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myself.’
    â€˜And they welcomed you with open arms?’
    â€˜You scare them, that’s all,’ Mercer said. ‘You’re an unknown quantity.’
    â€˜I know exactly what I am to them.’
    â€˜They don’t all think the same,’ Mercer said, hoping he sounded more convincing than he felt.
    â€˜They don’t think at all, that’s the problem.’
    â€˜Perhaps if you were able to talk to them,’ Mercer said. ‘Explain to them.’
    â€˜Explain what?’ Jacob turned to look directly at him.
    â€˜I meant explain how you came to be here, what you have endured, how you—’
    â€˜ Endured? Endured? ’ He started to say more, but was racked by a bout of coughing, which left him bent double, holding a hand to his chest and gasping for breath.
    Mercer held his arm, supporting him as he straightened.
    Jacob wiped his mouth with a cloth. His shirt and jacket were buttoned to their collars.
    â€˜Perhaps if you loosened …’ Mercer suggested, but Jacob shook his head.
    He sat upright and took several deep breaths. After a few minutes, he was recovered.
    â€˜Are you unwell?’ Mercer asked him.
    â€˜My chest is weak, that’s all.’
    Mercer knew it was more than this, but said nothing. He watched the trickling water and wished there was some way he might collect this and give it to Jacob.
    â€˜Were you in a camp?’ he asked after a further minute of silence between them.
    Jacob nodded. ‘Please, not now.’
    Is that why you create this other past?
    â€˜I didn’t mean to offend you, or to pry,’ Mercer said.
    â€˜I know.’ Jacob wiped his mouth for a final time. ‘So, tell me about the women. Was the old one there?’
    â€˜You could always avoid them. There are plenty of other places for you to—’
    â€˜To hide myself away. I know. The first time she saw me, before she even knew who I was or why I was there, she chased me with a stick. She saw me at the road’s end, told me to stay where I was, and then went indoors. I thought at first that she was fetching me something to eat or drink, but instead she came back out with a stick. She came striding towards me and shouting at me like I was a stray dog. As you can imagine, neither of us is much of a runner. She soon exhausted herself, and I’d barely moved from where I stood.’
    â€˜You should have gone towards her – she’d have run back indoors.’
    â€˜I know. But by then she’d attracted the usual crowd of onlookers. You’ll have realized by now – everything that happens here usually draws its own small crowd. Nothing goes unnoticed or unwatched. You’d do well to remember that.’
    â€˜What happened?’
    â€˜She went on waving her stick and shouting her abuse at me.’
    â€˜Did no one come to your defence?’
    â€˜The girl’s mother told her to stop making a fool of herself, but the woman screamed some abuse at her, too. One or two of the younger ones seemed more intrigued and amused than threatened by the situation, but none of them intervened.’
    â€˜How long ago was this?’
    â€˜Nine months, less.’
    â€˜And yet you still return to haunt and unsettle them.’
    Jacob grinned. ‘I still return.’
    And you use your appearance like she uses her stick.
    â€˜They seem to know you well enough,’ Mercer said.
    â€˜They only know what they want to know. What else did you talk about with them?’
    â€˜About their lives here, about the coming changes with the new Station.’
    â€˜Did the girl’s mother tell you about her husband?’
    â€˜The soldier?’
    â€˜The soldier in Colchester Military Prison.’
    â€˜Prison?’
    â€˜He deserted a few days before he was due to be shipped to North Africa, Egypt. He went missing for almost a month. Came back here. Someone tipped the Military Police off and they turned up and