I turned away from the reflection to look at Molly. I did my best to smile normally. I know, I said. But it s still me, Molly. You can have your Eddie back when this is all over.

When will it be over, Eddie?

When everyone who had any hand in this is dead, I said.

I looked around the room. Something about it troubled me.

I think I remember being here before when I was just a child. If this is the room I think it is. I would have been very small, maybe four or five years old. I d been brought here to meet my grandfather Arthur. Martha s first husband. I can t remember who brought me here, though. Isn t that odd? I m pretty sure it wasn t Martha. I can remember being brought into this room and meeting Grandfather Arthur, but not who brought me here or why.

Arthur Drood he seemed very old to me then, though he couldn t have been more than fifty or sixty. I remember he poured himself a cup of tea but it was too hot to drink, so he poured some of it into the saucer to cool it and sipped his tea from the saucer. Yes. I thought that was a great trick, and demanded to be allowed to try some. He smiled and offered me the saucer, and I took a sip, but I didn t like it. I pulled a face, and everyone laughed. Who laughed? Who else was in the room with me? Why can t I remember them? As though I m not supposed to, not allowed to

Wait a minute, said Molly. Hold everything. Go previous. I thought you said your grandfather Arthur died back in the fifties. You weren t even born then.

That s right, I said, frowning. He died in 1957, in the Kiev Conspiracy.

What was that? said Molly. Some old Cold War thing? Well before my time. And yours.