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want to pull the trigger. I don’t want … He can’t get away with what he’s done.’
    ‘Let me think about it, yeah?’ He reaches across and touches my arm. ‘We should think about it.’
    It’s a couple of days later and Luc and I have agreed to meet down by the stream at Coy Pond. Woolly trots by my side and I have to hurry him along as he keeps getting distracted by one glorious smell or another .
    Luc’s the only person I feel at all comfortable with now, but he’s been barred from coming to the house. Ma’s got it into her head that he’s somehow to blame for Skye’s death. It’s crazy. She’s known him almost since he was born. So now I have to visit him in secret, which isn ’ t hard given Ma ’ s oblivious state.
    I see Luc every day. His folks aren’t due back for another few weeks and he hates being at his place on his own, where it happened. We’ve been going for walks or talking and playing cards. As far as I know, he doesn’t spend any time with his other friends.
    Luc’s already waiting when we arrive and Woolly bounds ahead to greet him, causing the ducks and moorhens on the bank to take flight or flap and waddle for cover. Luc slides off the high stone wall and almost runs towards me, his eyes shining. I’m always pleased to see him these days but I wonder what’s behind his enthusiasm today. He’s normally more laid back and I feel good that he’s so happy to see me.
    ‘ There ’ s been a sighting of Chambers, ’ he grins. ‘They spotted him two weeks ago heading north out of Warminster in your mum’s AV.’
    ‘Who? Who spotted him?’
    ‘Two soldiers stopped him for a routine check, but they let him go. Idiots.’
    ‘What! Why did they let him go?’
    ‘I s’pose they didn’t know who he was. But when they got back to their base they saw his picture and ID ’ d him as Skye ’ s killer. The army’s out there now searching the area.’
    ‘ That’s great, Luc, ’ I interrupt. ‘ But that was two weeks ago. He could be anywhere by now. ’
    ‘ I haven ’ t finished,’ he says. ‘ Yesterday, a guard in the West Country thought he saw him. ’ Luc takes the rucksack from my hand and swings it on to his back. ‘ Come on let ’ s walk. I thought you ’ d be pleased. ’
    We follow the stream.
    ‘ I am pleased,’ I say, ‘but there’s no way they ’ ll find him. A guard thought he saw him? It might not even be him. The army isn’t really interested. We ’ d have a much better chance of finding him ourselves. We ’ re involved. They ’ re not. ’ I hear the negative tone in my voice and see Luc ’ s disappointed face. ‘ But it ’ s better than nothing, ’ I add. ‘ Maybe they will catch him. ’
    We walk in silence for a bit. I don ’ t know what to say. I think I hurt Luc’s feelings with my unenthusiastic response. He walks beside me with an unreadable expression on his face and I trawl my brain cells for something positive to say, something that will sound genuine. I’m not a very good liar. After about five minutes of unwanted silence, Luc stops and puts his hand on my bare arm.
    ‘ Look, Riley, I completely understand you want to go and find Chambers yourself. Skye was your sister and she was my friend and it's completely crap he escaped justice, but we don ’ t know where he is and, even if we did, how would we get out of the Perimeter? We ’ ve got no transport. What would we do even if we did find him?’
    I don’t reply.
    ‘He ’ s obviously dangerous and he ’ s not going to come back with us willingly. Not to mention what it’s actually like out there. I mean, Riley. It’s bad. There’s no law. It’s nothing like it is in here, in our cosy little Perimeter. ’
    I listen to all his reasonable objections as we walk, and I scuff my flip flops along the broken path that runs by the side of the stream, knowing in my heart that everything he says makes sense. But I feel disappointed and flat. The finality of Skye ’ s death hits me