They walked separated by a distance that had to be consciously gauged; far enough apart, but not so far as to be conspicuous. His hand touched hers accidentally, and he choked down an apology as...

‘David,’ she said. ‘He asked if you were here.’ ‘What does he want?’ ‘He asked if he could come and have coffee with us.’ Her hands, as though automatically, went to her dress and fastened...

‘I was up at the Pool of London yesterday,’ David said. ‘There are chunks of ice floating. You can cross the river above Chiswick.’ ‘There have been other winters as cold, though, haven’t there?’ With...

‘And what does that give you, with the river as its southern boundary?’ McKay looked up, eyes sharp in his thin face. ‘It gives you the London Pale. The name isn’t official, but it’s apt....

The cars rattled along Baker Street at rather better than thirty miles an hour. There were a few signs of life – some figures skulking away into doorways as the patrol reached them, others calling...

They had a glimpse of Regent’s Park on their right. Andrew said: ‘What about the Zoo animals?’ ‘They killed them off the day before things were closed down. They brought the carcases of everything that...

‘Stand back, all of you. This is a military patrol. Get back.’ The man who had previously spoken now said: ‘When I was in the Army we fought for our own folks, not against them....

Andrew did not at first hear the new command Chisholm gave. It was in a different tone, the voice of a man confident of his response: ‘Masks on.’ It was only as he saw those...

The girl spoke for the first time. She said to Andrew: ‘Could you help me down, please?’ Her voice had the slightest touch of Irish brogue. Andrew assumed she wanted to add the weight of...

‘You will find Madame in the lounge bar,’ the doorman told him. ‘Through that door, sir, and on your right.’ The room was roughly circular, with the bar cutting an arc across the top. The...