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therefore be a message to both of them. Indeed, the sentiments were in many ways more applicable to him than to Sharp. ' The misfortune of your life.' Yes, what had happened at Avebury on 27 July 1981 was that all right. And the subject came home to him. Only too well. 'Bloody hell.'
    'What is it?'
    'Griffin must have sent this.'
    'Aren't you the one who's jumping to conclusions now?'
    'Maybe. But he didn't turn up that day, did he? Either because of road blocks... or because he never intended to.'
    'Meaning?'
    'Meaning he wanted me there. As a witness.'
    'That makes no sense, Umber. No-one could have known Sally would take the Hall children to Avebury that particular morning.'
    'God, no.' Umber put his hand to his brow and dropped the letter. 'They couldn't, could they?' He fell back in his chair. 'I swore I was finished with this when Sally died. The wondering. The theorizing. Constructing one house of cards after another out of frail suppositions. And then watching them collapse. She never stopped doing that. But I did. In the end, I was just so... weary of it... that I felt... weary of her.'
    'You're not going to go maudlin on me, are you?'
    Umber's answer was a long time coming. 'I'll do my best not to.'
    'I need your help.'
    'My help?'
    'To crack this.'
    'It can't be done, George.'
    'Which -- the cracking or the helping?'
    'Both. Contrary to what Junius says, it is too late.'
    'We won't know that till we try.'
    'We?'
    'I could have gone on drawing my pension and tending my allotment happily enough, you know. But not now. Not now I've been reminded of what I did wrong all those years ago.'
    'And what was that?'
    'I gave up. I stopped looking. I wrote the little girl off.'
    'You didn't have much option.'
    'We'll see about that.'
    'I can't get involved, George. Not now. Not after ... putting it all behind me.'
    'What exactly have you done with the past twenty-three years, Umber?'
    'This and that.'
    'I came here expecting to find you'd sent me this letter because you blamed me for Sally's death.'
    'Sorry to disappoint you.'
    'You disappoint yourself. You know you do. You live in a dingy apartment scraping by on odds and sods of casual tour-guiding. Is that how you plan to go on for the next twenty-three years?'
    'Something will turn up.'
    'It just has. Your big chance -- and mine -- to set things right.'
    'You're kidding yourself, George. It's a fool's errand. Besides, you're the detective. What do you need me for?'
    'Younger pair of legs. Keener pair of eyes. And the last word on Junius. That's what I need you for.' Sharp drained his glass. 'I'll cover your travelling expenses if that's what you're worried about.'
    'Police pensions must be more generous than I thought.'
    'I just don't want you to have any excuse for turning me down.'
    'I don't need an excuse.'
    'That a fact? Then, tell me, why are you trying so hard to find one?'
    'I'm not going back with you, George.'
    'I'll give you twenty-four hours to think it over.'
    'It won't make any difference.'
    'No. It won't.' Sharp slid the letter back into its envelope. 'Because you already know what you're going to do.' He smiled at Umber. 'You just can't bring yourself to admit it.'
    Half an hour later, Umber was on the number 24 tram, trundling north through the darkened streets of Prague -- streets Sally had never trodden. Their wanderings had taken them to most of the capital cities of Europe, but never this one. That, he knew, was one of the reasons he had come to Prague -- and had stayed. He opened his wallet and took out the snapshot of her he always carried with him. It was the only picture he had of her. The flood had claimed the others. All that was left to him was this spare passport photograph from nearly twenty years ago.
    Her dark, shoulder-length hair cast part of her face in shadow, accentuating her high cheekbones and making her look gaunt and troubled, whereas in his mind's eye she appeared neither. He remembered her smile so very clearly. But she had seldom