Lucy perched on the coffee table and gently brushed a lock of fair hair from Max’s temple. “He’s so like you. Tell me what happened. You feel guilty?” She kept her voice low.

“He was aggressively shoved outside his school, Lucy. Running to Anna. She saw a broad-shouldered man rush past him, and didn’t realize at first how hard he’d fallen. Not an accident. She assumes it was.”

After Alex’s alert to her earlier she was assembling ideas fast, and didn’t like them, but she tried to keep her voice even. “Are you very sure it wasn’t?”

“The missed call.” Alex looked at her levelly. “A heavy man. You mentioned a heavy man, also. It’s too much of a coincidence. I carried him straight to Courtney, and Anna wouldn’t watch the stitches. That allowed Max to tell me the man had seemed to knock into him deliberately. He’d kept that from his mother. You know it’s about the missed call, and as a warning it’s a masterstroke. They know where I’m most vulnerable.”

Lucy looked at him sympathetically.

“I didn’t properly consider Max or Anna,” he said, almost to himself. “They have nothing to give these people—they’re not directly involved in any of this. I was focused on you, since we seem to be in the front line with these documents. But it’s not a mistake I’ll repeat. I’ll find a reason to convince Anna to take Max to her parents in Yorkshire for a few days—get them right out of the way till this packet of Will’s turns up.” His expression showed self-disgust. “And targeting Max—it’s worked, Lucy. Whatever it is, whatever they want, if we can find it, I’ll hand it over. It’s just not worth this,” he said firmly, glancing down at Max. Lucy looked thoughtfully at the father and his small son, biting her bottom lip unconsciously.

Alex carried Max down to bed while she threw together a salad. When he returned and they held each other, it was the body language of mutual support rather than desire. Then, with little inflection, Alex asked: “Dad gave you Will’s keys?”

She nodded. “Do you mind? I felt odd taking them, but he was insistent.”

“I suggested it. And I have one more for you.” He reached the envelope with its broken seal from his coat pocket, and placed it in her hand. He moved away a little to choose a new CD while she emptied out the contents, then looked across to see her staring with shock.

“When did this arrive?”

“Sometime Saturday.” She responded with a gentle exhalation through pursed lips, and Alex raised his eyebrows. “They want us to know they can reach us anywhere and at any time. Have you developed anything we can give them?”