backwards, down and down until it crumpled onto the tarmac far below with a sickly crunch. In the east, morning had broken. Sunshine burned through the mist, casting warm rays over the hills and glades of Northumberland, illuminating the girl’s body where it lay twisted and broken. Her pale arms were outstretched and long strands of red hair fell in a tangle around her head in a bright halo, like an angel. * * * Twenty-six years later Like the shutter of a photographic lens, the man’s eyes closed but the memory of her face was imprinted upon him forever; the soft skin
