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discovered my accountant had been scamming me.’
    ‘Not your fault, surely?’ Captain Haran said.
    ‘Nope,’ Eve agreed, testing her weight on the crutches, ‘but the thing about the taxman is, if your money isn’t paid, it’s you they come after. Even if it’s someone else’s fault. So now I live in a tiny bed sit with damp on the walls in a building that looks like Cell Block H, and pay pretty much everything I earn straight to those lovely people at the Inland Revenue.’
    There was a short silence.
    ‘Anyway. Maybe I’ll sue the TV company,’ Eve said with a lightness she didn’t feel. She was good at pretending it didn’t bother her any more.
    ‘If you’re paying all your money to the taxman, how will you afford a lawyer?’ Will said.
    ‘Well, I’ll …’ Eve shrugged, taking an experimental step. ‘I’ll complain really loudly.’
    Will smiled at that, not a proper grin but something more genuine than she’d seen from him so far, and some of the dark cloud that had settled over her when she’d brought up the taxman lifted. She followed him out of the ward and down a broad corridor, where a couple of nurses in their ludicrous starched caps were talking over a clipboard. They broke off, watching Eve hop after Will.
    ‘Don’t see many civilians in here,’ he explained, and she nodded. He led her out into the cool sunshine, down a set of steps that had a ramp laid over them. At the bottom of the ramp, a soldier in a wheelchair was smoking a cigarette and flirting with a couple of girls in khaki. He had, Eve was horrified to note, no right arm.
    ‘Marley.’ Will slowed down to greet him. ‘How’s it going?’
    Marley grinned. He had a vicious scar on his face that skimmed one eye, making the lid droop. ‘Can’t complain, sir.’
    ‘Can’t salute, either,’ Will noted. ‘Suppose that means you’re off?’
    ‘Nah, I’m gonna teach.’ Marley grinned at the two girls. ‘Off to Basic Training. I can still run drills with one arm, can’t I?’
    ‘Don’t see why not,’ Will said. He clapped Marley on the back. ‘Take care.’
    ‘Yessir,’ Marley said, and went back to flirting with the two young recruits.
    ‘Will,’ Eve said as she hopped after him, ‘what rank are you?’ The epaulettes where she might have looked for insignia on his greatcoat were torn, but even if they hadn’t been, Eve would have been none the wiser. All she could remember were stripes for sergeant, and he didn’t have any of those. But did that mean he was of a higher rank, or lower?
    He raised his eyebrows. ‘Why’s that important?’
    ‘It isn’t. It’s just, he called you sir.’
    ‘Well, he doesn’t know me well enough to call me Will.’ He grinned at her, and Eve smiled back. He did have a nice grin. ‘Smoke?’
    He held a battered packet of cigarettes out to her. Eve shook her head. ‘No? Well, your loss.’
    He lit up and loped across the courtyard, which was busy with troops marching about. Holding open a door for her, he said, ‘Now. We have to go up two flights. Reckon you can manage it?’
    ‘Is there any alternative?’
    ‘I could carry you.’
    His eyes sparkled a bit as he said it, and Eve couldn’t help letting her gaze run over his broad shoulders, remembering the muscular frame she’d seen last night in the hospital bay.
    ‘I think I’ll manage,’ she said, her voice coming out a little higher than she’d intended.
    Will winked and stood by to let her pass, and Eve was sure she was blushing.
    ‘Right,’ he said, as she hopped up the steps ahead of him. ‘Harker’s going to want to know why you were flying over the river last night.’
    ‘I told you,’ Eve said. ‘TV.’
    ‘Are you sure? You can tell me.’
    She looked back at him over her shoulder. He lifted his eyes from her backside in its tight denim, and grinned at her.
    ‘Pervert,’ she said, without malice.
    ‘You were clocking me outside.’
    ‘I was trying to assess if you were strong enough to carry