'You're sure it was them?' Harry asks Malcolm, having not seen him the previous evening because by the time he had come home after his meal out with Jo, he and Ruth had been asleep and now when are waiting for Ruth to come downstairs before they start breakfast, dropping into the conversation the confirmed meeting between Blake and Price poses as many questions as it does answers.

'Positive.'

'Then why did Russel Price stay in the hotel when he knew there was a bomb due to go off?'

'Does it matter, surely the fact that he's dead is enough?'

'But Blake isn't as far as we know and that worries me.'

'Which it shouldn't, at least not until we get into work because if you carry on like this Harry there's a good chance that you'll end up losing sight of what's really important such as how did yesterday go and I'm not just talking about the arrangements for the funeral?'

Resisting the temptation to say fine, because not only would it be a lie, but like Ruth Malcolm has always had the ability to know when there is something which is troubling him, 'as you know I have loved Ruth for as long as I can remember, but yesterday something changed, allowing me for the first time since we stayed with you to believe that we will get through the next few weeks without something else happening to throw a spanner in the works. Discussing the content of the funeral though I wouldn't have got through if she hadn't been with me.'

'But she was and always will be, so unless you're thinking of doing something stupid such as going after Blake on your own and given that the Home Secretary already knows that you're leaving, I assume what you're trying and failing to put into words is that you went into some sort of meltdown?'

'That and then some.'

'Are you going to tell me why?'

'We were both on tenterhooks not knowing what to expect, but as soon as we turned off the motorway and more so when we arrived in the village, we both realised why a young Ros turned into the woman she was. It was the wide-open spaces and the fresh air but more than that it reminded me of my own childhood and how I spent most of the time climbing trees and messing about in the water filled ditch at the bottom of the hill with my friends.'

'That's it?'

'No, there was something about the vicar's house which had me considering for the first time not only what kind of house Ruth and I might buy, but that remote either in the country or by the sea was what I wanted.'

'And Ruth?'

'She was too busy picturing me in short trousers, besides our chat with the vicar such as it was, was cut short when one of his parishioners called, which meant that we walked to the church on our own, where again we both felt closer to Ros. I mean when have you ever heard me admitting to something like that? But it was when the vicar arrived to finalise the arrangements including the choice of hymn which as you know is the same one which Ros herself chose for Adam's funeral, which was when I am ashamed to say I broke down.'

Not wanting to remind Harry that once the funeral was over that he too would be leaving although not in a box Malcolm opted for, 'if we're talking about meltdowns then mine after Colin died when we were at Adams, I would suggest topped that.'

'A lifetime ago.'

'Not in the sense that on that night you arrived with Ruth and presumably drove her home and despite what has happened between then and now, here you both are on the point of leaving the Service and buying a house together which I would say is close to miraculous given that you didn't see each other for two years, added to which there is no shame in showing how you feel Harry especially to the person who you trust most in the world. Which brings me to my next suggestion which is that as tomorrow is Saturday put thoughts of the funeral to one side and start talking about where you might want to live or even go out for the day.'

Feeling a whole deal calmer thanks to Malcolm, as soon as they walked onto the grid Harry forced himself as hard as it was to put thoughts of cottages by the sea or somewhere with a sea view to one side and instead by-passing Dolby set about organising cover to ensure the members of the core team would be able to attend. After which he called everyone into the meeting room to update them on the arrangements, including the bonus that the vicar who he described as down to earth, had suggested that they together with Ros's mother and aunt should come back to the vicarage afterwards.

Only for Jo to say, 'there could be as many as forty people given those who have responded to my message,' which led to a discussion as to where to park in what was such a small village.

A question that was answered after Harry phoned the vicar who said that he would ensure that the parking area behind the village hall would be kept free for the day. Although any further discussion was cut short when Harry's phone rang, a call he couldn't ignore given that it was the Home Secretary telling him that he felt he needed to make a visit to the site where he understood work was still going on, to thank not only those who were being paid but what he understood were volunteers and because Harry had suggested that anything other than routine trips until the who killed Ros situation was resolved that if Dimitri was free he would pick him up and drive him back.

'We'll be with you in half an hour,' said Harry, seizing the opportunity which had been handed to him on a plate which was to tell him face to face that they now knew his predecessor was the person who had authorised the bomb which could well have killed him had it not been for Ros, as well as ask him if there was any way he could find out where Blake was because for all Tariq's efforts finding information about the illusive Nicholas Blake appeared to have been removed from the Government website?

At which point the meeting room emptied, all bar Ruth who had planned to spend the morning writing what she hoped would be a tribute worthy of Ros and now here was Harry metaphorically throwing himself under the bus again, made worse because it would be the first time since she had gone out to meet the Chinese asset that they wouldn't be within touching distance of each other, until Malcolm who less than an hour ago had told him that he needed to sort out his priorities, reappeared and said, 'whatever it is that you want to ask the Home Secretary can just as easily be done by Jo.'

Which was not only patently true but was backed up by him having told Malcolm that Blake still being alive worried him, in the same way that he had faced up to the fact that when they did find him that he had to leave it to the others to dish out whatever punishment is appropriate.

'I really appreciate this close protection and yes I'll do everything I can when it comes to finding where my predecessor has gone, but I also felt it my duty to visit the scene and show my appreciation as I believe that despite it being almost three weeks since the explosion that there are still people working here with nothing to gain and now that the press have moved on to other what they consider to be more newsworthy happenings, my presence here won't result in my face appearing in the tabloids as one of the survivors,' Lawrence told Jo who not only knew this but was seeing the devastation for the first time.

Unlike Dimitri who had seen it as early as the following day when they were still finding bodies under the rubble and was now following the Home Secretary who was heading towards a group of men who were loading some heavy equipment onto a lorry, allowing her to think ahead to when Harry will no longer be steering the ship and having met Andrew Lawrence somewhere that proves that man's inhumanity has no bounds, the fact that he will be sitting behind his desk at the Home Office, will she knows make the transition so much easier than she had feared.

Sufficient that she sends a message to Harry saying, 'Lawrence on side, enjoy your weekend and love to Ruth,' which in turn is the push that Harry needs to do what Malcolm had suggested and after a chat with Ruth sees him booking two nights in a hotel on the Suffolk coast.