Halfway to the parapet, his leg started to cramp. He tried to get to the top faster, but the pain in his leg deepened. He shook it to lessen the pain but it just got sharper. His thigh was spasming now and he had to decide whether to go up or down. The top was closer and at least if he made it there then there was a flat surface to stand on. He pulled himself up, wincing with the pain, his leg pulling him down. He should have just stayed at the top of the western screen. It’s not like the camera could see him any more, anyway.

Toby reached for the thin ledge and his hand slipped. All too quickly and without him knowing in which order his body was failing him, he started to fall. His shin hit the triangular spine of the roof with the full weight of his body behind it. The spikes tore through the fabric and the flesh straight through to the bone. He cried out. Still no sirens to be heard. He continued to fall and bounce from stone and slate for what felt like an eternity, his skin grazing and bruising with each thud. This was the last one though, the last fall. Was there any way to survive a fall from this height?

He hit the ground, his head cracking against the pavement. He was facing west and he could see his phone on the grass pointing up at the rose window. It wasn’t even capturing this moment. He was dying and no one would even see it.

Chapter Two

DS Adrian Miles looked at the pink envelope on his desk. He glanced around the room and his partner, DS Imogen, Grey shrugged.

‘Don’t look at me!’

‘Is this a joke?’

‘Someone obviously loves you,’ Imogen said, although it sounded like more of an accusation than anything else.

He opened the card to see a picture of two bears cuddling, and inside, just a question mark.

‘This isn’t funny. Who left this here?’

‘It could be anyone in this place, Adrian, I’ve seen the way the new recruits look at you. If only they knew.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ he said with more indignance than the question probably deserved.

‘Maybe it’s the duty doctor. What’s her name? Dr Hadley? She was in earlier.’

‘We went for one drink, that’s all. We decided not to go out again. I doubt it’s from her,’ he said, not convinced and more than a little uncomfortable getting this information from Imogen. He had been on a date with one of the doctors who worked invariably at the station. She had been their point of call on a couple of cases in the past and she had asked him out for a drink last week. He’d said yes – and in another life he might have been more interested. But the truth was that his friendship with Imogen was getting complicated, and so it felt really odd to be on a date with another woman.