Ted picked himself off the floor, massaging his shoulder.

"Well, I believe him on one score, at least. He's military trained. I can hold my own against most men in a fair fight, though I'm better in an unfair one. You sure he's not on the level?"

"He can't be, Ted. All that bull about conspiracies and drug side-effects? Complete fantasy."

"What about you? Did you really call the Guild?"

Laura nodded. "Be here any minute."

"Well, in that case, I shall bid you adieu. Shame though. I could have done with the money. I'll just slip away."

"Seriously, Ted, you don't need to. There are no such things as Guild death squads."

"Sure, but they said that about life on Mars. Better safe than sorry. And if things get weird with this guy, ping me. Did you say you were picking up the tab on this?"

Laura matched his grin with a withering look, and he disappeared into the restaurant in search of the waiter.

Laura sipped her tea and waited. She didn't have to wait long. A car pulled up outside the restaurant and the two Guild reps she had met before stepped out and weaved their way through the pavement tables.

"Laura," greeted Babs as she reached Laura's table. "He's gone?"

Laura nodded. "He ran off a few minutes ago."

"Which way?" said Peter. He sat at the table and thumbed his notepad.

"That way." Laura indicated the side street down which Christmas had disappeared.

While Peter murmured urgent instructions into his phone, Babs took the chair recently vacated by Ted. "Are you all right, dear?" she asked, concern written all over her face. "Did he threaten you at all?"

"No, not at all. In fact, if you hadn't warned me, I'd have not had second thoughts about him."

"Yes, he's clever like that."

"We told you not to approach him," said Peter, eyes on his notepad as his fingers flew across the screen.

"I didn't. He approached me. By the time he sat down, it was too late."

"Oh, how terrible for you," said Babs. "Tell me, what happened?"

Peter spun his notepad round and pushed it towards Laura. She recognised the Guild consent form.

"Just thumb that before you start," he said.

"You want to Listen to me? Why?" asked Laura.

Peter and Babs shared a look.

"It's just standard practice, Laura," said Babs. "Just in case you get confused by the questions."

Laura thought of Ted. He was pretty decent, as far as Normals were concerned, and though his suspicion of the Guild was completely unfounded, he was as close to a friend as Laura had outside the Listener community. He'd put Laura in contact with Christmas in good faith.

She shook her head. "No, if that's okay. I'll tell you what you want to know, but I don't want you Listening. I'm, well, I'm a bit shook up, and it's embarrassing to admit that, you know?"

There was just the slightest hesitation, then Babs switched on her instant smile.

"Of course, I understand. You're not obliged to agree. Peter, I'm sure we can waive that for now. So, tell me. What happened?"

Laura recounted the events at the restaurant, carefully editing out any references to Ted. As she spoke, Peter Lee made notes on his notepad and Babs tutted and murmured sympathetically.

"So, there was no one else here?" said Peter, when she had finished.

"No, why?"

"Three cups," said Peter, indicating the table with a sweep of his hand.

"Oh, I was here with a friend," said Laura. "He left before Andrew Christmas arrived. Perhaps he was watching, waiting to catch me alone?"

"And you couldn't Listen to him? When did you last have a drink?"

"Last night, but I'm sober now. It wasn't that."

"Maybe you were tired."

"No, I'm telling you, he just wasn't there. It wasn't that I couldn't Listen, he was just invisible."

"Jammer?" said Peter to Babs.

"Um ... I don't know," Babs replied.

"Listen, I'm going to entrust you with some privileged information that is strictly between you and us, okay?" said Peter. "This absolutely cannot become common knowledge. We suspect that the way this bastard can trick Listeners into vulnerable situations is that he has developed a jamming device. Christ knows how it works, and thank God it's not out in the public domain. We think he's developed the prototype and is testing it on Listeners before killing them. Thank goodness you called us when you did. Heaven knows what he would have done if you had left it any longer. You did the right thing. But we don't want this common knowledge, understand? You have to promise me that you won't mention this to a soul, not even other Listeners, okay? We don't want Listeners panicking, and we don't want the Norms to get hold of this."

"Well, okay, if you think that's the best thing," said Laura.

"Absolutely. You did well, Laura. We appreciate it. Hopefully we can pick him up any moment now."

"And in the mean time?" Laura really did not look forward to meeting a crazed killer again.

"You're fine," said Peter. "You've scared him off. He knows you recognised him, and he knows you called us. He won't be back. That would be stupid, and if there's one thing he's not, it's stupid. Give us a ping if you're worried, any time, day or night. But we've got him on the run now. He won't be back."

Babs gave Laura a reassuring squeeze of her hand.

"You go home, honey," she said. "Relax. Keep our number on speed dial, but you'll be fine, I know it."

"Thanks," said Laura. There didn't seem to be anything else to say. She left.

"Jammer?" said Babs, when Laura had left the restaurant.

"It's what her friend thought might be happening. It's as good as any excuse," said Peter.

"I thought he left before Christmas arrived."

"Well, that's what she said."

"I wish I could do that," said Babs. "Listen at level four without being detected, I mean."

Peter shrugged. "What can I say? It's a gift. Her 'friend' was one Ted Parkinson, a private investigator. Look up his details, there's a good girl. I think we need to pay him a visit."

"And her?"

"She's bought our story. She doesn't want to believe anything bad about the Guild. We don't need to worry about her for the moment. Christmas won't want to contact a Listener who's cried wolf on him already."