"Affirmative, control. Roger that." He turned to look over his shoulder at me. "Let's take you home, sir, and see what's what."

"I'd really rather not go back there right now." The edge of panic in my voice raised an eyebrow from the officer beside me.

"It's OK, sir. You're quite safe. We just want to check it out."

His efforts to rea.s.sure me weren't working. "I mean it." I tried to think of a way to warn them. "Can't you just arrest me or something?" A night in the cells was looking better now.

"We'll see, sir, after we've been to the house."

My reticence to return to the house had sparked off their suspicion again, almost as if there was something I didn't want them to find. In a way they were right, but I could guarantee it wasn't what they suspected. Colin started the car and did a rapid three-point turn. I wondered whether I could unlock the car doors using my magic and run for it, but then I would lose my rucksack and they would certainly chase me. They already knew my ident.i.ty and having the police searching for me as well as the Untainted was not a good idea. The drive back to the house only took a couple of minutes and it struck me that I hadn't run as far as I thought. They parked on the road outside. The house was dark.

"Is it two flats?" Colin asked me, noting the two front doors.

"Yes, the top one's mine. The bottom one belongs to a young couple."

"Do you have your keys?"

"They're upstairs, in my bedroom." I glanced nervously at the front door. "Look, please don't go in there, at least not until morning."

He hesitated.

Jim, the rugby player, answered, "We have to investigate, sir. It's our duty." He pulled the door catch and eased out into the rain.

Colin got out while Jim held the door open and gestured for me to slide across towards him. Colin waited while I reluctantly shrugged off the blanket and shuffled across to get out of the car between them.

"Follow close behind us. We won't let anyone hurt you, OK?" He nodded to Colin and we walked towards the door.

I hung back from them, but then edged closer as the gap opened up between us, leaving me exposed as we went through the gate. The back of my neck p.r.i.c.kled. My instinct told me something waited for us but I could see no way out. If I ran for it, I would become their suspect again. Maybe it had gone? Maybe when I ran away it gave up and left?

Colin pushed the front door. "Door's locked."

However it had got in, it'd had the sense to lock the door behind it. "Is there a back door?" Jim asked me.

"Not for the upstairs flat. Only the downstairs has rear access," I told him, relieved that we weren't going in side.

"Do your neighbours have a key?"

"Yes, a spare. They'll be asleep though," I told him. "Not for long." He nodded to Colin, who shrugged then went and rang my neighbour's bell.

It took a few minutes for the lights to come on and for my neighbour to come to the door. I could see he was not pleased to be woken at this time in the morning, but that changed as soon as he saw the uniform. His expression altered to one of nervous enquiry. Colin told him that they needed the spare key and nodded towards me. I shrugged apologetically towards my neighbour. He nodded, looking towards me, recognising but not acknowledging. There was another wait while my neighbour found my key. You can never find these things when you need them. Then another police car turned up, without blue lights or sirens, pulling in behind the other car. Two more officers got out. One of the new policemen came across while the other hung back. "Evening, Skipper." Jim nodded to the officer who hung back, "Eddie."

The new officer joined us. "What's the situation? Is this the owner of the flat?"

"This is Mr Petersen, Skipper, Niall Petersen. He was running down the pavement with a rucksack and boots with no socks." The expression said the lack of socks was a clear indication of criminal activity. "He says someone was trying to get into his bedroom and he jumped out of the window."

The Skipper turned to me. "Been in the flat long, have you?"

"Just over a year," I confirmed.

"Does anyone live here with you?"

"Only my neighbours downstairs."

"Any other exits besides the front door?"

"The first floor window I jumped out of."

"Did you see the intruder, Mr Petersen? Was there any sign of a weapon?"

"I didn't see anyone, but I could hear someone moving around in the flat."

"Any pets, sir?"

"Pets?"

"Sometimes a neighbour's cat can get trapped in a house and doesn't emerge until later, sir. It scares the wits out of people, but it solves the mystery." He smiled rea.s.suringly.

I acknowledged the smile, figuring that the transition from potential criminal to potential victim was promising. "I don't have any pets and I don't think they do either." I nodded towards my neighbour who had been joined in the doorway by his partner. My expression must have conveyed that I thought it unlikely. "What's the layout, sir?"

I described the flat to him, including the squeaky stair and fact that I'd left my coat on the kitchen chair, I added that I'd left my wash-bag in the bathroom. I wanted to rea.s.sure them I had been fine until someone had broken in. I told them I had jammed the bedroom door shut from the inside and climbed out over the balcony. The new officer was more understanding, but noncommittal. I guessed he was simply extracting as much information as he could before the difficult questions started.

"Eddie, you're with Jim. Go around the back and see if you can see anything. Colin, you're with me. We'll take Mr Petersen inside." Jim exchanged a look with Colin, looking relieved that he wasn't one of the people going into the flat. I guess I had them spooked. They extracted torches from their belts then went to the corner of the house.

Skipper told me to stick close to them. He took the key and went to the front door. Jim and Eddie slipped quietly around the side of the building.

The two officers went quickly and efficiently inside with me close behind them.

"Police! Anyone in here? Police!"

The stair creaked as soon as they stood on it. Skipper looked back at me and nodded once.

My sitting room was on the right.

"Police!" The officer called Eddie danced his torch beam around the room. "Clear."

Skipper swept his torch down the hall. "Jeez," he said, "what's that?"

His torch hit the black stain that covered the door to my bedroom and the walls around it. It had spread across the ceiling and the smell of it pervaded the air. It smelled of damp and old rot.

I looked at the walls and ceiling, letting my expression show I was as mystified as they were.

The door, walls and ceiling were covered in what looked like damp-rot. It ran over the walls and up onto the ceiling, spreading a smell of pervasive decay. It gave the hall a fetid atmosphere it had never had while I had lived there. My bedroom door was black with mould apart from the gaping hole in the middle where it had burst through like tinder.

We walked forward slowly, the lights from the torches scanning the walls and ceiling.

The radio crackled and Jim's voice came through: "All clear here, Skipper."

Skipper put his hand to the radio switch at his collar. "Roger that."

Colin went down the hall past the bedroom door, being careful not to touch the black stain. He scanned the torch around my kitchen and then the bathroom. "Clear here too, Skipper. There's not even a sc.r.a.p of mould in the bathroom or kitchen. It's all clean." His tone said something odd was going on, though he was at a loss to explain what.

"Was it like this before?" the Skipper asked me.

I shook my head, unable to frame an outright lie to the contrary. I was well aware that if I started talking about mould running across the walls like water I would be spending the next three months in a psychiatric unit. Colin leaned down and used his torch to scan through the gaping hole in my bedroom door. He extracted his baton and used the end to push the door handle down. It was still sealed and didn't move.

"There's no one in there, sir, as far as we can tell, but the door's stuck," he told me. "Is it locked? "

"No." I looked at the ruins of the door. "I just jammed it. Try it again." I felt for the link that connected the seal on the door to me. I imagined it opening at a touch. The link echoed and then faded.

Skipper used his baton to turn the handle down again and pushed. The door sc.r.a.ped, then opened, swinging away from him before casually dropping off the top hinge to land askew. He swung his torch around inside the room and then entered, delicately clicking the light switch on with the end of his baton. The inside was as bad as the outer, dark rot spread over the wall and ceiling. Thankfully it hadn't affected the carpet or furniture, but the smell was awful. It reeked of decay. The damp rainy air from the open windows smelled fresh by comparison. "Door's had it," Colin remarked.

"And with all the debris on the inside of the room," the Skipper pointed out. "Was there any mould in the flat before?" he asked me again.

"No. I'm sure I would have noticed. I can't explain... " I let my voice trail off as I looked at the remnants of the door and the walls, stained black with it. "Where are your keys and wallet?" Colin asked me. "They're in the top drawer, by the bed."