It appeared to come from the hovering cloud, which had opened its mouth. The cloud had eyes as well. If it hadn’t just produced the features, presumably the darkness gathering at the horizon had let them grow clear. The cloud was a reflection of the intruder behind me, the source of the voice. I twisted around in my chair, grazing my arm on the edge of the desk, to see Bella in the middle of the dim room. In an attempt to fend off panic I demanded “How long have you been there?”

“Since you called me. I was waiting to be noticed.”

With all the force of the realisation that had come to me I said “I thought you didn’t like to be.”

“Every girl does, Patrick,” my visitor said, accompanying it with a simper. “Whatever can you mean?”

“There are people who learned to their cost that you didn’t.” It appalled me to have to add “There were.”

“You can speak freely. We’re all alone.”

“Yes, you wouldn’t want Roy or his mother to hear.”

“I was thinking of you, Patrick. I shouldn’t think you’d want to estrange them even further.”

“If that’s what it takes to get rid of you it’s worth the risk.”

“You don’t think you could be risking them.”

“Don’t you dare harm them. Leave them alone.”

“I’m afraid I shan’t be doing that quite yet. What would you propose to tell them? You haven’t even made it clear to me.”

“About the woman who saw my aunt killed, for a start.”

“Miss Dennison.”

“That was her name, and I ought to have seen how it gave you away.”

Bella widened her eyes, which appeared to darken faster than the room was darkening. “How was that, Patrick?”

“When I spoke to Roy after she’d seen both of you he didn’t know her name, but you did.”

“Unless he’d forgotten it and I reminded him.”

“Why would you know it at all?”

“Why shouldn’t I? You did.”

I felt as though Bella aimed to let the darkness overwhelm my mind, and I clung to the knowledge I’d gained. “I should have realised what she meant to tell me when she rang.”

“What might that have been, Patrick?”

“That it was you she’d recognised, not Roy.”

“How would she have managed that?”

“Because she saw you when you were using my aunt the way you’re using him.”

“Do try to remember what I told you and your family. That was my father.”

“I don’t believe you ever had one.”

“Good gracious,” Bella said, and it was as if the darkness tittered. “I’ll look forward to watching you attempt to convince your family of that.”

“If nobody’s going to believe it, why did you do away with Miss Dennison?”

“Precisely, Patrick. I’m sure that’s an objection they would raise.”