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When she had finished, the tall ed the pencils on his desk, tidied sohtfully ‘I’ve heard about that village before,’ he said

‘Naturally, everyone’s heard of it!’ e, the accursed village, even the snakes avoid it The walls of the church are painted with blood and Black Jackets, who are really ghosts and carry fire in their pockets, haunt the streets You only have to get near theo up in smoke – whoosh!’ He raised his hands and clapped them above his head

Elinor looked at hih, laboriously put on his jacket and signed to Elinor to follow hi to take a look at this,’ he said over his shoulder

‘Might as well, if you’ve nothing better to do!’ the otherso uproariously that Elinor felt like going back to tip him off his chair after all A little later she was in the passenger seat of a police car, and the road along which she had coh the hills Why on earth, she kept thinking, didn’t I do this before? Everything will be all right now, everything No one will be shot or executed, Meggie will get her father back and Morti will be all right, thanks to Elinor! She could have sung and danced (not that she wasin a car) She had never in her life felt so pleased with herself Noho could say she didn’t kno to cope with the real world?

The police He just kept his eyes on the road, taking bend after bend at a speed that made Elinor’s heart beat painfully fast Occasionally, he absent-ht earlobe He seemed to know the way, and never hesitated when the road branched or passed any turning Elinor could not help thinking how long it had taken her and Mo to search for the village Suddenly a disturbing thought came into her mind

‘There are quite a lot of the another bend so fast that they ca on her left ‘I mean, this Capricorn has rather a lot of ood shots Might it be a good idea to ask for reinforcements?’ That hat people did in stupid films about cops and robbers – the police were always asking for reinforcements

The policeh his sparse hair and nodded as if he had already thought of that ‘Yes, of course,’ he said, reaching for his radio ‘Reinforceround The first thing is to ask a few questions’

Over the radio, he asked for five ht Elinor, but better than nothing, certainly better than a desperate father, an Arab boy, and an overweight book collector

‘There it is!’ she said as Capricorn’s village appeared in the distance, grey and insignificant-looking areen

‘Yes, that’s what I thought,’ replied the policeain When he just nodded to the guard in the car park Elinor simply refused to believe the worst Only when they were standing in front of Capricorn, and he was handing her over like lost property being restored to its rightful owner, was she forced to ad to turn out well after all Everything was ruined now – and oh, how stupid she had been, how dreadfully stupid

‘She’s spreading slander about you,’ he heard the police about child abduction And there was talk of fire-raising …’

‘All nonsense!’ replied Capricorn, answering the unspoken question in a bored voice ‘I love children – as long as they don’t come too close to me Children and business don’t mix’

The policeman nodded, and looked unhappily at his hands ‘And she said so about an execution …’

‘Did she indeed?’ Capricorn looked Elinor up and down as if amazed by such fantasies ‘Well, as you know, I have no call for anything of that nature People do as I say withoutto resort to such drastic measures’