‘Yes, we can. You saw for yourself it didn’t matter to him that he was switching sides. He just had to preserve a dominance. My question is whether Isobel fully saw it. Maybe she did. Maybe she deliberately gave him a role that fulfilled what he needed. Maybe, with that same deliberation, she stroked and massaged him. “It’s you the world is depending on, Kareem.” Can’t you imagine it? “One day, Kareem, your greatness will emerge for those in a position to see it.” Maybe it went like that.’

Patrick sighed. ‘Or, you’re wanting to say, maybe it didn’t.’

She sat bolt upright. ‘Precisely. Who was manipulating who? Who really was in control?’

‘There’s one simple indicator,’ said Patrick, eyes aching from fatigue and the alcohol in his system that he’d been disguising. ‘She got to be Head of MI5.’

‘Indicators are not enough.’

‘It’s late, Sara, you should sleep.’

‘No,’ she whispered harshly. The anger, now overt and visible to him, overwhelmed any sense of exhaustion. Anger with herself, with her father and himself, with fate – a moral anger he’d never seen before. ‘Kareem needed a victim. Always. He lined them up. That’s what gave him the kick. I was one. Marion, Sami, how many others we may never know. Each time his appetite was whetted more. You, Patrick, you were a victim, you signed that contract.’ He stayed silent, closing his eyes again. The storm had to blow itself out. ‘Was Isobel a victim too? That’s what we need to know.’ She put her lips to her father’s ear. ‘Come on, Dad,’ she whispered urgently, ‘I’m asking you too. Wake up and tell me the answer.’

The nurse entered and knelt by Sara, putting an arm round her. Patrick could tell she’d been watching. ‘Let him rest.’

Sara stretched out a hand; he took it and led her away. Bridget nodded to him and he nodded back in agreement. She went peacefully with him to the family room and lay herself on the sofa, curling up like a small child. He returned to the intensive care unit and asked Bridget if there was a blanket. By the time she had found one and he was laying it over, her eyes were closed. He watched her for a few minutes and left.