‘Who first called me anonymously, to tell me you were at Baker Street, then again to say you were going to be at Finchley Road, and finally texted me to say you were parked near Edgware Road? When I got to the car, I saw through the Ripper’s eyes, and … I think it was someone you’d recently met, but I can hardly believe it…’

‘Gaiman,’ said Quill, amazed. ‘I thought he was working for you.’

‘Not at all. I want to know how he knew my number. Why he got involved.’

‘Presumably you don’t want to send him a thank-you basket of muffins.’

‘Indeed not. He’s another loose end.’

Quill looked again to the presence in the room that Vincent couldn’t perceive. Was it his imagination, or did it seem to be gloating? The Smiling Man was the other power in London who might use a proxy like Gaiman to achieve his ends, but what were they? Had he just wanted to make use of Vincent to get Quill killed? There had to be more to it than that. He could surely have done that in a million different, far less ornate, ways.

Vincent put his finger back on the panic button. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘if you’re none the wiser about all that, then it’s time I brought this conversation to an end anyway. You’ve heard everything. You can’t stop me using the scrying glass, and – come on – you’ll never successfully bring me to justice. So I assume you’re now going to launch yourself at me in the vain hope of stopping me pressing this button?’

‘Oh no,’ said Quill, shaking his head, ‘definitely not.’

Vincent seemed puzzled by Quill’s matter-of-fact tone of voice, his finger hovering over the button. ‘So you really did come here just to hear the truth?’

‘No,’ said Quill, shaking his head again.

‘Then, what…?’

Quill looked to where a strange and familiar light was appearing through the wall. He grinned. ‘I came here, mush,’ he said, ‘to keep you talking.’

Chapter Twenty-Nine

TWENTY-NINE

A FEW MINUTES EARLIER

Ross listened to what the familiar, tender voice on the other end of the phone line was telling her. He was saying what he’d done. He was calling, he said finally, from a room where he was being held by security guards, and Quill – Quill, who was back to life, who was back in this world instead of her dad – was about to do something which was informed by where they were, and so now she should listen, because …

She held the phone out towards Sefton while Costain was still talking. ‘You should listen to him,’ she said. ‘It’s important and I can’t.’

Sefton was astonished; his eyes interrogated her. He hesitantly spoke into the phone, and listened to what Costain told him, and put a hand to his face in amazement.