Salt tears drop, to join the seawater. She ought to go back to Leonie. Soon, the child will notice that her mother has gone. But if she goes back, she might as well be dead. Whatever the water holds, for however short a time, if she goes in now, she’ll be free once more.

As she stands there at the cusp of going in, of not going in, she wonders if the knowledge that she has left her will remain with the child forever, a scar running deep, a fear that it was the child’s own fault, that the solid fact of her existence was not enough to make her mother stay. She feels the pull of her baby, anchoring her to this place, to this life. But then she hears it again, the song of the seals, and her heart is full. She can’t stay. At least under the water, there is a chance she will return to what she was. A chance that she has to take. If it doesn’t work, if all she meets is oblivion, even that is better than what she has now. She steps forward, into the water, diving under, letting it take her, deep down, far away.

CHAPTER

7

NOW

Joanna

Friday, December 21

AFTER THE TWO officers helped the paramedics haul the man from the tub, together they dried him off as best they could, keeping him warm with the bedding until the stretcher was brought up. They covered Gregor’s body in silver space blankets and transported him to the ground floor, where the emergency doctor started administering fluids.

Although still unconscious, the man didn’t look quite as dead as he had in the bathroom, which Harper took as a good sign. “Will he live?” she asked.

One of the paramedics paused to look at her. “He’s alive now. That’s all I can tell you.”

The back doors of the ambulance slammed, and a moment later Joanna watched it drive away, slowly at first over the speed bumps, then accelerating, blue lights and sirens blaring the moment they hit the bypass.

Two more patrol cars arrived, with officers on board to help secure the scene. She ordered three of them to guard each of the entrances: one to monitor the lift, one the stairs, and one at the door of Apartment 7. She herself stood at the main door to the block, waiting for her superior, Inspector Thrupp, to arrive.