In the Mercedes
Lizzie and Will take the back seats in Henry Latrom's silver-grey Mercedes Benz 500SEL saloon car. Henry sits in the front and Greaves, who was waiting for them outside the door of the flat, drives. Kirjava slips past them and merges into the shadows under the front seats. She and Will talk. Nobody else can hear them, although from time to time Lizzie notices that Will's lips are moving involuntarily.
Will, this is all wrong. You know it's wrong.
'No I don't.'
Do you believe these people?
'Yes, why not? It all makes perfectly good sense.'
You want to believe them. You want an excuse to use the Knife.
'It's not an excuse. They're right – the angels messed everything up. I'm going to put that right.'
Is that the only reason?
'It doesn't matter. It's a good enough reason for me. Now shut it, Kir. I've had it up to here with you.'
They fall silent. The Mercedes is swift, smooth and powerful, and Greaves is an expert driver. They make good time through the London traffic and are soon westbound on the M3 motorway, heading for Alton.
Waterloo Station
Giancarlo has listened carefully to everything the angel has told him to do. He has taken thirty pounds from under the loose floorboard in the spare bedroom. He has put food and water aside for his father and told him that he will be back soon. Then he has taken the tube to Waterloo Station and bought a return ticket to Salisbury. It costs little more than a single fare, and he has always been a careful boy when it comes to money.
In The Grove, near Alton, Hants
Mary has not been confined to her room, as she had expected. Instead, she has been given free use of the facilities in The Grove, on the explicit understanding that she does not attempt to escape, or cause any form of disturbance that might upset the hospital's residents. She has enjoyed a hot mud treatment, spent an hour on a sunbed and had her stiff neck massaged. 'After all,' she says to herself pragmatically, 'I may as well get something out of this mess.'
They have allowed her to see Mrs Parry, too. Will's mother is sitting in a chair next to her bed when Mary looks in on her room the morning after their capture, for, Mary as reminds herself, they are both prisoners. She is still somewhat confused, but the nurses are making sure that she eats well and the doctor has prescribed a course of treatment that she is confident will help her.
Mary speaks comforting words to Elaine – yes, the hospital is very nice and the staff couldn't be more helpful. She is sure that she will be allowed to go home soon. No doubt her Will will be here this afternoon to see how she is getting on.
No doubt at all, she thinks. She can tell that the people who own The Grove are very powerful people indeed. She does not think that Will can escape their clutches for long.