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"Si, one end of the curtain pole in our room has coone quiet

"I feel as if I’er," Cat said

"I know about that, you see the north face--"

"Save it, Sas we have to discuss tomorrow, there’s the possibility of an earth treround rides, the …"

"Relative steepness of a flight of stairs versus the north face of the Eiger Scoot into the blue bathroom, I’ve put all our stuff in there"

"Oh pooh, I like the big bathroom best, can’t I use that, I always did when Granny was here and I know it’s Grandpa and Judith’s bathrooh I’m exhausted and I needthe end of the curtain pole, Silanced at the double bed where Chris lay, curled on his side His scalp looked raw The hair had been shaved and there was a long line of sutures curving across his head

"He’ll be like this till nine or so He’s on some pretty knockout stuff"

His brother-in-law looked different, Siht, and not only because of his head He seemed to be far away in another place Simon looked away

"Poor Dad," Cat said "Too much to cope with"

"Dad? Christ, he’s not the one you should worry about"

"Judith …"

"Oh, sorry, yes Broken leg Nasty that"

"She was bloody lucky Saht They were both bloody lucky"

"I dare say she’ll be well looked after here, dressing gown behind the bathroom door and all"

"You’re an A1 shit sometimes I don’t know you as a brother when you cos like that I can’t deal with you now but don’t even think of saying anything to Dad Oh, get out"

He felt as he had felt as a s it should not be said, unable to stop hioaded him on Of course he should not have said what he did, not now, not to Cat Not ever But from the moment Saoad had pricked and pricked away

He went downstairs, furious with himself

"Dad?"

"In here with the decanter"

He went into the study where Richard had stirred the re beside it He looked younger, Si him as he went in, not suddenly older, which was the way he should have seeet back actually, they’re bound to call "

His father glanced round "You know best"

Nothing more If he had said, no, stay, I want to talk to you, we don’t see enough of one another, we don’t talk enough … No He wouldn’t stay, not now

"Goodnight"

As he turned the car, he saw the study light go out

In the flat, the answering machine flashed Si before listening

"You have t uv Report that the fire service have recovered another two bodies froround ride Also, the Chief is bringing the press conference forward to half eight Thank you"

"Second e"

There was a pause A breath

"Oh--Simon Hello This is Jane Jane Fitzroy I’ve just been listening to the news I didn’t think you’d be at home, obviously, but … I just wanted to say hoful And hts are with everyone So, well … that’s all and I’ll … I’ll catch you sometiht, Sihed as he rode He went the back way, not through the town but on a four-mile detour, so that he approached the road out towards the Moor from the far side Had to No risks No one knew hirinned Sohed aloud

It had been good Better than good There they had all been, dressed up and nowhere to go and they’d been waiting for hiht he would have shot a kid’s water pistol at the fair? He hadn’t so h he’d walked past it and watched a couple of times, watched idiots who couldn’t have shot a barn door at ten feet Didn’t matter He’d enjoyed it So had they

What had it cost and all to catch a sniper as never going to shoot? That wasn’t his way, ripping off into a crowd at random People ere mad did that and he despised theunned down a dozen innocent kids, college boys who turned on their classun They were sick They were crazy They needed locking up for life, only they rarely saw the day out, they turned the gun on the to do because he was not sick, not crazy, not a weirdo, not high on drugs He had a purpose, he had plans and targets and ood to know he could be at the fair and be certain, absolutely certain, that nothing was going to happen He laughed

But then as he accelerated on a straight bit of road, he reht people were dead and dozens injured because of soain He heard the shouts for help deep inside the collapsed ride That sort of carnage hat deranged youths who rushed into churches and baseball stadiums and school classrooms caused The electric chair was all they were fit for and he despised the the easy way out

All the saht today It was cold and bright, no haze, no wind Clear He parked the bike out of sight in a dip, took his bag off the back and walked the rest of the way, up the steep slope At the top he turned and looked out over the countryside A pair of buzzards soared high, wings open flat and stiff like the paddles of windht he could fly himself from here, just open his arms, lift off and soar on the current of air

He opened the bag and took out the roll-up tin and tobacco Papers Licked Rolled Struck the arette was like nothing else S cooked in the open air Nothing like it

He never s at the sky He thought about nothing, but he felt and his feeling was a diffused warmth and satisfaction which filled hiswell He was good at planning, and it showed It was idiots who tried to do this sort of thing without a plan, opportunists who caht of every possible error Leave nothing to chance He didn’t

It was good to lie here knowing that every ti it because Alison had made him He was not a violent person He didn’t need soe That was for losers But what Alison had done to him had caused all of this Alison was responsible If the time ever came for him to talk about it, that would be what he would say and he would give details, chapter and verse, so that it was absolutely clear If he were ever caught …

He sat up He took the roll-up out of his hed

He put the cigarette out carefully and picked up his bag

It was beautiful inside the spinney The light cah the trees and onto the fallen leaves, though there had not yet been one of the autuales to strip the bulk of theed

He opened the bag, took out the small white-painted cans and set them up in a row on the fallen tree Then he went back thirty paces, carrying the bag

Aon his stoht in the sun

He levelled Waited