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them in the car.’
    ‘If ever anyone on this planet deserved …’ He stopped, gritting his teeth.
    ‘I know. If ever anyone deserved a bloody good thundering, it’s me.’
    I got his crooked grin. ‘I’m so pleased you survived, because now I can murder you myself.’
    ‘Just don’t tear my stitches. Some come out tomorrow and the rest the next day. After that, I’m available for murdering and general abuse.’
    He gave a huge sigh. ‘So, how are you?’
    ‘Better than you, I suspect. Bet you didn’t yell like that at Kal.’
    ‘Do I look like I have death wish?’
    ‘How is she?’
    ‘Not as well as you, but recovering.’
    Long silence. Here we go.
    I took a deep breath and said quietly, ‘Is it gone?’
    ‘Yes. Completely, totally, utterly gone. Destroyed beyond recall. Trust me.’
    I nodded. I did trust him.
    Taking a small, careful breath, I said, ‘So what was it? Any ideas?’
    ‘No, none at all. I’m sorry, love, but I don’t have an answer for you. Dr Dowson has scoured the Archive. There are mysteries and rumours the length and breadth of the timeline, but nothing he could positively identify. I think maybe you’re so used to getting out there and coming back with the answers that sometimes you forget – sometimes there’s no explanation. Because some things we’ll never know.’
    ‘Why wouldn’t it die?’
    ‘I don’t know. But it’s certainly dead now.’
    ‘Are you sure? I chopped its head off and it still didn’t die.’
    Once again, my mind played pictures of the two of us, trapped in that tiny space with an unkillable thing … as it took its time with us … until finally our tortured bodies could endure no more, and then …
    ‘Stop that,’ he said sharply. ‘It has been destroyed. That’s the important thing. Completely destroyed.’
    I nodded and sipped my tea.
    ‘I have to ask you this, Max. How did it manage to get into the pod? Did it force its way in?’
    ‘We didn’t see it. We couldn’t see it. I think … I think it’s like your pod. You know, your own pod. That’s not always visible, either.’
    ‘No, but you can’t see my pod because of a sophisticated, computer-operated camouflage system. This was different.’
    ‘What can I say? We didn’t see it. I think we opened the door too early, and it somehow got in behind us. We didn’t know it was there at all. And then, just as we were about to exit the pod, the muff moved and we realised …’ my voice trailed away as I re-lived that moment. ‘Didn’t Kal tell you any of this?’
    He shook his head. ‘She did tell us a little but became – angry – and Helen threw us out.’
    ‘Angry? What did you say to her?’
    ‘Nothing. Nothing at all. I think she was angry with herself.’ He paused. ‘She’s a little like you. When you’re scared, you become angry. And she was very scared.’
    I said quietly, ‘So was I,’ admitting it to myself for the first time. ‘So was it Jack the Ripper? They called him a monster. Maybe he really was.’
    ‘I don’t know. Its lack of visibility would account for the ease by which it was able to evade pursuit. Why no one ever saw anything. And there were no more murders attributed to the Ripper after that date. Myself, I think it must have been. But, whatever it was – it’s gone now. That’s all any of us need to know.’
    ‘Can you imagine what would have happened if it had got out of St Mary’s? The death toll? The panic? The damage it could do?’
    ‘But it didn’t. It didn’t get out of St Mary’s. This is why we have contamination procedures. And they work. Don’t waste time thinking about it. It’s destroyed. Dr Bairstow gave very explicit instructions.’
    ‘Why did he let us out? Why did he open the door? The regulations are very clear.’
    ‘Well, partly because we all thought you’d killed it. Partly because you were about to take matters into your own hands with Kal’s gun. Partly because the two of you were badly hurt and in need of