“Look how beautiful,” she said, as he came up the steps. “The sky, Ben! It’s so much bigger than on the canals.”

Out along the tree-lined river they swept, past the botanical gardens and under the bridge at Kew, sweeping round past Barnes and under the railway bridge to the suspension bridge at Hammersmith, under the stone pillars of Putney Bridge with its medieval churches standing guard at either end, under more railway bridges at Fulham and Battersea. After racing past the embankment at Chelsea, at last it felt like they were entering the proper city. They raced under Lambeth Bridge, and Lotti squealed as the Palace of Westminster came into view.

“We’re going past the HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT!”

Lotti knocked into Frank as she jumped up and down, and the Sparrowhawk briefly rocked as she veered off course.

“Sit down, Charlie, for heaven’s sake,” Frank shouted.

“BIG BEN!” Lotti screeched.

Frank’s mouth twitched in an almost smile.

On and on they swept as the sun rose higher in the sky and the light bounced off the water. Westminster, Blackfriars, Southwark. Lotti was counting off the bridges, using them to measure the distance between her and Barton.

“St. Paul’s!” she squealed and then, in an awed whisper, “The Tower of London …”

The Sparrowhawk seemed very small, as they passed between the giant pillars of Tower Bridge. Ben felt a pang as he remembered another trip, long ago, looking up from the banks of the River Avon at the suspension bridge in Bristol with Nathan and Sam. Lotti, sensing his change of mood, reached out and hugged him. It was the first time she had done this, and he wasn’t sure how to react. But then into his ear she whispered, “We’ll get Sam back, just see if we don’t. All four of us together, we can do anything,” and he hugged her fiercely back.

Wider and wider the Thames swelled, until it was possible to imagine how it might turn into the sea. The city gave way to warehouses and docks, where giant cargo ships were anchored. Ben gulped at the sight of them. These were the boats they would see on the Channel, which could mow down the Sparrowhawk without even noticing …

“Anything,” Lotti reminded him. “We can do anything.”

At Limehouse, Frank turned a sharp right off the Thames and into the basin, and they all breathed out at the same time as the current stopped and everything slowed down again.

“That,” declared Lotti, as the dogs scrabbled to be let out, “is the best thing I have done in my entire life.”

Chapter Nineteen

At Limehouse, Elsie rested, Federico stalked seagulls and Frank went to discuss the weather forecast with the harbormaster. Lotti and Ben bought pies from a shack on the waterfront, and filled flasks with strong sweet tea for the next leg of the journey, out through the Thames Estuary and round the Kent coast.