“Milly?” Ellie blinked: her surroundings swam into focus as the dream bled away. The box room at the church. Milly sitting back against the wall, staring at her. And everything else. The creatures. Last night. Keira Lucas with half her head blown off, pathetic and somehow even pitiable. “Oh shit,” she said. “Jesus Christ.”

“Oi.” Milly prodded Ellie with her toe. “Language. You okay?”

Ellie wasn’t, but she nodded. “Had better days,” she said at last. “Sorry. Just needed to crash.”

“Not surprised. Bit of an adrenaline rush there, eh?”

“Huh.” Ellie managed a weak smile. “How long –?”

“Half an hour, if that. Soz, Ell. No peace for the wicked. Anyway, thought you’d wanna be up.” Milly nodded towards the landing. Jess Harper was standing there, looking very solemn, arms wrapped around a huge leather-bound Bible that looked almost as big as her. Beside her, leaning on Charlotte and Kate, was Madeleine Lowe.

A scuffling sound made Ellie jump; a grey furry shape squirmed between the other women’s legs, ran over to her and began licking her face. “Gerroff,” she grunted. Reuben blinked, panting happily. Ellie sighed, ruffled his fur and looked up at the others. “The baby?”

“Downstairs,” said Jess.

“Tara’s looking after him,” Milly said. “Now, budge up.”

Keeping the blanket around her, Ellie wriggled back across the box room floor till she was up against the wall. Reuben put his head in her lap. Milly sat beside Ellie, cross-legged, and the two younger women lowered Madeleine into a sitting position. Kate Beck seemed be functioning quite well one-armed, but Madeleine wasn’t looking well at all. Her face was pale and beaded with sweat. Ellie hoped Chris Brailsford had found Milly some good painkillers. “You okay?” she asked.

“Held together by blood and guts and piano wire, wack,” Madeleine grunted. “Lucky Dr Feelgood here’s sorting me out. Still won’t give me the good drugs, though.”

Milly rolled her eyes. “Got her on paracetamol and dihydrocodeine,” she told Ellie. “Got some tramadol too, but I’m holding back on that in case it fucks up her breathing. Mind you, at least that might stop her whinging.”

Madeleine blew a weak raspberry.

“So what’s all this?” Ellie asked.

“This.” Jess held out the heavy Bible. “That’s what they came after me for. Wouldn’t have been arsed if it’d been me on my own, or even Joel.”

“It’s the Family Bible,” Milly explained. “So it’s not just your normal book.”

“I’ve been going through it,” Madeleine said, “and I think it’s exactly what we’ve needed to put the pieces together. It’s full of old papers, parchments – our friend Dr Bayliss would’ve given his back teeth for it. Maybe that’s why he got ‘drowned’.”

“Dr who?” said Charlotte.

“No,” said Madeleine, “Dr Bayliss.”

“Fuck’s sake,” Milly groaned, and threw a crumpled tissue at her.

“Long story,” said Ellie. “So this is, what?”