Sixty-One Nails

and tell them you won't be in. If you make it to Monday you can think again but that's a long way away, right now.'

It was Thursday. How far away could the Monday be? Still, she had convinced me to make the call to work. I extracted my mobile from my jacket pocket and flipped it open to get the number from the speed-dials.

It rang twice. 'Good morning, Project Management Office.'

'Hi, Jackie.'

'Niall? Is that you? Where are you?'

'Hi, Jackie, sorry I've had some problems this morning and I'm not going to make it into the office. I need you to do a couple of things for me.'

'But I've got the electrical engineers downstairs in reception waiting for you and there are a pile of phone messages from the site manager. He's been calling since seven-thirty.'

I had made the mistake of calling her without any clear plan of what I would say.

'Jackie? Sorry, I know there are problems. Look, I've had a death in the family.'

'Are you all right? Are Alex and Katherine OK?'

'They're fine. It's not them, thank God, but I'm the only one who can deal with it. Apparently there are circumstances and someone has to sort out the affairs.'

She reminded me of a host of commitments I had made and asked me what she was supposed to do with them.

'I'll have to deal with them next week, if I'm back.'

'If you're back? You have the fourth floor conference room booked for the heating and lighting review on Monday morning. What am I supposed to tell them?'

'Ask Jim if he'll talk to them.' I named my deputy and second-in-command. 'We only need an estimate at this stage. We can confirm prices later.'

'So when will you be back? Jim is going to ask.' She was right, he would.

'I don't know how long. A few days, I guess. I'll probably be back sometime next week. Could you tell Human Resources I'm taking unexpected leave? Anyone else, just call them and put them off for me. If there's anything that looks really urgent, ask Jim if he'll step in and cover.'

'I'll ask him, Niall, but he is already complaining that he's over-committed.'

'Thanks, Jackie.' I was about to say I had another call waiting, but the lie stuck in my throat. It was a ruse I had used many times to cut short awkward calls, but I just couldn't say the words. I settled on an alternative. 'You're a treasure. I don't know what I'd do without you.'

There was a stream of further questions that I couldn't hope to answer without a lot more time.

'You're just going to have to cope, I'm really sorry. Ask Jim if you're not sure. OK. OK, bye. Bye.' I closed the connection and sighed.

'That is something else I wanted to tell you,' said Blackbird. 'Lying isn't the same any more. The Feyre can tell when someone else is lying and they don't lie themselves. It's too…'

'Uncomfortable?'

'That's a good description. It's not that you couldn't lie, but it provokes a sense of discord that rankles in your heart. The more you use your magic, the stronger it will get. You're much better off telling the truth. Magic and truth are siblings, which is why true names have power.'

'You might have mentioned it before I called the office,' I suggested.

'There's so much I haven't told you, Rabbit, so much you need to know. I don't entirely know where to begin.'

I was beginning to realise that, as much as I found that untruth rankled in my own heart, the words of others also held the same note. Blackbird wasn't lying. In fact it threw everything she'd told me into a new light. It briefly occurred to me that this might be yet another layer to this elaborate deception but I had felt it for myself. I knew it was so.

'You should make one more call before we go,' she advised.

'Go? Go where?'

'We can't stay in one place for too long, Rabbit — or rather you can't.'

'OK. Who should I call?'

'Your ex-wife. Tell her you can't come and collect your daughter this evening.'

'Blackbird, I can't tell her that. We've already had one argument about it this morning.'

'Do you value your daughter's life? You'd be putting them both in danger. Is that what you wish?'

'You know it's not, but what can I say to her? She already thinks I'm unreliable, unpredictable and a host of other words beginning with 'un'.'

'Find a version of the truth she can accept,' suggested Blackbird.

I opened my phone again then placed it on the table, looking at it. I really didn't want to make this call, though in my heart I knew I had no choice. I couldn't look after my daughter in these circumstances. I picked up the phone and stood up, excusing myself from Blackbird for a moment and walked a little way away across the open pavement to gain some privacy.

I took a deep breath and rang her. The phone buzzed for a while without answer. Finally she picked up.

'Yes?' Her voice was cold and curt.

'Kath, it's Niall.'

'I know who it is. Your number comes up on the phone.'

'I need to talk to you about tonight, about the weekend.'

'We've had this discussion, Niall. You're coming to collect her after you finish work, whatever time. That's what we agreed.'

'I know, and you know I hate to let you down.'

She paused, then said, 'I know you're going to.'

'Kath, this is more complicated than you realise. Something happened this morning.'

'Was it something more important than your own daughter?'

'It concerns Alex as well.'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, if I come and get Alex, I'll be putting her in danger.'

'What do you mean? What kind of danger?'

'There are some people after me.'

'After you? What kind of people? Niall, have you been drinking?'

'I'm quite serious, Katherine, and no, I haven't been drinking. I'm very sober right now. Look, I know it sounds preposterous but you have to believe me. It isn't safe.'

'What are you talking about? You just think you can make up some story and it will all go away, is that it? Good ol' Kath. She's always there when I want to go gallivanting off somewhere. She doesn't mind. She's used to being the housekeeper, the drudge, the domestic. Is that it?'

'No, it isn't like that. Something happened to me on the underground this morning. I nearly died. There was an ambulance. I had to be revived.'

'Where are you now?'

She could probably hear the traffic on the Charing Cross Road.

'I never made it into the office. I'm not going in. There was a woman, she rescued me.'

'I might have know there'd be a woman involved.'

'Oh, please. She's about sixty, OK?'

'Well, I suppose that's a bit old, even for you.'

I sighed. Despite Katherine's accusations I had never been unfaithful to her. 'Look, she's a doctor. She revived me. I collapsed on the platform and she was the only one who helped.'

'Where are you? A hospital?'

'No, I'm in Trafalgar Square.'

'Well, it can't have been that serious then, can it?'

'Listen, Kath. I need you to understand. I've got involved in something unexpected. There are some people who are trying to find me. I can't go to the hospital and I can't have Alex with me.'

'Are you in trouble with the police?'