the echo of his voice:

“If only I’d realised in time—”

Realised what? she wondered. He had not said.

“Have you read the book?” Arthur flicked through the notebook. “Do you know what’s in it?”

“No,” Lizzie said. “I couldn’t. It was too...” She hesitated. “The emotions it stirred up were too powerful,” she said, and was glad when Arthur merely nodded. He might not be comfortable with the paranormal stuff, she thought, but at least he was accepting.

“I’ll take a look,” he said. “It might help.” He slid the book into his pocket; sighed. “Before I go,” he said, “would you mind telling me exactly what happened when Johnny disappeared?” He spread his hands. “I know you told me—and the police—that you fainted and when you came around Johnny had gone, but how did that all come about?”

“We walked down to the river,” Lizzie said. “Johnny asked if I’d mind going with him to the Tube. He wanted to show me the plaque that commemorated the fact that this was once the site of a palace called Baynard’s Castle. He’d mentioned it earlier in the evening and seemed really into the idea that these flats were built on the site of an old palace.”

“That’s Johnny,” Arthur said ruefully. “He’s hooked on history.”

“Yeah, the notebook is full of dates and stuff,” Lizzie said. “That much I did notice. Anyway, we went down to the Embankment and Johnny showed me the plaque and stupidly I touched it.” She stopped. “It’s weird,” she said slowly, “but normally the psychometry only works when I want it to. I mean, I have to deliberately open my mind up to the possibility of reading an object. I touched the plaque without really thinking. I wasn’t expecting anything to happen.”

“And something did,” Arthur said.

“There was nothing, at first,” Lizzie said. “Then everything changed and it felt as though I was actually there in the past, and I could see the castle, and smell the river and feel the sun on me as though it was real...” She gave a convulsive shudder. “Then I blacked out.”

“And came around to find that Johnny had done a runner and you’d drawn a crowd,” Arthur finished drily.

“That’s about right,” Lizzie said slowly. “I don’t know when Johnny left me, or why. Perhaps he was scared by what happened.”

“I doubt it,” Arthur said. “We both know Johnny is much more comfortable with this paranormal stuff than either of us.”

“That’s true.” Lizzie was remembering Johnny telling her how cool it was that she had psychometric powers and that she shouldn’t be afraid of them. “Perhaps I was right then to think that he’d been playing me all evening,” she said, “and he was just waiting for a chance to slip away.”