When he’s finished, he peers at the entry wound in Dr Varma’s forehead, wondering if it was made by the same type of bullet that killed the man in Cornwall. An even bigger, nineteenth-century illustration of the brain looms above Dr Varma on the wall behind him. Silas straightens up to look at it, wondering which parts of the brain the bullet passed through. And then he notices the white lumpy flecking on the picture, sprayed across the right temporal lobe, and reaches for his hanky. For the first time in years at a crime scene, he throws up.

94

Jake

Jake glances up and down the Eurostar carriage, scanning the passengers for anyone who might be following him. DI Hart’s on the phone, explaining about Dr Varma and warning him to be careful. Jake wishes Kate were here. She’d be able to spot a tail, give them a silly nickname. For some reason, old ladies were always Ethel, bald guys were Bill, gingerheads Rich. She saw lots of ‘serial killers’ too – at least that’s what she used to call anyone who looked dodgy.

‘Maybe Dr Varma was trying to warn Kate about something,’ he says to Hart.

‘According to the doctor’s diary, he had a 9 a.m. appointment with her,’ Hart says.

‘We met him coming out of the apartment.’

‘And that’s when he told you the address in France?’ Hart asks.

‘He wasn’t exactly forthcoming with the information.’ Jake closes his eyes. An image of Dr Varma slammed up against the wall comes and goes. The doctor must have known what he was doing when he decided to put his Hippocratic oath before his life and tell Jake where Kate had been taken.

Jake looks around the carriage again. The man who has just returned from the buffet car throws him a suspicious scowl. The woman across the aisle is still talking in whispers on her phone.

‘He said he couldn’t tell us anything,’ he continues. ‘He had a wife and children, said that we didn’t know who we were dealing with.’

‘But you managed to persuade him,’ Hart says. There’s no accusation in the detective’s voice, only procedural interest. Hart must have persuaded a number of people in his time to tell him things that they didn’t want to reveal.

‘I reminded him of his Hippocratic oath,’ Jake says.

‘I guess words are your business,’ Hart says.

‘His family will need protection.’

‘We’re on it already.’