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CHAPTER NINE

VICKY sat in the bed, looking at the piece of paper in her hand The et

Well, she had it now

She went on staring at the piece of paper, with the curtly written signature on it, the zeroes of the figure in the box

She could hear the sound of hi down the stairs, out of the door, hisaway down the drive—away, away, away

When she could hear him no more she slowly placed the cheque back on the side table, then lay down, drawing the bedclothes over her She should sleep, she knew Tomorrow she would be taken back to the airport, put on a plane, despatched to London To get on with her life And she could, now She had her money, after all

Think of the future Think of when you start helping Jes to achieve Think of the first schoolchildren arriving, the new hope they will have Think of that Think only of that

Don’t think about anything else

You’ve got the lad of that at least

Closure

That was the word, the word psychologists used to describe how essential it was for people not to have things hanging over their head emotionally Closure to seal one part of life from another The past from the present The present from the future that was yet to come

She had come for closure, but for her there could be no closure—not yet

What Theo had done to her in his bed ensured that

Instead of closure, so powerful, unstoppable Soh all her body

And she knew exactly what it was