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moved closer to her, as if he were protecting her.
    â€˜Excuse me,’ Jim asked her. ‘But do you
know
me?’
    â€˜No,’ she smiled. ‘But I know what you want.’
    â€˜Oh, yes? Is that why you’ve been following me?’
    â€˜I wasn’t following you. I was waiting for you to find me.’
    â€˜Okay then, it looks like I have. My name’s Jim Rook.’
    She held out her hand. It was very soft, long-fingered and surprisingly cold. ‘Susan Silverstone,’ she said. ‘And this is my friend Medlar Tree.’
    Jim gave the mime an army-style salute. ‘Nice to meet you, Mr Tree.’
    â€˜Medlar Tree is his whole name,’ said Susan Silverstone. ‘The medlar tree is the least known of all the magic trees. You can’t eat its fruit until it looks as if it’s rotten, but it’s a strong charm against devils and all kinds of black mischief.’
    â€˜I see,’ said Jim, turned back to Medlar Tree and said, ‘Sorry.’ The mime gave him a sweeping bow. Jim had always detested mimes. As a language teacher, he thought that their deliberate refusal to talk was the worst kind of social arrogance.
    â€˜So what do you think I’m looking for?’ he asked Susan Silverstone.
    â€˜The same thing as most people: reassurance. But you want a very special kind of reassurance, don’t you? You want to find out if something
wicked
has come this way.’
    â€˜How do you know that?’
    She touched her temples with her fingertips, and gave him the most extraordinary look that any woman had ever given him in his life. It was like tilting your head back and staring up at the sky at night and seeing that all the stars had gone out.
    â€˜I know because I’m a sensitive, and you’re looking for a sensitive, aren’t you? I know because I can feel your anxiety from fifty feet away. I know because the woman you’re with has just been bereaved, and she’s trying to find a reason why.’
    Jim took off his sunglasses. ‘Are you trying to pull something here?’
    â€˜Of course not,’ said Susan Silverstone. ‘You can ask anybody here. I’m renowned for my interpretation of other people’s auras.’ Behind her, Medlar Tree pulled his mouth downward like a theatrical mask, and disapprovingly waggled his head from side to side.
    Jim said, ‘The way I’ve been walking around asking people questions, it isn’t hard to work out that I’m looking for something, especially since I’m not exactly dressed like Jimi Hendrix. And it isn’t hard to guess that this lady has been recently bereaved. Who else walks around totally dressed in black on a hot day like this? Apart from you.’
    â€˜Then let me impress you a little more. Your anxiety has something to do with water, doesn’t it?’
    Jim said nothing, but Medlar Tree began to perform a breaststroke in mid-air, and blow out his cheeks as if he were swimming. For the first time in a long time, Jim felt like gratuitously punching a person in the nose.
    â€˜More exactly, your anxiety has something to do with somebody drowning.’
    Karen and Jennie had realized that Jim was no longer walking alongside, and Jennie had turned back. ‘Jim?’ she said, looking at Susan Silverstone in apprehension. ‘Is everything all right?’
    â€˜This lady seems to know what we’re here for,’ said Jim.
    â€˜Can she do a spirit-trace?’
    â€˜Of course,’ said Susan Silverstone. ‘Spirit-tracing is one of my specialties.’
    â€˜How much do you charge?’
    â€˜You’ve just lost your child. You don’t think I’d ask you for money, do you?’
    â€˜How do you know about that?’ said Jennie. ‘Did you tell her that, Jim?’
    Susan Silverstone laid a hand on Jennie’s sleeve. She had silver rings on every finger and on her thumb. Beside her, Medlar Tree rubbed his