Flea put down the lamp. She got up, came to where he was standing and looked down at the ground. Already some of the seeds had started to grow. Small, emerald shoots. ‘Dad? What is it? What am I looking at?’
‘At your place. Your place in the world.’ He lifted a hand to invite her to take in the view: the tall clouds in the west, the lines of trees that bordered the gardens. An arrow of birds flying overhead. ‘This is your place and if you wait here for long enough, if you’re patient, something good will come to you. Who knows? Maybe it’s on its way. Even now.’
Flea could feel the ground vibrating under her feet. She lifted her chubby toddler’s arms and opened them to the horizon, thrilled excitement bubbling up inside. She took a step forward to welcome what was coming, eager for it. She opened her mouth to speak – and woke suddenly in the hospital bed, gulping for air.
The room was silent. The TV was off and the lights in the room were dim. The curtains were open and she could see her own vague outline reflected in the glass. A face, white and imprecise. The blur of a hospital gown. And beyond it the cloudless sky. The stars, the moon – and a thin, almost biblically straight column of smoke.
She stared at the smoke, her head racing, feeling the power of it come across the sky, push through the glass, enter the room and feed itself into her chest. She could almost smell it. Here – as if something was smouldering in the room. Awed, she propped herself on her elbows, eyes wide, the pressure in her chest deep enough to make her open her mouth to breathe. Maybe it was seeing Dad so clearly in the dream, maybe it was the concussion, or the drugs they’d given her, but that smoke seemed to be sending her a message
Something’s coming, it said. Something is on its way to you.
‘Dad?’ she whispered. ‘What’s coming?’
Relax, came the reply. It won’t be long before it’s here.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to everyone who has helped me complete this book: my agent, Jane Gregory, and her wonderful team in Hammersmith, also Selina Walker and everyone else at Transworld publishers, who have been publishing me for ten years now (mad fools). Frank Wood of Elizabeth Francis (Medicall) helped me make the paramedics in the closing chapters approximate reality, and there was a whole army of professionals from the Avon and Somerset force who guided me with the details of police procedures (any mistakes are all mine, and no one is going to claim them for their own): including DI Steven Lawrence, CID trainer, PC Kerry Marsh of the Child Abuse Protection and Investigation Team, PC Andy Hennys of the Dog Section, and PC Steve Marsh of the Underwater Search Unit. Above all, a special thank you to Sergeant Bob Randall, who was as invaluable, insightful and helpful on this book as he has been on the entire series.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title
Contents
Copyright
Also by Mo Hayder
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Acknowledgements