F: INAUDIBLE… I’m so sorry, I’ve lost track of the time. I promised to be home for my father.

Those last sentences were clear as a bell – as if she’d been announcing it to the table. The accent may have slightly changed, but not the voice.

Morahan heard sounds above.

‘It’s late, Francis.’

‘Yes, I know. Sorry. I’ve just finished.’

He packed the photograph and cassette back into the envelope, switched off the study light and climbed the stairs.

Iona was standing on the landing. ‘I couldn’t sleep.’

‘That’s unlike you.’

‘I was worried.’ She looked at the envelope. ‘Did you get that from him?’

‘Yes.’

‘And it’s kept you up this long?’

‘Yes. I’ll tell you in the morning.’ He looked at her. ‘It’s more sensitive than anything I’ve had before. For some reason, I don’t think locking it in my desk is a good idea. In fact I’m not sure having anything in my desk is a good idea.’

She stretched out a hand. ‘Give it to me. I’ll find a place for it.’

Morahan handed her the envelope. ‘Thank you.’ She looked into his eyes and sighed.

He went into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and splashed water over his face, rubbing his eyes. He must hold his nerve. He told himself again that he was the independent chairman of a public inquiry lawfully established by the government of a democratic, constitutionally upright nation.

The mystery now was who she was – or had once been. Who had she known? What had she known?

Chapter 10

10

A sharp Lancastrian morning brought a clear-mindedness which, Sara thought, had temporarily gone missing during the late-night trawl of the streets of Blackburn. Firstly, she must exert self-discipline over the anonymous texts – there was nothing to be gained from speculating about them and nothing in their words to alarm her. There seemed no way of tracing their origins.

She must not allow their mere existence to scare her. There might be an explanation for them one day – there might not. Back to the knowable.

Samir’s story was, despite that misgiving about him she still couldn’t pin down, a breakthrough. There had been some kind of significant operation which Morahan’s source Sayyid was directing him to disinter – even if its exact nature remained unclear.

As for the other four names on the Blackburn files, at least she now fully understood that they were a group and why they had been hauled in by Blackburn CID. Their apparently easy release without any charge or even caution struck her as odd. It raised the further question of whether Special Branch, or even MI5, had smelt an opportunity. Sami’s denial had not fully convinced her – even if he was covering for one of his former friends.