Dark Room

and amnesia were part of the original equation.'

Alan shrugged. 'It may not be part of the end game, either. You don't have to be Einstein to fake amnesia, Veronica.'

She looked at him in surprise. 'Are you saying she's a fraud?'

'Not necessarily,' he lied. 'I was merely stating a fact.'

'But why would she bother with anything so elaborate unless she had something to hide?'

'Perhaps she does.'

Fergus was leaning against Protheroe's Wolseley when the doctor emerged into the warm late afternoon and approached across the gravel. He gave a perfunctory nod towards the older man and ran a hand over the hood. 'I thought it might be yours,'' he said. 'I noticed it when I visited Jinx the other day. Do you want to sell it?'

Alan shook his head. 'I'm afraid not. We've been together too long to part so easily.' He put the key into the lock. 'Have you seen Jinx, or are you on your way in?'

'Just waiting. She's wandering about the garden somewhere. Miles has gone looking for her. Did Kennedy give you a roasting then?'

'Is that what he's employed to do?'

'It depends on Dad's mood. I told him you were pretty highhanded with me on Saturday, so I thought maybe he'd ordered his Rottweiler in to remind you who foots the bill. I also told him I reckoned you had the hots for Jinxy.' He peered at Alan out of the corner of his eye, judging his reaction. 'Dad was bloody cross about it, so I'm not surprised he sent Kennedy over.'

Alan gave a snort of amusement. 'I doubt you have the bottle to tell your father anything, Fergus.'' He pulled the car door open. 'As a matter of interest, how did you know Kennedy was here?'

'I saw him leave.' He yawned. 'Miles wants to meet you. I promised I'd keep you here till he got back.'

'Another time perhaps.'

'No, now.' Fergus caught at his arm. 'We want to know what's going on. Does Jinx remember something?'

'I suggest you ask her.' Alan looked down at the restraining hand. 'You're welcome to come and talk to me any time you like, just so long as you make an appointment first. But at the moment'-he placed his hand over the young man's and prised it off his arm 'I've more important things to do.' He smiled amiably and eased in behind the wheel. 'It's been nice meeting you again, Fergus. Give my best wishes to your mother and brother.' He shut the door and gunned the Wolseley to life, before spinning the wheel and roaring away down the drive.

When Sister Gordon did her rounds at nine o'clock that evening, she found Jinx standing by her window watching the remnants of the day burn to crimson embers. 'Isn't it beautiful?' she said without turning round, knowing by instinct who her visitor was. 'If I could stand and look on this forever, then I would have eternal happiness. Do you imagine that's what heaven is?'

'I guess it depends on how static you want your heaven to be, Jinx. Presumably you've watched this develop from a simple sunset into glorious fire, so at which point would you have stopped it to produce your moment of eternal happiness? I think I would always be wondering if the moment afterwards had been more beautiful than the one I was stuck with, and that would turn the experience into a hell of frustration.'

Jinx laughed quietly. 'So there is no heaven?'

'Not for me. Bliss is only bliss when you come upon it unexpectedly. If it lasted forever it would be unbearable.' She smiled. 'Everything all right?'

Jinx turned away from the window. 'Exactly the same as it was half an hour ago, and the half hour before that. Are you going to tell me now why it's so important to keep checking on me?'

'Perhaps the doctor's worried that you've been overexerting yourself. You put the fear of God into me this afternoon with that wretched walk. It was too far and too long.'

'It wasn't, you know,' said Jinx idly. 'I spent most of the time hiding.' She smiled at the other woman's surprise. 'I saw my brother coming and dove for cover in one of the outside sheds.' She glanced back towards the window. 'Dr. Protheroe told me he was expecting a visit from my father,'' Jinx lied easily. 'So do you know if Adam ever came? I thought he might pop in afterwards to visit me.'

'I believe his solicitor came,' Sister Gordon said, plumping up the pillows and smoothing the sheets, 'but I don't think your father did.'

Jinx pressed her forehead against the glass. 'Why hasn't Dr. Protheroe been to see me?'

'He's taken himself off for a few hours R and R. Poor fellow,' she said fondly, wishing, as she often did, that she hadn't saddled herself with Mr. Gordon. 'He has a lot on his mind one way and another, and no one to share his problems with.'

Jinx wrapped her arms about her thin body to stop the shivering. Did he have Leo and Meg on his mind? And was it Kennedy who'd told him?

Sister Gordon frowned. 'You've been at that window too long, you silly girl. Quickly now, into your dressing gown and into bed. No sense catching pneumonia on top of everything else.' She clicked her tongue sharply as she opened the dressing gown and slipped it over Jinx's shoulders. 'You were lucky that young couple arrived when they did on the night of your accident or you'd have started pneumonia then.'

'It was certainly convenient,' said Jinx impassively.

THE NIGHTINGALE CLINIC- MIDNIGHT

The Wolseley swung through the clinic's gates, its headlamps scything a white arc across the lawn. It was after midnight and Alan slowed to a crawl to avoid waking the patients with the crunch of wheels on gravel. He felt no relief about coming home, no sense of welcome at his journey's end, only a growing resentment that this was all there was. The temporary euphoria that a bottle of expensive Rioja over a meal of langoustines in garlic butter had given him had evaporated during his careful drive home, to leave only frustrated depression. What the hell was he doing with his life? Where was the satisfaction in ministering to a clutch of rich bastards with overinflated egos and no self control? Why hadn't Jinx told him Meg and Leo were dead? And why couldn't he get the damn woman out of his mind?

He drummed an angry hand on the wheel, only to wrench it in alarm as the lights picked out the white flash of