Case Histories

They stopped in at the Catholic church and Jackson lit two candles, one each for his brother and sister. Marlee asked to light one for Fidelma. Passio Christi, conforta me. Both Fidelma's sisters were now dead of cancer-Jackson prayed that Marlee had missed that particular gene. Jackson 's father was an only child, so Marlee was the only blood relative that Jackson had in the world now that his father was dead. It seemed unlikely that Jackson would have more children. This was it – one girl in pink jeans and a T-shirt that was emblazoned with the message, so many boys, so little time. Did the people who designed these T-shirts, did the people who made these T-shirts in size "8-10 yrs" ever stop to think that what they were doing might actually be immoral? Of course the people who made the T-shirts were probably themselves "8-10 yrs" in a sweatshop in the Philippines somewhere.

"Daddy?"

"Yep?"

"Can we light a candle for my hamster?"

"You should get a T-shirt," Jackson said. "So many hamsters, so little time."

"Not funny. Now are we going home?"

"No. We're going to take a quick detour. I have to go and see a woman called Marian Foster." "Why?" "Just because."

They were on the bypass when Jackson realized something was wrong. The swiftness of the feeling took him by surprise, one minute he felt okay – cracked, bruised, sore, and aching but okay – the next minute he felt himself spiking an incredible temperature and only a few seconds later he was seeing the world very much how he imagined a fly would see it and the next he was slipping into unconsciousness. Every last bit of his remaining energy was concentrated on bringing the car to a stop on the hard shoulder, after that – nothing.

The next thing he was waking up in a hospital and looking into Howell's eyes.

"Why are you here?" Jackson noticed that he seemed to be using someone else's voice.

"I'm your next of kin, apparently."

"Oh, yeah," Jackson said weakly. "Josie didn't want the job anymore."

Howell grinned. "I always knew you had black blood in you somewhere, Jackson. You never used to be the kind of guy that carried an organ-donor card."

"Well, I guess I'm that kind of guy now." Jackson struggled to sit up. "Someone's trying to kill me, Howell."

Howell seemed to think this was incredibly funny. When he stopped laughing he said, "Don't be so paranoid, Jackson. You've got blood poisoning. Apparently you had a tooth you were supposed to get seen to."

Jackson panicked suddenly. What was he thinking? "Where is she, where's Marlee? Is she okay?"

"She's fine. Keep your hair on your chest." "But where is she, Howell?" "On a sheep farm," Howell said.

Jackson didn't know why Marlee had given the police Kim Stra-chan's number – he supposed she'd scrolled through the address book in his phone and thought Kim was a trustworthy person. Maybe it was because Kim had given her five pounds (Marlee was that kind of girl). Was it Marlee who called the police and the ambulance? Was the first call she made on her Barbie pink phone to the emergency services? What if he hadn't managed to stop the car? Or an articulated lorry had plowed into them as they were stuck on the hard shoulder? He supposed his daughter would be pretty safe on a sheep farm in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Russian gangsters.

"How long have I been here?" he asked Howell.

"Three days."

"Three days. Jesus, Josie's back tomorrow. I need to get Marlee home to Cambridge."

"Didn't know you were pussy whipped, Jackson."

Jackson ignored this comment. "Josie's taking Marlee to New Zealand."

"Well, it's only for a year," Howell said. "It'll pass in no time."

"No, it's for good," Jackson said.

"No, it's not, Jackson," Howell insisted. "It's just a year, ask Marlee."

You fucking bitch!" Jackson shouted. "Your wanker boyfriend's only going on a year's exchange to New Zealand. You told me you were going for good." Josie said something indistinct on the other end of the phone, her voice had a throaty, lazy timber that it took on straight after she'd had an orgasm. If she hadn't been in the Ardeche and he hadn't been in a hospital somewhere south of Doncaster he would definitely have killed her. He was sitting on a bench outside the hospital, still tied to his drip. A lot of people were giving him odd looks and he dropped his voice a little.

"Why, Josie? Why did you lie to me like that?"

"Because you were out of order, Jackson. Get over it," she added. "Get over me."

Jackson wanted a cigarette, very badly. His tongue found the empty socket of his tooth, both tooth and root had been removed by the emergency dentist on call while Jackson was blissfully unconscious. Sharon was going to be very annoyed when she discovered she had been denied the pleasure of torturing him. He caught sight of himself in the plate glass of the hospital, he looked like the walking wounded you saw in war documentaries.

He punched another number into his phone. "Theo?"

" Jackson!" Theo sounded almost happy. "Where are you?"