“I must have been about ten—all I can remember is that I got lost. How about you?”

“Never.”

“Well, this is going to be fun, isn’t it?”

Leni couldn’t resist a slight giggle.

They entered the maze.

“All right then,” said Lockhart. “Left or right?”

“Right,” said Leni, “let’s go right.”

“Fine.”

They walked for about ten yards and then turned left and left again. What worried Lockhart most was that the maze was quite busy, with several children running around, as well as plenty of other couples. Most of the men were in uniform.

A dead end.

“Well, I suppose that had to happen,” Lockhart said.

“Sorry,” said Leni.

Lockhart pretended to strangle her.

They made their way back to the entrance and turned left and then took two right turns. They were presented with a fork.

“I say left,” said Lockhart. “Right would take us back near the entrance.”

“Whatever you say—you’re the expert.”

Another dead end.

“Damn!” said Lockhart. “I’d be enjoying this if I was here for some other reason. How are we going to get out of here in a hurry?”

“We’ll be all right,” said Leni. “We’ll just have to remember the sequence of turns and then reverse them.”

After ten minutes, they had reached the center, where there were two benches and a sundial.

“I don’t see her,” said Lockhart.

All they could see were three couples, and a family, which must have consisted of at least six strikingly blond children. Lockhart looked at his watch—it was coming up on half past twelve.

“I wouldn’t mind doing this one more time,” he said.

“Let’s both memorize the turns and then compare notes back at the entrance,” said Leni.

“Good idea,” said Lockhart.

Back at the entrance, they found they agreed.

“So, it’s left, right, left, then three rights, four lefts, three rights, two lefts,” said Lockhart.

“That’s what I make it,” replied Leni.

“Easy enough to remember—after the initial left right left, there are two sets of rights and two sets of lefts. The rights come in threes, and the lefts in four and then two.”

Leni looked mildly exasperated.

“You do make life complicated for yourself!”

Lockhart suddenly started.

“What?” asked Leni.

“Don’t turn ’round, but I just saw her going in.”

“Does she have a scarf on?”

“Yes, a blue one.”

“Good. Let’s follow her.”

“No,” said Lockhart. “Leave it for five minutes. Give her a chance to sit down and read the paper. We’ll get there bang on one.”

“Well, we can’t just stand here.”

Lockhart looked around.

“Let’s go and get some sweets or something.”

“Or maybe some flowers?”

“Flowers?”

Leni was pointing to a flower salesman.

“Are you being serious?”

Lockhart looked at his watch again. Ten to one.

“You ready?” he asked.

Leni nodded.

They walked back into the maze, Leni clutching a single dark red rose. Lockhart felt on edge, the same as he had felt when he landed in Crete, the same sense of dread that he was walking headfirst into a trap.