The door burst open as the ambulance crew arrived. Claudia got to her feet.

"I'm her probation officer," she began.

"She's--' " Dead or as near as damn it," the paramedic who had knelt on the floor beside Katriona declared grimly, adding in disgust, " Bloody young fool. Why the hell do they do it? Get her on the stretcher," he commanded the two men with him. Then frowning, he suddenly said in a different voice, " No, don't bother. there's no point. " He turned towards Claudia.

"She's gone, I'm afraid," he told her.

"No, she can't be," Claudia protested even though she knew he was telling the truth.

"She..."

But the man was ignoring her, giving a string of instructions to the men with him.

The squat, normally busy with people, had become strangely silent; even the baby wasn't making any noise.

The baby. Claudia looked into the dark corner of the room where she had carefully placed her.

Later she swore to herself that she had fully intended to warn them that the baby was there; that she had had no intention of doing anything else. But before she could open her mouth, the paramedic's radio started to crackle.

Frowning, he took the message, then turned to Claudia and told her, "We've got another emergency to go to. Car accident down by Vauxhall Bridge. Sounds bad. There's nothing more we can do here. The authorities are following close behind us and they'll want to check out the death before the body is taken away. What did you say her name was?"

Automatically, Claudia gave it to him, watching as he quickly scribbled it down before sidestepping Katriona's motionless body and hurrying towards the door.

"Do I... shall I stay?" she began.

But he was already through the door.

Silently, Claudia glanced at Katriona's body. There was nothing left of the spirit, the presence, the life, that had once inhabited it; it was simply an empty shell.

Even so. Claudia dosed her eyes, and on some impulse she couldn't even begin to explain, she slowly recited the Lord's Prayer and then as much of the Twenty-third Psalm as she could remember, her voice growing stronger as she trembled over the familiar words.

How Katriona would have laughed if she could have heard her. But she couldn't simply walk away from her. Turn her back. leave her.

A movement in the corner of the room caught her eye. Her heart started to thump crazily. Slowly, she left Katriona and walked over to the baby. She had only intended to pick her up, that was all.

She had never meant to take her away, to leave the house with her, to carry her concealed within the fold of her coat to protect her from the cold, out to her waiting car.

The street was empty. Claudia unlocked her car door and got in very carefully, placing the baby still wrapped in her coat on the back seat. As she drove off, she glanced at her watch. A quarter past two.

Wasn't two o'clock the time when the heart, the body, was at its weakest and death most likely?

"Take her," Katriona had commanded.

"Take her."

In the back of the car, the baby was gurgling softly. Slowly, Claudia drove home, expecting with every yard to be overtaken by a police car, sirens screaming, and to be accused of stealing Katriona's baby. But the night remained silent, the roads bare of anything more threatening than the odd taxi.

The communal hallway to the flats was empty. Anyway, only the bottom flat was currently occupied--by an elderly couple presently away visiting their grandson in Brighton.

Calmly, Claudia carried the baby, her baby now, upstairs to their own flat, carefully unlocking the door and then equally carefully bolting and locking it again. The baby, her baby, was making happy, contented noises, her dark green eyes fixed on Claudia's face.

"You must be hungry, my darling," Claudia murmured tenderly, 'but I don't know what I'm going to give you, or how, though you certainly need a bath. A nice, warm, lovely bath to make you all clean and pretty. " She hummed softly as she started to remove the soiled clothes in which the little girl was dressed, her mind racing as she made plans.

First thing in the morning, she would find a chemist, not a local one or a small one, no, a large distant one where an anonymous woman buying baby things would not be noticed. Or perhaps she would make several small purchases from a variety of stores--the amount of things that any normal mother would buy. She would have to take her with her, of course. She couldn't possibly leave her here alone in the flat, wouldn't want to leave her anywhere, be parted from her for even a heartbeat of time.

"Don't you worry, my little precious," she crooned as she filled her washing-up bowl with warm water and placed it in the bath as a makeshift baby bath before carefully sponging her down and then lifting her into it.

She was so tiny, so perfect, so heartbreakingly fragile with her little ribs showing through her skin. Claudia's heart started to beat anxiously fast. The baby must be hungry. All she could give her tonight was some warm milk, after she sterilised the bottle she had found in the filthy blanket used to wrap her in.

Talking lovingly to her all the time she was bathing her, Claudia stopped every now and again to smile into her dark green eyes and tell her how much she loved her, her baby. hers now.

The telephone was ringing when Claudia returned from her shopping expedition. She had left the wheels of the pram she had bought for her in the car, carrying her new daughter upstairs in the canvas body of it and leaving her securely strapped into it while she went back down again for the rest of her shopping.

Breathlessly, she picked up the receiver, then tensed as she heard Janice's irritated voice.

"Claudia, are you all right? This is the third time I've rung."

"Er..."

"If you aren't well enough to come into work, you might let us know."

Work!

Claudia blinked. She had completely forgotten about it and of course she couldn't go back now. Not with her new baby to look after.

Quickly, she made up her mind.

/! was going to ring you, Janice," she fibbed.

"But I just haven't had time. Garth and I have been having a talk and we've decided that since he's going into business on his own, it would be best if I gave up my job--' " Gave up your job? But you'll have to give a month's notice. You--' "I can't," Claudia interrupted her calmly.

"I'm sorry, Janice, but I've got to go," she said as she saw that Tara, as she had decided to call her baby, was beginning to wake up. She would be hungry, ready for her bottle and the nourishing baby formula that Claudia had bought for her this morning. Not as good as breast milk, of course, but far, far better than Katriona's halfhearted feeding routine.

"Claudia ... wait..." Janice protested.

"There's something I've got to tell you. It's about Katriona."

Katriona!

Claudia's fingers gripped the receiver, her body tensing. Was Janice going to say something about the baby. had she guessed?

"She's... she's dead, I'm afraid. The police reported it to us this morning. Apparently, someone alerted the authorities last night that she'd overdosed, but by the time the paramedics got there, it was too late. I thought you'd want to know. After all, she was one of your clients."

"Er ... yes ... yes, thank you." Claudia's brain was in a whirl. If the police had reported Katriona's death to the office, then that meant that no one knew of her presence there in the flat, obviously assuming that the ambulance had been sent for by the girl who had made the tele phone call.

"Who...?" Claudia began.

But almost as though she had guessed what she was about to ask, Janice continued, "The squat was empty by the time the police got there, not unpredictably. Claudia... about your job " I don't want to discuss it, Janice," Claudia interrupted her firmly, her mind racing as she re placed the receiver.

Janice had said nothing about Katriona's baby. Perhaps she didn't even know. Claudia had conscientiously mentioned her in her last report, and alerted the health visitor to there being a child at risk in the squat but by the time they got round to making enquiries, it would be too late. Tara would safely be hers. But just to make sure, this afternoon she would go and register her birth. She and Garth would definitely have to move now. There was no way she wanted to bring up a baby, her baby, in this flat. No, she needed fresh air, country air, a large airy nursery, a big gar den. Smiling at Tara, she bent down to lift her out of the carry-cot, holding her gently against her shoulder as she went to get the bottle of formula she had prepared.

It was odd how some things came so naturally, so instinctively, Claudia acknowledged as she settled herself in a chair and gave the baby her bottle.

Tara sucked eagerly, almost greedily at first, but Claudia didn't let her rush.

"Gently," she told her, "We don't want you getting wind, do we, my darling baby. No, we don't."

After she had finished feeding her, Claudia put the bottle to one side and cuddled her until she had fallen asleep in her arms, just for the pleasure of holding her.

She would have to ring the office to find out when Katriona's funeral was being held. This was a debt she had to pay the poor girl.

Tara snuggled deeper into her arms. Smiling tenderly, Claudia kissed her soft, downy head. She smelled clean and fresh, of baby powder and milk and baby skin, and she loved her as much, as intensely, as deeply, as though she had grown in her own womb, Claudia acknowledged.

This was her baby. Hers and no one was ever going to take her away.

"You're mine now, my precious. Mine," Claudia whispered to the sleeping baby as she picked her up and carried her over to the carry cot

"You're safe with me. I'm your mother now and I love you so much."

When Garth came home they would have to go and buy her a proper cot.

Garth. A tiny shadow of doubt and confusion darkened Claudia's shininghappiness but she quickly dismissed it. Garth would understand. Hehad to understand, but when he rang later that night to tell her thathis return was going to be delayed, Claudia was glad.

"Oh, Garth, by the way," she added before he hung up, "I've changed mymind about living in town. I've decided you were right. We ought tolook for somewhere in the country, and I've decided to give in mynotice at work, as well. You were right about that, too. Work isgetting me down."

Claudia sounded different, or rather Claudia had sounded more like her old self. Garth acknowledged after their call had ended. So why, instead of feeling pleased and relieved, did he feel distinctly disturbed?

Claudia was the only mourner at Katriona's funeral. Ignoring Janice'sdisapproval, she had arranged everything, paying for the grave and herheadstone in the churchyard of the small Dorset village where she hadbeen brought up and where her parents were buried. After it was allover, she stood at the graveside, Tara, dressed in new clothes andwrapped in a warm blanket, in her arms. Together they shared the starksilence of the morning and the bleakness of the newly turned earth.

"She's mine now, Katriona. I shall love her forever, for both of us,"

Claudia told the dead girl in a silent whisper.

Pulling the hood of her jacket up over her head, she hurried back to her car, pausing to turn round to make sure that no one had seen her.

When Garth returned later that afternoon, the first thing he noticedabout the flat was the smell--sweet and fresh, invoking memories of hischildhood. The second thing he noticed was the fact that Claudia wassmiling as she came to greet him. The third was the sudden and totallyunexpected sound of a baby crying.

Dropping his overnight bag, he started to frown as he demanded, "What's that?"

"Not what... who," Claudia corrected him before adding simply, "It's a baby. Garth... our baby."

"Our baby...? What... Claudia...?" he began uneasily, but she was already turning away from him, hurrying into the bedroom and returning with a baby who had miraculously stopped crying and was now beaming happily up at her as she soothed her.

"Claudia," he demanded, "What--' " She's mine. Garth," Claudia declared fiercely.

"Mine, and no one's going to take her away from me. We'll have to move, of course, and it's just as well that both sets of parents are away. We'll have to tell them that we kept the pregnancy a secret because we were afraid I might lose her and that she arrived prematurely. She's so tiny that she could easily be a premature baby. Of course, when we register with a new doctor, I'll have to pretend that my medical records are missing. I'll make up a doctor's name and--' " Claudia. Claudia. what's going on? " Garth interrupted her, telling her starkly, " This baby isn't ours. She--' "She is now. Her mother gave her to me, told me to take her. I had to take her. Garth. If I hadn't, heaven knows what would have happened to her. This way, she'll get all the love she needs. No one could ever love her more than me.

Don't you think she's beautiful? She's even got my colouring, although her eyes are more like yours than mine. Katriona had dark hair, too, of course. "

Katriona. Garth's heart gave a shocked lurch.

"This baby is Katriona's...?"

"Was. Katriona's dead," Claudia told him, her voice automatically dropping as she pulled the blanket round Tara's ears as though wanting to protect her from what she was about to say.

"She overdosed. She sent for me, told me she wanted me to take the baby. She wanted me to have her, Garth, she told me. She was so desperate for me to have her that she even tried to tell me who the father was. She claimed that he was someone special."

"She told you the name of the baby's father?" Garth's body went still, his throat suddenly so dry that his voice sounded cracked and harsh.

"No, she tried to, but it was too late, and besides, it doesn't matter. I don't care who he was. You're her father now. I'm her mother and you're her father. I've called her Tara. It suits her, don't you think? And do you know, she's so clever, I think she knows her name already. She watches everything I do. She's going to be clever. Oh, yes, you are, my darling, you're going to be a very clever girl indeed," Claudia cooed, ignoring Garth's attempts to question her as she added, "It's time for her feed. Garth. She's so hungry, poor little thing, but she can't have too much food all at once as it might make her poorly. " Helplessly, Garth watched as Claudia bustled about the tiny kitchen, heating milk and making up formula, the baby relaxed and happy against her shoulder, the pair of them looking for all the world as though they had been together since the moment of her birth. Looking for all the world as though they were mother and daughter. But this child was not theirs. not--Garth swallowed hard--not theirs perhaps, but she could well be his. His.

"Claudia, this isn't right," he told her harshly.

"This baby isn't yours, ours. We cannot keep her. You must know that." He tried to be gentle, make her understand, but Claudia rounded on him like a tigress.

"She is mine. Garth, and no one is going to make me give her up," she retorted fiercely.

"Claudia, please, I know you've been through a bad time and I can understand that this baby--' " Tara, her name's Tara," Claudia interrupted him.

"Say it. Garth," she urged him.

"Say it. She likes hearing it."

"This... Tara isn't ours, Claudia, and she must be handed over to the authorities. They're probably already searching for her, her family."

"She has no family," Claudia countered.

"Only us. The authorities will in all probability assume that one of Katriona's druggy friends has taken her. She needs us, Garth. She needs someone to look after her and love her. Do you know what would happen to her if we handed her over to the authorities? She'd be found foster parents and then she'd be passed on to someone else--' " She'd be adopted by parents who loved and wanted her, Claudia," Garth corrected her sternly.

"She doesn't need any other parents. She's got us. Don't try to make me give her up. Garth," she warned him.

"Because I won't. If you don't want us, then we'll go away and make a life somewhere for ourselves."