'She told me to tell you that you cant ever.

'I dont understand. Who told you . . . what? Joeys plucked brows shot into question marks.

'The Lady. When she knew I was set on coming here to find you she sent me a letter. Tell him 'Bartholomew waits thats what she said.

My brothers face went grey as ashes left after a fire. I could see it plain, even through the pearl powder and the dabs of rouge.

'What does it mean, then, Joey? You told me she never makes mistakes.

Chapter Eight.

Lady Ginger never made mistakes, but I was beginning to think that perhaps I had.

It had been so easy, hadnt it? Those two had it all neat and prepared like a patter act. Theyd caught me off guard and bounced me into taking the kid home. I was sure Id have been more sceptic if Id been on clean gin all evening and not that yellow stuff.

Dont take me wrong. I wanted to help David, he seemed a decent type more than that, tell truth and Joey was so certain of me that I didnt want to disappoint him. I was flattered that he asked like he knew I would be. But now, standing here on the platform waiting for them, it was a different matter.

I hadnt told Lucca about the baby. There hadnt been a moment when it seemed right, and anyway, since wed met up early in the hotel lobby hed had a mood on him as black as Mrs Conways best hairpiece. I suspected he was nursing a head, which was unlike him. Mind you, if them Russian boys he was fraternising with had been anything like Old Peter, it was likely his belly was boiling over with firewater and his head was ringing out like Stepney belfry.

I glanced at his face. Even his good side was rough this morning.

He looked up at the station clock again. 'We have to board now, Kitty.

'Just another minute, please. I know hell come.

Lucca twisted his lip and made a sound under his breath that could have been a curse. He pulled the collar of his coat higher, folded the brim of his hat so that it sat lower to cover the scars and went a little further out to get a clearer view of the platform. He seemed almost as reluctant as me to climb aboard.

Scores of people jostled around us. Some were passengers you could tell them from their sober grey travelling gear but mostly they were families and friends seeing off visitors. Just down the platform a row of neat dressed, solemn-eyed children stood waving at a generously upholstered gent already safely ensconced on board. I noted that he didnt look up from his newspaper.

Three windows along, a thin young man with a prominent nose and a hunted look leaned out to clasp the hand of a pretty girl who was still standing on the platform. The girl was crying. He didnt say nothing, he just kept patting her fingers and squinting furtively at the clock. I didnt need to be an oracle in the way of Swami Jonah to tell that tempus wasnt fugiting fast enough as far as he was concerned.

Porters raced past, pushing trolleys stacked high with trunks and parcels. An over-officious guard, whose prodigiously buttoned navy blue uniform served as a lovely backdrop to his dander, kept tutting and sniffing as Lucca and me refused to go up the slatted brass steps and along to our compartment.

The engine whistle went off again and a cloud of gritty steam rolled down the platform. I covered my mouth and nose. Where were they?

When the maid had come to my room at six she seemed most surprised to find me sitting in my evening gown. I hadnt been there for long, mind, just an hour or so. She helped me out of the dress, unpinned my hair which was unravelling nicely by itself brought me up a basin of hot water and, after I washed, she packed away the last of my things and helped me get ready for the journey home.

The evening had ended abrupt. Joey wouldnt tell me what Lady Gingers message meant. He said it was unfinished business and that he was grateful to hear it from me, but I could tell he was rattled. When I pressed him he clammed up, went to the door and called for the Monseigneur. It was clear I was being dismissed. I didnt know much French, but Id picked up enough to recognise what 'elle quitte maintenant meant.

While I waited the three of us talked briefly about what would happen the next morning. It all sounded so simple. I think I was even excited. Looking back, I reckon the champagne fizzled up my judgement. The whole evening had the quality of a performance and now I was one of the players.

After wed gone over it a couple of times, David stood up to leave. He thanked me again and reached out to take my hand in a formal farewell, but then something came over him. He stepped over and suddenly crushed me against his chest. I just came up level with his shoulders. I could feel his arms around me and I could smell the leather of his cologne and the tang of smoke on his gear. I tried to fix the sensations in my head so I could bring him back at any time.

That was when I knew Id agreed to take David Lennoxs boy back to London not for the sake of the child, but because I wanted to please his father. I was ashamed of myself.

Ten minutes later a Paris hack was waiting for me out on the shabby street beyond the courtyard of 17 rue des Carmelites. The Monseigneur, who never seemed to sleep so far as I could make out, came with me all the way to the hotel. He didnt say a word the whole time we was alone together, he just watched me, his watery eyes glistening in the dim light of the lamp inside the carriage.

By the time I got back to Le Meurice there didnt seem much point in going to sleep, and I knew I wouldnt anyway. I threw some more coals onto the little fire waiting for me they never let the rooms get cold in a high-class establishment drew up a chair and I sat there thinking about what Id agreed to. That was when I realised Id made a mistake, but by then it was too late.

According to the station clock it was now six minutes to eight.

'Hold this, Fannella. Ill go to the entrance. Lucca handed me his crumpled leather holdall and turned back to the gate. I heard him mutter something in Italian, and caught a couple of words, 'Mi ha promesso.

Joey had promised all right, I thought, wondering about the kid. I shouted after him, 'Where are you going?

'Just to the gate. We are lost here. Hell never find us in time.

'Then Ill come with you- 'No. One of us must wait here in case. Joey knows the carriage, s?

I nodded. 'But dont be long. I looked anxiously at the clock again less than six minutes, now. 'The boat train is always punctual on account of the connections. It wont wait for you, Lucca Fratelli.

There was a great shriek from the engine up front as if to confirm what Id just said. The last of the platform stragglers started to climb aboard now. Along the carriage, blinds were being thrown up and windows wound down as passengers said their farewells.

Behind me I heard the guard rattle the door to carriage B in annoyance as Lucca loped back to the entrance gate. In a second or so he was swallowed into the crowd and then the crowd itself disappeared in another rolling cloud of dirty grey smoke. I coughed as the stuff fugged up my eyes and lungs. I could feel smuts landing across my cheeks and my nose so I rubbed hard, wondering if I was doing more harm than good.

I couldnt believe they wouldnt come they had every detail planned right down to the compartment number. Thinking about it now, I was certain they had the bones of it all mapped out long before we had that little chat last night.

I buried my chin in the stiff material of my travel coat collar and took a deep breath. The steam billowing around was thicker than a London fog, I couldnt make out a thing. Perhaps if I moved down a bit away from the engine Id get a clearer view?

I gathered Luccas bag in my arms and stepped blindly into the smoke. The platform was broad, maybe twenty foot across. If I could just get to a place where I was a bit more visible then Joey and David still had time to find me.

I couldnt see the clock overhead, but I reckoned there were five minutes to go. I moved across the platform and walked back a little way in the direction Lucca had gone. The steam cleared for a moment leaving me standing alone in a little window of fresh air.

There wasnt a train waiting over on this side and there were no people clogging up the view neither. I hugged the bag close to my chest Lucca had travelled light and swayed from left to right, craning my neck to see if anyone came through the steam. There was a rumbling noise, and then a bulky shadow in the smoke ahead gathered itself into a porters trolley stacked so high I couldnt see the man behind pushing it. It was coming towards me and coming fast.

I stepped aside to let it pass, only it didnt. It swerved and came straight at me, the metal rollers gnawing at the platform as it gathered speed. I dodged to the right, but the trolley swung towards me again. The teetering packing cases strapped together in a pyramid taller than a man juddered and slipped to one side at the sharp change of direction.

I still couldnt see the porter, but I called out to warn him I was there. The words became a yelp of pain as the metal-bound corner of one of the trunks stacked aboard clipped the edge of my left leg, sending me and Luccas bag toppling over the platform edge and down onto the track below. I lay there, stunned I think, for a second. The bag had fallen into the middle of the track just ahead of me. It had broken open and was lying on its side. Bits and pieces had spilled out and something white, a shirt perhaps, was flapping about almost indecently over the cinders. Lucca wouldnt be happy.

I blinked hard as I lay there and thought I should go and pick it all up. My ears were ringing from the fall, but then I realised that the noise was coming from somewhere outside my head.

The metal rail below my cheek was singing. Something was coming.

I snatched myself up onto all fours in the cinders and twisted my neck to look back down the track. Two golden eyes blinked in the steam and a whistle fit to wake the dead ripped through the air. I tried to stand, but the coarse hem of my coat was caught up in the bolts holding the rail. I yanked hard but it wouldnt come free.

I could feel my heart going off like a steam hammer. The rail beneath my left boot was shuddering now as the approaching engine grumbled into the platform. I screamed for help but my voice was lost in the rumble and metal of the oncoming train.

Where was old dander and buttons when I needed him, I thought?

Buttons?

I ripped at the horn buttons on my travel coat, there wasnt time to undo them I just tore like a wild cat. Mostly they popped off, but two at the bottom were stubborn buggers. It didnt matter. Id freed myself enough to shrug my way out of the straitjacket.

Still holding the shape of my arms and body, it crumpled like the rough grey case of a new-minted butterfly, as I sprinted off down the track past Luccas broken bag, holding up the skirts of my good blue dress for fear of tripping over them. If I could just get enough speed up to hurl myself over the platform edge, I stood a chance.

The engine was less than six foot behind when I jumped. I could feel its lick on the back of my neck as I cleared the brick-lined edge and rolled aside.

'Mon Dieu, cest une fille! A gentleman with a fine pair of mutton chop whiskers living around his ears stared down at me in alarm. He didnt even try to help me up, just rolled his eyes as he took in the grease stains on my skirt and the hair falling loose from the roll on my head.

The train juddered to a halt. Immediately, shiny black carriage doors clattered open along the side like toppling dominoes. The gent was blocked from view by a woman in a vast hooped skirt thirty years past its prime, like its owner. I caught the sour breath of old moth and fresh piss as she stepped down over me and billowed between us.

I struggled, unaided, to my feet. The platform was almost solid now with the heaving mass of passengers alighting from the train that nearly killed me. What time was it? I pushed against the flow and within seconds I was lost in the scrum. My head was throbbing and lights were going off like fire crackers in front of my eyes. Had I missed them?

I shoved through the crowd until I was level with carriage B.

'Fannella! What on earth? Lucca caught hold of my arm and span me around.

'Your coat- He stopped when he saw my face. 'What has happened to you? He reached out to wipe something from my brow and I saw red on his fingers. The engine our engine whistled again and another bank of steam roiled up.

'Did you find them? My head was whirling. I felt like Id taken in a skinful of Old Peters noxious stuff myself.

'Kitty!

I heard Joey before I saw him. Seconds later two young men, one tall and dark, one slight and fair, emerged from the smoke and hurried towards us. They were dressed in dull workwear the colour of French gravy, and both of them wore mufflers and caps.

Between them they carried a trunk strung on looped leather handles set on either side. They came to a halt just in front of us and set the trunk down carefully. I felt, rather than saw, Lucca stiffen in surprise.

'Youre bleeding. Joey reached out to touch my forehead just as Lucca had done. I saw him dart a look at David, who was reaching into the pocket of his jacket.

'Here. Take it. David handed me a white square. 'What happened to you, lass? He bent to examine my face, brushing the tips of his fingers gently across my forehead and down the right side of my face.

The whistle shrieked again and the guard clapped his hands. 'Sil vous plat, monter bord.

I took the kerchief and gripped it tight. 'Theres no time to explain. We have to go aboard.

'First class, number 24? David took up the strap again.

'Its that one. I pointed at a blank train window several foot away. The blind was pulled down. I bit my lip as I looked down at the trunk. My ears were ringing again.

'Joey, take it up, quickly, man. Without looking at me, David and Joey lifted the trunk. I made to follow them aboard, but Lucca pulled at my sleeve. 'Fannella?

He glanced up at the two men who were just disappearing from view into the train corridor running alongside the compartments. He frowned and jerked his head in question.

'No time. I gripped the brass rail and hauled myself up the steps. My head felt like a cracked egg.

I was surprised that Lucca didnt follow straight behind.

'Monsieur! Le train quitte maintenant.

The guard barked again as Lucca dithered on the platform. He scanned the crowd one last time and then, finally, he climbed the steps to follow me along the narrow corridor to our compartment.

The trunk was now in the middle of the floor between the seats. David and Joey stood in the dim passage outside. I could feel the throb of the engine through the polished boards beneath my feet.

'I must thank you, bonny Kitty, from the bottom of my heart. I wont forget this. David swallowed the words, took off his cap and twisted it about in his hands. He looked wretched. There were great bags beneath his eyes.

'Until we meet again. He leaned forward to kiss my cheek and my skin burned.

'Robbie loves his poppet, dont lose it. He whispered the words and then, before I could ask what he meant, he pushed roughly past. I knew it was because he didnt want me to see him crying.

Joey caught my hand and stared at me. I couldnt read his expression at that moment there was such a stew of confusion, pain, fear and relief simmering through me I wasnt exactly sure what was happening. I thought he looked sad, but looking back now it was fear I saw in his eyes, Id stake Paradise on it.

'Thank you. He mouthed the words and hugged me tightly.

'Joey. I . . . I wish. Yesterday . . . I wanted to say- He put a finger to my lips. 'Theres nothing to say. Weve found each other again and I must thank you, for everything. He kissed my forehead, wrapped his arms around me and glanced at Lucca, who was staring at the trunk.

'Keep her safe, my friend. Shes the only family I have.

'Of course! Lucca raised his hat as a sort of salute and threw it down onto a seat. 'She is a sister to me too. Always remember that.

Joey nodded. He released me and reached across to clasp Luccas arm. The hollow sound of doors slamming echoed down the corridor.

'You have to go, Joey. Its time.

'Its never time, Kitty. He winked and suddenly he was the man the bold, brazen, cocksure brother I adored. Truly, Joseph Peck was the best actor I ever knew. Almost.

He blew a kiss, turned and sauntered away down the corridor. Old brass buttons and dander fluff was standing at the end, twitching to slam the door.

I watched my handsome brother disappear from view and then I heard the dismal, final thud.

'Quick, Lucca, open the blind and roll down the window. I neednt have asked. He was already working the brass handle in the panelling, winding it furiously to make the glass slide.

I stepped past the trunk, without giving a thought to what was inside it, and leaned out. David had gone but Joey was still there, wreathed in smoke. Lucca stood just behind me, one hand gripping the rim of the glass. I could sense him craning over my shoulder.

The train jerked forward and Joey started to walk alongside us.

'Joey, Ive got these. Theyre yours. I meant to give them back to you. I scrabbled at the high collar of the blue dress and freed the gold chain with the ring and the Christopher. I tried to pull it over my head, but the links caught up in my hair.

'Keep them. Joey was running now as the train gathered speed. 'Or return them to me next time we meet. It can be a sort of promise between us? He reached up to seize my hand. 'I . . . Im sorry for everything, Kitty.

I nodded. I couldnt speak. I felt like I was trying to swallow down a goose egg whole and my eyes were watering. It wasnt the smoke.

The train was rocking now. I had to drop Joeys hand, but I leaned out further to keep him in view. Lucca was no longer beside me. I heard a padded seat wheeze as he sat down heavily.

Joey stopped running. He waved and called something out but I couldnt hear him. There was an ear-splitting whistle and a tremendous whoosh as a torrent of steam rolled back from the engine ahead. My brother disappeared from view.

I covered my mouth and nose and stood on tiptoe desperate to catch a last glimpse of him. As the train veered to the left, the smoke cleared and I saw that there was someone standing watching at the very end of the platform, only it wasnt Joey. It was a man with snow-white hair.

A couple of seconds later he disappeared too as the train pulled round and a jagged outcrop of smoke-blackened buildings obscured my last view of the Gare du Nord.

I wiped my cheeks, drew back from the window and plonked down in the seat next to Lucca. I wanted to close my eyes and sleep for a hundred years, but my head felt as if it was about to burst. I couldnt tell if it was the drink from the night before or the tumble Id taken. Both, most like. A little shower of lights went off in my head and a pain knifed through my right temple. I leaned forward, pressing the heel of my hand into my eye. At the same moment there was a wailing noise from the trunk. Lucca looked down at the lid, which quite clearly had holes punched across it at one end. The noise came again the unmistakable sound of a baby crying.