Elliot saw his words had shaken Harri and he felt guilty for making her afraid, but she needed to know the truth if she was going to protect herself. ‘I found this in the cottage.’ He pulled the poem from his pocket and handed it over.

Harri read in silence until she got to the last couplet.

‘ “Hurry Harri, your time has come,” ’ she read. ‘When did you find this?’

‘Today,’ Elliot replied. ‘He left it somewhere only I would look.’

‘He’s served half his sentence and will have been released on probation. I’ll call his probation officer and find out where he’s living. I can send a couple of officers round to see what he’s up to. Let him know he’s being watched,’ Harri suggested.

She rearranged some papers on her desk while searching for her phone, and revealed an object Elliot recognized. He looked at it in disbelief.

‘Where did you get that?’ he asked, pointing to the galaxy of stars shimmering inside the sphere that was contained within the crystal cube.

‘It came in the post today.’

‘It’s from him,’ Elliot said.

‘What? No.’

‘I’m telling you it’s from him.’ Elliot picked it up and studied it reverently. The light inside the sphere ebbed and flowed as though it was alive.

‘I thought I dreamed it,’ he said.

‘Dreamed what?’

‘When you’ve lost faith, and all seems broken, the last beacon of hope will break the rock of despair,’ Elliot whispered, eyes still fixed on the sphere.

‘Why do I recognize that?’ Harri asked.

‘It was on the iPod he made me listen to as a kid. Said it was training, but it was just nonsense, the mad ramblings of a lunatic.’

‘What was he training you for?’ Harri asked. ‘What was the secret?’

Elliot wavered. What did it matter after all these years? Ben was never going to honour his part of the deal, so why should he keep the man’s confidence?

‘Come on,’ Harri said. ‘You almost told me that day at Longhaven.’

Elliot was about to answer, but something inside tugged the words out of his mouth. Desperation? Hope? Even after all he’d experienced, he couldn’t bring himself to betray their secret bond. It meant too much to him.

‘Is he your father?’ Harri asked. ‘Were he and your mother having an affair?’ She looked at the ball in the cube. ‘Is that how he poisoned her? Is that why he sent it to me? Is that Cobalt 60?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Elliot replied. ‘But I think it is the key to the secret.’

‘Which is?’

‘I can’t tell you. Not until I see where this thing leads.’

He started for the door.

Harri got to her feet. ‘You’re not leaving with that. It belongs to me.’

‘Fine. I think we’re meant to go together,’ Elliot replied. He couldn’t believe what he was holding, and kept looking at the ball as though it might suddenly disappear.

‘Meant to?’ Harri asked. ‘If you think I’m walking into a trap set by a crazy—’