Yet where to start? She sat Joy down on her bed and settled beside her, going back in her mind to the moment when she had left her sister, safely tucked away, with the branches of some tree or other – Gillian was no naturalist – hiding most of her from view. As she began to speak, she was transported back in time, living again the extraordinary experience which she had so longed for her sister to share. In her head she could see it like a cinema show, slowly unwinding before her inner eyes, exactly as it had happened. Haltingly at first, she began to tell her story … Gillian glanced back at Joy and saw that she was as well hidden as possible, then walked quietly along the pavement until she reached the green-painted door in the wall. She had counted the doors and gates as she went along, and was pretty sure that this was the one attached to the house with Dr Slocombe’s brass plate upon it. For a moment she paused, then decided that since she had no desire to steal from or otherwise desecrate the doctor’s premises, there was really nothing to stop her just opening the door … She put her hand on the latch, reflecting that she might well find it would not give to her touch.
