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cleared his throat. ‘Must say, Jinx, talking to you now, more inclined than ever to think it’s all nonsense. Never struck
me as the type to throw in the towel.’
    She couldn’t speak for a moment. ‘Thank you,’ she managed. ‘I don’t think I am either. Will you give Mrs C and Goebbels a hug from me?’
    ‘Certainly will. Coming home soon, I trust?’
    ‘I’d like to but I’m bandaged to the hilt at the moment. You should see me, Colonel. I look like Boris Karloff in The Mummy .’
    ‘Hah!’ he harrumphed again. ‘Kept your sense of humour, I see. Visitors keeping you chirpy, dare say.’
    ‘No,’ she said honestly. ‘It’s talking to you that’s cheered me up. Thank you for getting me out of my car. I’ll ring you the minute I’m
demobbed and give you my ETA.’
    ‘We’ll be waiting for you, dear girl. Meanwhile chin up and best foot forward, eh?’
    ‘Will do. Goodbye, Colonel.’
    Jinx cut the line but held the receiver to her chest for several minutes as if, by doing so, she could maintain the link with him, for the comfort that the conversation had given her
was all too ephemeral. Depression swept in behind it like an engulfing tide when it occurred to her that, of all the people she knew, the only one she had felt able to telephone was a man whose
first name she was too shy to use. Had she felt as lonely as this a week ago? Could she have done it? God help her if she had . . .
    ‘Your brother’s come to see you, Miss Kingsley,’ said a black nurse, pushing wide the half-open door. ‘I’ve told him ten minutes. Visitors out by nine
o’clock, that’s the rule, but as it’s your brother and he’s come all the way from Fordingbridge, well – just so long as you don’t make too much noise.’ She
noticed Jinx’s pallor suddenly and clicked her tongue anxiously. ‘Are you all right, my lovely? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.’
    ‘I’m fine.’
    ‘OK,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Not too much noise, then, or my job will be on the line.’
    Miles, exuding his usual boyish charm, took the nurse’s hand in his and smiled into her face. ‘I really appreciate this, Amy. Thank you.’
    Her dark skin blushed. ‘That’s all right. I’d best be getting back to the desk.’ She withdrew her fingers from his with clear reluctance and closed the door
behind her.
    ‘God,’ he said, flopping into the armchair, ‘she really thought I fancied her.’ He eyed Jinx. ‘Ma tells me you’re back in the land of the living,
so I thought I’d come and check for myself. You look bloody awful, but I expect you know that.’
    She reached for her cigarettes. ‘I’d hate to disappoint you, Miles.’
    ‘She says you can’t remember anything since the fourth. Is that true?’
    She didn’t answer.
    ‘Which means it is.’ He giggled suddenly. ‘So you don’t remember the week you spent at the Hall?’
    She eyed him coldly as she felt for her lighter.
    ‘You borrowed two hundred quid off me that week, Jinxy, and I want it back.’
    ‘Bog off, Miles.’
    He grinned. ‘You sound pretty on the ball to me. So what’s with this amnesia crap? You trying to get yourself off the hook with Dad?’
    ‘What hook?’
    ‘Whatever it is you’ve done that you shouldn’t have done.’
    ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
    He shrugged indifferently. ‘Then why did you try to top yourself? Dad’s been worse than usual this last week. You might have thought of that before you started playing
silly buggers.’
    She ignored him and lit a cigarette.
    ‘Are you going to talk to me or have I wasted my time coming here?’
    ‘I doubt you’ve wasted your time,’ she said evenly, ‘as I imagine seeing me was the last thing on your list.’ She was watching his face, saw the flash
of intense amusement in his eyes, and knew she was right. ‘You must be mad,’ she continued. ‘Adam wasn’t bluffing when he said you’d be out on your ear the next time.
Why on earth do you do