Night Vision by Jane A. Adams Page A

we know. Sometimes we have to deliberately mislead, hold certain things back, certain things that might only be known to us and to the killer. You understand?’
    â€˜I think so.’ She still looked doubtful. ‘So whoever it was really was out to get your friend?’
    Alec hesitated for a second and then nodded. ‘We think so,’ he conceded.
    Oddly, she looked relieved then. ‘But you want the killer to believe that you don’t know that. To think you’ve not made that connection?’
    â€˜That’s exactly it.’ Alec was glad to resort to at least a half truth. ‘So, even though you know different—’
    â€˜I don’t say anything.’ She nodded, half smiled. It would please her, he thought, to feel she was privy to some secret thing. That she was helping out by staying silent about her doubts. Hopefully, silence would also help to keep her safe. He noticed Eddison observing them and assumed he had heard. Alec excused himself and walked past the senior officer towards the lobby.
    â€˜Good move, Alec,’ Eddison growled.
    Alec ignored him and walked on, heading towards his room. It took all his self-control not to just get back into Travers’ car and drive away.

NINE
    G regory sat at Christopher’s bedside and watched the old man sleep. The light was dim in here, and the nurse had covered the lamp with something that filtered the light and turned it fragile and pink.
    She had no idea who Gregory was and had been doing the job long enough not to ask. She entered now, touched Christopher’s hand and checked his pulse, tucked the frail hand back under the covers and asked Gregory if he needed anything.
    He shook his head. ‘How is he?’
    â€˜Comfortable. That’s the best we can offer.’
    He nodded. He wanted to ask ‘how long?’ but he was afraid Christopher would hear, and that seemed wrong, somehow. His boss, his mentor, his friend and, latterly, his protector, Gregory was still uncertain what this death would mean for him.
    â€˜We are dinosaurs, you and I,’ Christopher said.
    â€˜Are we? What kind?’
    The nurse smiled at them and left the room.
    â€˜Oh, something slow and heavy and about to become extinct. We must make way for the mammals, Gregory. The world of the warm-blooded.’
    Gregory laughed softly. ‘Will they make the world a better place?’
    A harsh chuckle from the old man. ‘Oh, if I thought that, my friend, I could die more peacefully.’ He reached a pale hand towards his one-time protégée. ‘You should not keep coming here, you know that. Separation, Gregory, that’s the key now, keeping yourself distant when the merde begins to fly.’
    He took the hand. ‘Too late for that,’ he said. ‘You know what pains me? It was that in their own way they were both innocents.’
    Christopher laughed, and then choked.
    Gregory looked anxiously towards the door, wondering if he should call the nurse.
    â€˜I’m all right. Innocents, you say? Well, yes, the young woman was guilty of idealism, no more than that, and I do believe we both suffered that affliction once upon a time, before the world got far too complicated for us. But Robinson? He was a career criminal, Gregory. He even tried to take you down.’
    â€˜He was an amateur,’ Gregory said. ‘Out for what crumbs I might have spilled. He didn’t deserve to die for it.’
    â€˜Gregory, my friend, Robinson didn’t die for that, as well you know. He died for what the girl may or may not have told him. And remember, too, he found out enough to know who you are. He was one of the mammals.’
    Gregory smiled and nodded, and Christopher closed his eyes. He stayed until he was sure the old man was sleeping, and then he laid the hand beneath the blanket and slipped away.
    Some decision seemed to have been made overnight, and Alec was woken by a call from reception asking him to