Jack spent the first couple of minutes of consciousness releasing his tongue from the top of his birdcage mouth; Mandy was still out for the count. He went downstairs, the clock approaching ten. Saturday, no pressure, just the nagging in the back of his head; the case, so many angles? He ruminated, staring into the kitchen wall tiles. Many times in his career he had come across different facets of human behaviour and crime, behind most of it, the seeking of power over others; robbing money or possessions, terrorism, religion even, and had said as much to Father Mike about the rise of the church in Europe, based hugely on fear rather than faith; afterwards he felt guilty. Standing by the sink, he thought this case, ironically, seemed to be not about seeking power, but demonstrating how powe
