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Chapters (53)
  1. The Source
  2. Dedication
  3. Contents
  4. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  5. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1996
  6. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  7. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1996
  8. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  9. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1996
  10. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  11. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1996
  12. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  13. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1996
  14. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  15. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1996
  16. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  17. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1996
  18. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  19. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1997
  20. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  21. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1997
  22. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  23. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1997
  24. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  25. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1997
  26. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  27. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1997
  28. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  29. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1997
  30. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  31. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1997
  32. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  33. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1997
  34. Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1998
  35. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  36. Carly ~ London ~ 2001
  37. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  38. Carly ~ London ~ 2001
  39. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  40. Carly ~ London ~ 2001
  41. Marie ~ Just outside Warchester ~ 2006
  42. Carly ~ London ~ 2001
  43. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  44. Carly ~ Deptford ~ 2002
  45. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  46. Marie ~ Deptford ~ 2004
  47. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  48. Marie ~ London ~ 2005
  49. Marie ~ London ~ 2006
  50. Marie ~ London ~ Six months later
  51. Acknowledgements
  52. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  53. Copyright

‘Inconvenience my arse!’ Dominic grabs the headrest in front of him as the train starts to move, back down the track towards London. London, I think, its millions of buildings and towers and streets and parks crowding into my head. Where everyone’s invisible. Where protecting yourself is as simple as crouching in one of its million hiding places.

‘….agents will be passing up and down the train now with information about your onward options once we’ve returned safely to Liverpool Street.’

I get to my feet, rocking back and forth with the rumble of the engine.

‘Can you believe this?’ Dominic’s eyes blaze at me. Out of the window, I can see the blank green fields of Essex lengthening as we speed up.

‘Have you got reception yet? Check, would you? We can get a cab from Chelmsford…’

I laugh, a sudden, high burst of sound, mingling with the roar of the train. Carly shouts, so loud I’m sure everyone can hear her.

Dominic recoils, staring. I square up to him, Carly hanging like armour around me. You owe us, they’d said. Just put them off the scent, they’d said. National security depends on it, they’d said. It’s in the national interest, they’d said.

And I decide. Marie decides. She knows Carly better than she knows herself. From now on, they can only ever be one and the same.

‘The only place we need to go is Whitehall,’ I say, gripping the headrest as we thunder down the track. ‘But you need to promise me something, OK?’

‘Did you bang your head again in there or something? What are you on about?’217

I look up at him, swaying with the rhythm of the train, up at this version of Dominic I’ve finally figured out. The version that raised his baby brother when his mum died, the version that’s got nearly all the answers because he’s asked enough questions, the version that’s as vulnerable, scared and betrayed as Carly. As me. The wild urgency I felt while we were trapped in the lobby has condensed into lucid, implacable fury.

‘If I trust you, will you trust me?’

He nods as he steps towards me.

‘I think…’ I say, leaning forward so I can whisper. Can I even say it out loud? ‘I think Captain Robert Leigh Parish was my dad.’

I rub my head as Carly screams, fire-alarm high. Somewhere down the aisle, the baby wakes up, and starts to cry again.

218

Carly ~ London ~ 2001