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By Root 2477 0

of a marshmallow, failed, then made a cup of tea and something to eat before searching the rest of the apartment in an inquisitive sort of way. Most things were where I would expect to find them; there were more dresses in the closet than usual and I even found a few copies of FeMole stashed under the sofa. The fridge was well stocked with food, and it seemed that in this non-Landen world I was a vegetarian. There were a lot of things that I couldn’t remember ever having acquired, including a table light shaped like a pineapple, a large enamel sign advertising Dr. Spongg’s footcare remedies and—slightly more worryingly—a size twelve pair of socks in the laundry and some boxer shorts. I rummaged further and found two tooth-brushes in the bathroom, a large Swindon Mallets jacket on the hook and several XXL-size T-shirts with SpecOps-14 Swindon written on them. I called Bowden straightaway.

“Hello, Thursday,” he said. “Have you heard? Professor Spoon has given his 100% backing to Cardenio—I’ve never heard him actually laugh before!”

“That’s good, that’s good,” I said absently. “Listen, this might seem an odd question, but do I have a boyfriend?”

“A what?”

“A boyfriend. You know. A male friend I see on a regular basis for dinner and picnics and . . . thingy, y’know?”

“Thursday, are you okay?”

I took a deep breath and rubbed my neck.

“No, no, I’m not,” I gabbled. “You see, my husband was eradicated this afternoon. I went to see SO-1 and just before I went in the walls changed color and Stig talked funny and Flanker didn’t know I was married—which I’m not, I suppose—and then Houson didn’t know me and Billden wasn’t in the cemetery but Landen was and Goliath said they’d bring him back if I got Jack Schitt out and I thought I’d lost Landen’s baby which I haven’t so everything was fine and now it’s not fine anymore because I’ve found an extra toothbrush and some men’s clothes in my flat!”

“Okay, okay,” said Bowden in a soothing voice. “Slow down a bit and just let me think.”

There was a pause as Bowden mulled all this over. When he answered his voice was tinged with urgency—and concern. I knew he was a good friend, but until now I never knew how good.

“Thursday. Calm down and listen to me. Firstly, we keep this to ourselves. Eradication can never be proved—mention this to anyone at SpecOps and the quacks will enforce your retirement on a Form D4. We don’t want that. I’ll try and fill you in with any lost memories I might have that you don’t. What was the name of your husband, again?”

“Landen.”

I found strength in his approach. You could always rely on Bowden to be analytical about a problem—no matter how strange it might seem. He made me go over the day again in more detail, something that I found very calming. I asked him again about a possible boyfriend.

“I’m not sure,” he replied. “You’re kind of a private person.”

“Come on—office rumors, SpecOps gossip—there must be something.”

“There is some talk, but I don’t hear a lot of it, since I’m your partner. Your love life is a matter of some quiet speculation. They call you—”

He went quiet.

“What do they call me, Bowden?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Tell me.”

“All right,” sighed Bowden. “It’s—they call you the Ice Maiden.”

“The Ice Maiden?”

“It’s not as bad as my nickname,” continued Bowden. “I’m known as Dead Dog.”

“Dead dog?” I repeated, trying to sound as though I’d not heard it before. “Ice Maiden, eh? It’s kind of, well, corny. Couldn’t they think of something better? Anyway, did I have a boyfriend or not?”

“There was a rumor of someone over at SO-14—”

I held up the croquet jacket, trying to figure out how tall this unnamed beau might be.

“Do we have a positive ID?”

“I think it’s only a rumor, Thursday.”

“Tell me, Bowden.”

“Miles,” he said at last. “His name’s Miles Hawke.”

“Is it serious?”

“I have no idea. You don’t talk about these things to me.”

I thanked him and put the phone down nervously, butterflies dancing in my stomach. I knew I was still pregnant, but the trouble was: who was the father? If I had a casual boyfriend named Miles, then