She was scorched by the word. He must’ve leaned within inches of her. Even in darkness so complete, she thought she could make out the glint of his stare. “I can see how far you’ve come on the same slender thread. And well, why not? I taught you everything you know, didn’t I? I’m proud of you, old girl. I admire you for it. In fact, I admire you so much that if I thought for a second one chance remained, that even one copy of the final text was still in existence, so help me, so help me, I would give myself the pleasure: I would grind your bones to make my bread.”

Again, his breath burned her. Her hand spasmed, jerked, her stick tip ticking twice on the stone. Why didn’t he? Why didn’t he just do it? In spite of everything, her curiosity almost made her ask aloud. But she mustn’t. It might tempt him. It might give him ideas. For the sake of her life, she must force herself to keep silent.

It seemed to provoke him. He snarled: “You think I can’t?”

“Why don’t you?” she blurted out. What a foolish, foolish old woman. “Why don’t you just do it? Why don’t you just kill me?”

He drew away. The heat of his breath diminished, at least. But no, he had retreated from her, she could feel it. She stood where she was, staring after him, seeing nothing. She tried to swallow, but her throat was dry as dust.

“It’s the boy, isn’t it?” she said softly. “You want the boy. Our boy. You need him somehow. Not just his life. You need him with you, you need him on your side. That’s it, isn’t it? Isn’t it, Jacob?” He made no answer. Where was he? She couldn’t tell. She took an unsteady step forward, called after him in the darkness. “If you killed me, he would know. He would know it was you. If I were hit by a car, by lightning, drowned in the Thames—if I died in my sleep—he would still know who was to blame. And it’s the one thing he would never forgive you for. It’s the one thing that would keep him away from you forever. You don’t want to make me a martyr to him. You need him on your side. Isn’t that it? Isn’t it?”

But aside from her own frightened wheezing, there was no noise in the round, in the church anywhere.

“Jacob?”