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your back from now on. Because sooner or later I’ll be there, ready to get even with you. I’m not going to rest until I’ve destroyed your life, just like you’ve destroyed mine.”
    He span around and, pushing past Katie, hurried out of the door. Katie moved across the room, looking concerned.
    “Are you alright Jack?” she asked.
    I smiled at her, “Yes, I’m fine. Thanks for trying to rush to my rescue though.”
    She still looked worried, “You ought to phone the police, anyway – tell them about the threats he made.”
    I shook my head, “No, there’s no need. His wife tells me he often explodes, but regrets it later. He’s very hurt and upset at the moment, but he’ll calm down soon enough.”
    “If you’re sure,” Katie said, “but he sounded as if he meant what he was saying to me.”
    “He probably did at the time, but it’ll wear off.” I tried to make a joke of it, “Of course if I turn up dead in a gutter, you’ll know I was wrong.”
    Instead of laughing, she moved towards me. “Don’t say that.” She admonished, and took hold of my hand. As her cool, soft hand closed on mine, I suddenly felt as if I’d been wired up to the electricity supply. I was unexpectedly swamped with an enormous wave of warmth and contentment.
    Looking into Kate’s beautiful green eyes, for a moment I thought I could see something there, as if she had felt the same thing. If there was something, it was gone in an instant, and I told myself it had only been in my imagination.
    She let go of my hand, and just for a moment it felt as if I’d had a limb removed. “As long as you’re OK then,” she said in a voice which seemed slightly unsteady, and left the room.
    I sat down, staring at the door. If anything, I felt far more unsettled by the last couple of minutes, than by the whole encounter with Ryan Clarke.
    Chapter Five
    The next morning, I woke up early and decided that I might as well go straight in to work. Deep down my plan was to get there well before the others, and be shut safely away in a room before Katie arrived. I needed to sort things out in my own mind before I was ready to see her. At the same time, I do especially enjoy the walk to work when the pavements and streets are relatively silent.
    This day, I decided to go the slightly longer route. At one time, I almost always walked this way, up Tower Street and past the fascinating windows of the Museum of Automata, with their array of mechanical music boxes and toys. Since the museum had shut down though, the walk had lost a lot of its appeal. It still had a few highlights, including the Castle Museum, built out of the old prison which had once been home to Dick Turpin. It also passed Clifford’s Tower that, as the only bit of the original castle left, had the dubious honour of being home to some of the bloodiest bits of York’s history, including a Jewish massacre and several executions. Today it helped to keep my mind occupied looking at the familiar landmarks and recalling their history.
    I turned down Friargate, and back onto the waterfront. As expected, I was the first to arrive at work, so I unlocked and switched off the alarm. Today was my turn to deal with any emergencies coming in, which would hopefully mean a quiet day. I decided to use the time to go through the files, and plan my visits for the weeks leading up to Christmas.
    About an hour or so later, I heard the main door open and after a few moments, Barbara popped her head round the door to say good morning. She also told me that Katie was out for the morning on visits. I knew that I was probably being silly, but I felt a sense of relief at the news. I had made the decision when Liz left that I was better off living alone for the rest of my life, but the touch of Katie’s hand had stirred up feelings I thought were long since dead and buried. I told myself that the strong response I’d had to her touch was simply due to the fact that it was an awfully long time since I’d