'Oh, go to work!' said Ellie disgustedly. 'See if you can stop that lunatic from killing more than half a dozen women today.'

As he finished his toast, he said crumbily, 'Wildgoose. That rings a little bell. Do I know her?'

'I don't think so,' said Ellie. 'Though she's all the things you admire in a woman. Forty, ferocious, teaches French and is in the middle of a rather unpleasant marital shipwreck.'

Pascoe shuddered and rose from the table.

When he returned with his briefcase ready for departure, Ellie was immersed in the newspaper.

'Hey, there's a little bit here about fat Andy calling in a clairvoyant.'

'Oh God. Let me see.'

He looked at the paper and said in relief. 'It's just a couple of lines and I don't think he gets the Guardian anyway.'

'Perhaps not. But just think how large it's likely to be printed in the tabloids! It's a good story. At least, you made it sound like a good story last night.'

'Don't!' he said, kissing her.

'Peter,' she said thoughtfully when he'd finished, 'that transcript of the tape you showed me. Can I borrow it?'

'Why on earth should you want that?'

'Well, it's just come back to me. I woke up in the night and I was lying there thinking and I got this brilliant idea, you know how you do. About that woman in the trance. Well, I know you said it can't have anything to do with what actually happened, but I was remembering, last year the museum organized a dig in Charter Park, do you remember, at the bottom end beyond the War Memorial. Our historians were involved. It was the Roman Level they were interested in, but they took one section of the trench much deeper just to see. It was clear there'd been a settlement thereabouts for as long as men have been settling.'

'Fascinating,’ said Pascoe. 'So what?'

'So suppose when you die, time shifts? Well, why not? It certainly stops, doesn’t it? Briefly for a moment as she dies, she goes back. You know they say your life flashes before you as you drown? So, it's a cliche, but it's what people who've been saved from drowning have said. Suppose it's not just your life but the whole of life. And once you're beyond yours, you're beyond the point of being saved.'