text: [Themes: Espionage, Terrorism]
  
  > Look around
  Police Station Reception Area (on the front desk)
  The reception area is deserted. Access deeper inside the police station is firmly blocked by the front desk, but it all looks pretty dark beyond there in any case. Otherwise the area is largely bare apart from the exit to the north and the ventilation grille high up in one wall.
  
  > go to Mandlebury Park
  (going north)
  (first leaving the front desk)
  
  Mandlebury Road (outside Police Station)
  Mandlebury Road continues to east and west, while the main city police station stands just to the south, and Church Road runs off to the north.
  
  > turn on the metal detector
  You switch the metal detector on.
  
  > turn on the torch
  You switch the torch on.
  
  > use the metal detector
  You begin walking slowly walking round the park, sweeping the ground with the metal detector, but you fail to find anything interesting.
  
  > turn off the metal
  You switch the metal detector off.
  
  > turn off the torch
  You switch the torch off.
  
  > go to Sports Ground
  (going to the Sports Ground)
  (going south)
  
  Mandlebury Road (West)
  At this point Mandlebury Road is a broad, well-lit street, bordering the shadowy entrance to Mandlebury Park just to the north, and a traditional fish and chip shop to the south. The street continues east towards the city centre and west over Mandlebury Bridge.
  
  > Go north
  York Street (mid)
  This section of street feels eerily still, with no signs of life anywhere. The river runs silently by to the east, while the City Sports Ground stands mutely to the west. York Street continues to north and south.
  
  > go north
  York Street (north)
  York Street continues to north and south. On the west side of the street stands Lafayette's, an intimate little restaurant you used to frequent when you went out more.
  
  > Go west
  York Street (mid)
  This section of street feels eerily still, with no signs of life anywhere. The river runs silently by to the east, while the City Sports Ground stands mutely to the west. York Street continues to north and south.
  
  You can't see anything clearly here in this light, but you know there's a running track, a couple of football and rugby pitches, and some tennis courts, as well as a building containing changing rooms and the like. The street lamps in York Street indicate that the way out is to the east.
  
  > use the detector
  You walk over to the running track and start sweeping it with the metal detector, but you fail to find anything interesting.
  
  > turn off the light
  You switch the torch off.
  
  Somewhere in the distance a clock chimes the half-hour.
  
  > Go west
  You can't see anything clearly here in this light, but you know there's a running track, a couple of football and rugby pitches, and some tennis courts, as well as a building containing changing rooms and the like. The street lamps in York Street indicate that the way out is to the east.
  
  > use the detector
  You've already looked for the flat metal key here.
  
  > Go north
  Beyond the point where York Street meets Hythe Bridge Street, it runs on into a residential suburb. Hythe Bridge Street runs off to the southeast, while York Street runs south towards the railway station.
  
  > Go southeast
  Hythe Bridge Street (north)
  Hythe Bridge street runs over an old stone bridge to the southeast and on to a junction with York Road to the northwest. A mixture of old buildings lines the street, representing every period from the Civil War to the Victorian; prominent among the latter is the Old Library, which stands just to the north.
  
  > Go southeast
  Hythe Bridge Street (south)
  Hythe Bridge Street is quite narrow, being one of the oldest parts of the city. It narrows even further as it approaches an old stone bridge to the northwest; to the southeast it runs towards a junction with the High Street. On the south side of the street stands a large haulage depot, round the side of which a narrow alley runs to the southwest.
  
  > think
  You're concerned about that big cylinder you found in the back of the lorry. You suspect it requires further investigation.
  
  She wants you to help her find a small flat metal key she says she's lost - it seems to be important. It's possible she left the key somewhere on the University Campus.
  
  > go to the northeast
  College Street (south)
  You're not old enough to remember, but this area was apparently farmland back in the sixties. In the seventies it was decreed that the city was to receive a new university, and so College Street was created. The main university campus lies further up the street to the northeast, but in order to create something of an academic atmosphere at its gateway, so to speak, a new Public Library was erected, which now stands to the south, along with a new theatre, the Apollo, which is just off to the northwest. To the southwest College Street runs back towards the High Street.
  
  > go northeast
  You turn off the torch to save its battery.
  
  College Street (mid)
  This is the point at which College Street enters the campus, marked by the Great University Hall standing just to the east. The street runs to northeast and southwest.
  
  > go to the north-west
  You walk up to the front of the Apollo and go back inside.
  
  The ticket office is closed, and there's no one about, but there seems to be nothing to stop you wandering into the auditorium, which lies just to the north. The main exit is to the southeast.
  
  A poster advertising the next show is fixed to the wall, but it looks like someone has defaced it.
  
  > Go north
  In the dim half-light you can just make out the outlines of the seating and the distant stage. An illuminated sign indicates that the exit is to the south.
  
  The sole item of scenery on the stage is a canvas chair.
  
  > go to the northeast
  Mere outlines in the moonlight, various university buildings stand round and about, the most prominent being the large hall of residence just to the east. This rather ugly building, Mitchel Hall, stands on the corner of Devon Road, which runs off to the southeast, and College Street, which continues northeast and southwest across the campus.
  
  > Go east
  You've never known this building to be locked, and it isn't now; you walk straight inside.
  
  This large entrance lobby has a depressingly institutional appearance at the best of times. Dimly lit, with the rest of the building in sullen darkness, it feels oppressively gloomy. There are two main exits, to Devon Road to the south or College Street to the west.
  
  A prominent notice is affixed to the centre of the main notice board.
  
  You ran into her here in your first week as a student. You hesitated to approach her because, in all conscience, you hardly knew her, but while you were debating with yourself whether it was worth trying to renew your acquaintance, she flashed you a lovely smile and walked up to you.
  
  "Hello," she said, tossing her long dark hair over back her shoulder, "don't I know you? We were at primary school together, weren't we?"
  
  "That's right," you agreed, "though it seems a long time ago now. I'm flattered you remember!"
  
  "It's nice to see a familiar face!" she told you, "so what are you reading here?"
  
  "Law," you told her,  "and you?"
  
  "English," she replied, adding with a laugh "much less practical! Talking of which, I'm in danger late of being late for my first Dickens lecture, and I'd hate to upset my prof on my first day, so I'd better dash before Great Expectations turn into Bleak House! We'll catch up later."
  
  And after a fashion, over the next three years you did, but nowhere near as much as you'd have liked.
  
  > use the detector
  You start carefully sweeping the ground with the metal detector, but you fail to find anything interesting.
  
  > look at the notice
  It's headed ALL YOU'RE IT PROBLEM'S SOLVED, following which it proclaims "Hard disk crash? Essay wont print? Email wont work? Need a fancy website or help with your on-line searches'? Fed up with Micro$oft? Wan't to give your PC a boost? I can help with all you're IT problem's at very reasonable rate's. Just drop me an email me on daniel.saunders@itguru.dannynet."
  
  Underneath is a large picture of an archetypal geek with a nerdish grin. You hope he's more skilled with computers than he is with apostrophes. For some reason the name Daniel Saunders seems vaguely familiar; you can't place him, but you think you've seen his name somewhere else very recently.
  
  > take the notice
  You carefully remove it from the notice board.
  
  A clock tolls a single hour.
  
  > Go west
  You walk back out onto the street.
  
  Mere outlines in the moonlight, various university buildings stand round and about, the most prominent being the large hall of residence just to the east. This rather ugly building, Mitchel Hall, stands on the corner of Devon Road, which runs off to the southeast, and College Street, which continues northeast and southwest across the campus.
  
  > Go southwest
  College Street (mid)
  This is the point at which College Street enters the campus, marked by the Great University Hall standing just to the east. The street runs to northeast and southwest.
  
  > Go east
  University Hall (in darkness)
  It's dark in here, so you can't see much. Indeed, you can scarcely see your hand in front of your face. The only way out you know of is to the west.
  
  You attended three or four quite unmemorable lectures here when you were a student, but you mainly remember this hall for the two University rites of passage: matriculation and graduation. You can't even recall seeing her at the former, but she was definitely at the latter, and quite out of sorts that day -- you could scarcely get a cold nod out of her, let alone a word.
  
  > turn on the torch
  You switch the torch on.
  
  The hall is too large to make out very satisfactorily by torchlight; you can't even locate the light-switches. You can see that there's a lot of seating here, and sweeping the torch round in the other direction reveals a raised dais, but you can't get much sense of the whole. But you remember that when you attended the university the hall was a piece of rather bland sixties architecture done out in acres of pale pine, and this memory helps fill out the patchy picture revealed by torchlight. The way out is to the west.
  
  > turn on the detector
  That's already on.
  
  > use the detector
  You start walking round the hall, sweeping the beam of your torch over the seats. You search comes to an abrupt halt when you spot something lying between two rows of seats. A closer inspection reveals it to be a body.
  
  > look at the body
  You're no doctor, but you can detect no signs of life, and from the awkward angle of the head you'd guess that the young man's neck has been broken. His face looks vaguely familiar: it looks as if it could be the geek you saw grinning out of the picture on the Residence Hall poster.
  
  > search daniel
  (the prominent notice)
  You find nothing of interest.
  
  > search the body
  Overcoming your queasy revulsion, you force yourself to search the body. You finally find a tiny cassette-recorder in one of its pockets.
  
  > continue
  You've already searched him once; you've no intention of putting yourself through that again.
  
  > take the recorder
  You already have that.
  
  > examine the recorder
  You can't see any such thing.
  
  It's scarcely bigger than a cassette. It also looks broken, as if smashed when its owner fell.
  
  > hit it
  Trying to force it open with your bare hands proves futile.
  
  > examine screwdriver
  You are carrying a tiny cassette-recorder, a prominent notice, a metal detector, a grey tape cassette, a portable cassette player (closed), inside which is a blue cassette, a khaki peaked cap, a long rod, a torch (providing light), a gold brooch, a sharp kitchen knife, a bar mat, a matchbook, a small brown envelope (open but empty), fifteen documents (a small scrap of yellow paper, an evacuation order, a large Russian dictionary, a black book, a photograph, a letter, a small piece of paper, a concert programme, a menu, a birthday card, a crumpled piece of paper, a business card, a printed email, some miscellaneous papers and an old newspaper) and three keys (a large car key, a small brass key and an office key).
  
  You can't see any such thing.
  
  > examine the dais
  It's a platform used for university dignitaries during degree ceremonies and as a podium for prestigious public lectures.
  
  > look at the recorder
  It's scarcely bigger than a cassette. It also looks broken, as if smashed when its owner fell.
  
  > look up the great Expectations
  (on the computer)
  You google for "great expectations", but it turns up nothing of immediate interest.
  
  > look up the porn
  (on the computer)
  You google for "porn", but it turns up nothing of immediate interest.
  
  > look up xyzzy
  (on the computer)
  You google for "xyzzy", but it turns up nothing of immediate interest.
  
  > Google mastema
  You don't have time to start wandering around the library at random.
  
  (on the computer)
  You google for Mastema on the library computer and discover that Mastema is the Hebrew word for "enmity" or "hostility". In the book of Jubilees it appears to be used as a name for the prince of demons, or Satan.
  
  > Google shedevil
  (on the computer)
  You google for "shedevil", but it turns up nothing of immediate interest.
  
  > Google daniel saunders
  (on the computer)
  The most relevant response is a web-page describing the services of one Daniel Saunders (daniel.saunders@itguru.dannynet), a student at the University offering help "with all your computer problem's". The whole site is afflicted with wayward apostrophes, as if its author possessed an unerring instinct for omitting them when they're required and inserting them when they're not.
  
  > Google borotino overture
  (on the computer)
  You google for "borotino overture", but it turns up nothing of immediate interest.
  
  > look up cyrillic
  (on the computer)
  The computer tells you that Russian dictionaries are to be found in the reference section in Aisle R.
  
  Looking round, you notice that Aisle R is to the south.
  
  > Go south
  There are a large number of reference works on the shelves here. The way out is to the north.
  
  > go north
  You hurry through the entrance lobby once more and go straight to the main reading room.
  
  From the central hub aisles of books run off in every direction except north, which is the way out. The library desk is, of course, unstaffed, but there's a computer terminal on it which appears to be working.
  
  > Google metro alarms
  (on the computer)
  You google for "Metro Alarms", but it turns up nothing of immediate interest.
  
  > Google voi che sapete
  (on the computer)
  You google for "voi che sapete", but it turns up nothing of immediate interest.
  
  > Google royal engineers
  (on the computer)
  You google for "royal engineers", but it turns up nothing of immediate interest.
  
  > google yourself
  (on the computer)
  You don't seem to have much of a web presence. The only thing googling for yourself turns up is the staff page of your law firm's website, on which your name appears among a list of others.
  
  > google her
  (on the computer)
  This brings up the website of the TAS letting agency (Timely Accommodation for Students), located at 12 Devon Road (telephone: 01921 833758; email tas@tas.co.uk). The site explains that the agency specializes in students lets at reasonable rates, but welcomes enquiries about other forms of letting. At the bottom of the page is a brief resum? of the many local achievements of the proprietor
  
  > Google uzbekistan
  (on the computer)
  You google for "uzbekistan", but it turns up nothing of immediate interest.
  
  > google kate
  (on the computer)
  You find the site for the local newspaper via the terminal and search it for articles about Kate. From what they tell you, it appears that no fully satisfactory explanation of Kate's death was ever really found. It was hard to see how she could have fallen off the bridge by accident, but nothing anyone who knew her said suggested any motive for suicide. The local press ended up attributing Kate's death to a "tragic accident" and hinting darkly about young people who drank too much - but you'd never known Kate to get drunk.
  
  > examine photo
  It shows the climax of the graduation ceremony, with Kate shaking hands with the Vice-Chancellor as she receives the award for the best degree result of the year. A little way over to the left a group of graduands in academic robes stand looking on and applauding; among them are Jeremy, Nick, yourself - and her. It's her you look at, every bit as beautiful at twenty-one as she is today. She's applauding and smiling with the rest, but the smile looks a little forced.
  
  > google jeremy
  (on the computer)
  Your googling turns up the information that Jeremy is an aficionado of something called "Interactive Fiction". Apparently his game Blighted Hope of Elysium's Circle placed forty-fifth in last year's IF competition.
  
  > go north
  You walk briskly back through the deserted entrance lobby and out onto the street.
  
  College Street (south)
  You're not old enough to remember, but this area was apparently farmland back in the sixties. In the seventies it was decreed that the city was to receive a new university, and so College Street was created. The main university campus lies further up the street to the northeast, but in order to create something of an academic atmosphere at its gateway, so to speak, a new Public Library was erected, which now stands to the south, along with a new theatre, the Apollo, which is just off to the northwest. To the southwest College Street runs back towards the High Street.
  
  > Google nick
  (in the large Russian dictionary)
  You discover nothing of interest in the large Russian dictionary.
  
  > Google nick
  (on the computer)
  Googling for Nick suggests that, at least so far as his on-line presence is concerned, he's more interested in Doctor Who than in tennis.
  
  > go to the north-east
  College Street (North)
  Here College Street reaches the northeastern end of the campus, most of which lies back down the street to the southwest. To the northeast College Street runs on into a residential suburb that sprang up in the eighties and nineties to meet the growing need for housing. A little way off to the northwest is the Student Club, intended as a social centre for the university's students.
  
  > use the detector
  You start carefully sweeping the ground with the metal detector; it suddenly starts to buzz and you spot a small flat metal key lying on the ground, so you pick it up.
  
  > examine the small flat metal key
  It's made of some dull grey metal.
  
  > think
  You're concerned about that big cylinder you found in the back of the lorry. You suspect it requires further investigation.
  
  > look at the river
  The river runs sluggishly by, softly reflecting the moonlight.
  
  The brooch - for some reason you think of her brooch - or rather the small piece of paper that was attached to it. Did you examine it carefully enough? You're not sure - you were in so much of a hurry before.
  
  > look at the brooch
  It's a gold brooch, in the form of a scorpion. The design is quite distinctive, and you're sure she has a brooch like that. You've often wondered what kind of statement it's meant to make: not that she's poisonous, to be sure, but you suspect she'd not be averse to suggesting she's not to be messed with.
  
  > look at the small paper
  Which do you mean, the small scrap of yellow paper or the small piece of paper?
  
  > Piece
  The handwriting is as small as the piece of paper it's written on, but you still recognise it as hers. It reads, "Sorry, couldn't wait - just discovered I've lost something I must recover: a small, grey, flat metal key. I may have dropped it when I went for a run (in the usual place) or when I went to the knowledge factory. We must make sure they don't get it. It would be a big help if you could search those two places while I look elsewhere. See you later."
  
  Just below that you see a crease that you missed before - you must have been in too much of a hurry, or maybe the light was too bad. Anyway, you unfold the crease and see that she has written:
  
  "I'll meet you where I left the tape for you at five past two. Don't be late!"
  
  I beg your pardon?
  
  > examine the key
  Which do you mean, the small flat metal key, the large car key, the small brass key or the office key?
  I beg your pardon?
  
  > go to the south-east
  You turn off the torch to save its battery.
  
  College Street (North)
  Here College Street reaches the northeastern end of the campus, most of which lies back down the street to the southwest. To the northeast College Street runs on into a residential suburb that sprang up in the eighties and nineties to meet the growing need for housing. A little way off to the northwest is the Student Club, intended as a social centre for the university's students.
  
  > go to the southwest
  Mere outlines in the moonlight, various university buildings stand round and about, the most prominent being the large hall of residence just to the east. This rather ugly building, Mitchel Hall, stands on the corner of Devon Road, which runs off to the southeast, and College Street, which continues northeast and southwest across the campus.
  
  > go southeast
  Devon Road (north)
  At its northern end, Devon Road runs northwest into College Street and then bends towards the south. It is a broad, pleasant street which feels particularly peaceful by moonlight. At this end the buildings are not too closely crowded together, the largest of them being the hall of residence to the north.
  
  > go to the south
  Devon Road (mid)
  Devon Road continues north and south between leafy gardens and the occasional small office. In the latter category is the student letting office where she works, which stands just to the east.
  
  > Go south
  This three-way road junction is well lit. Devon Road leads off to the north, Tilbury Road to the east, and Church Street to the southwest. Immediately to the south of the junction stands the High School you attended as a teenager.
  
  > go north
  A churchyard by moonlight is always a little spooky, but it is doubly so tonight, with the city so deserted. The gravestones are little more than looming shadows in the dark; the great bulk of St Michael's Church is just to the north, while the lych-gate to the south leads back out to Church Street.
  
  > examine the kate's grave
  It's too dark to make any of them out except by shining your torch on them individually, but you know Kate's is among them somewhere, and you'd have no difficulty finding it in the light. But scanning each gravestone one by one with your torch would take far too long, especially as it would do nothing to help you find her.
  
  > Go south
  You turn off the torch to save its battery.
  
  A churchyard by moonlight is always a little spooky, but it is doubly so tonight, with the city so deserted. The gravestones are little more than looming shadows in the dark; the great bulk of St Michael's Church is just to the north, while the lych-gate to the south leads back out to Church Street.
  
  > turn off the detector
  You switch the metal detector off.
  
  > take the iron key
  You pick up the large iron key and examine it.
  
  It's a big, chunky, old-fashioned thing, dark brown in colour.
  
  > Go east
  (first putting the lid back on the font)
  
  Raised slightly above the Nave, which lies just to the west, much of the space in the Chancel is taken up by the choir stalls on either side and the altar at the east end. A small wooden door is set in the wall on the north side of the altar.
  
  > unlock the door with iron key
  You unlock the small wooden door.
  
  > go north
  (first opening the small wooden door)
  
  A plain wooden table runs under the window of this small, narrow room, with an old-fashioned safe set into the opposite wall. The only way out is via the door to the south.
  
  You can see a large blue diary here.
  
  > examine safe
  Which do you mean, the small flat metal key, the small brass key or the office key?
  
  All you can see of it is the green-painted metal door set into the wall. It's unlikely to contain anything of interest, just crosses, candlesticks and communion wafers.
  
  > hit recorder
  Trying to force it open with your bare hands proves futile.
  
  > open the recorder with the knife
  You slip, cut yourself horribly, and bleed out. THE END.
  
  > look at diary
  (first taking the large blue diary)
  You flick through the diary. It's mainly a record of services and parish meetings, but you find an entry from two days ago that catches your eye: "Meet DS at KA 2 pm". "KA" is likely to be the Kings Arms, the pub in the High Street.
  
  > look at the recorder
  It's scarcely bigger than a cassette. It also looks broken, as if smashed when its owner fell.
  
  > fix the recorder
  What do you want to fix the tiny cassette-recorder to?
  
  > examine the mat
  The front of it bears a crude depiction of the Kings Arms, and a slogan advertising "Mottles Real Ale". On the back someone has scribbled:
  "2M -> Uzbekistan
  
  arm's deal?
  
  whats the plan?"
  
  > Go southwest
  Mandlebury Road (East)
  A large car park lies immediately to the south, while Church Street forks off to the northeast. Mandlebury Road continues to both east (past the Police Station) and west (back to the City Centre).
  
  > Go south
  It's normally near impossible to find a parking space in this town centre car park at any time between 8 am and midnight, but now there's scarcely a vehicle in sight. The main car park exit into Mandlebury Street is to the north, but there's also a narrow alley leading west to the High Street.
  
  The only vehicle parked here is a large lorry.
  
  > Unlock cab
  (the driver's cab)
  That is not something you can unlock.
  
  > Enter
  You clamber inside the back of the lorry.
  
  It is pitch dark, and you can't see a thing.
  
  > translate the cyrillic
  It's a struggle, but with the aid of the dictionary you manage to figure out that the cylinder is some kind of nuclear device. Working out what most of the coloured wires do is beyond you, except that you're now fairly confident that the blue wire is connected to "radio-controlled detonator".
  
  > go outside
  You turn off the torch to save its battery.
  
  It's normally near impossible to find a parking space in this town centre car park at any time between 8 am and midnight, but now there's scarcely a vehicle in sight. The main car park exit into Mandlebury Street is to the north, but there's also a narrow alley leading west to the High Street.
  
  The only vehicle parked here is a large lorry.
  
  > cut the wires
  (with the sharp kitchen knife)
  Cutting them all might be a might excessive; you have no idea what effect that might have.
  
  > look at the wires
  A red wire, an orange wire, a yellow wire, a green wire, a blue wire, a purple wire and a black wire are all attached to various parts of the cylinder.
  
  > cut the blue wire
  (with the sharp kitchen knife)
  With considerable trepidation, you cut the blue wire. You hold your breath for a few moments, but nothing explodes.
  
  > think
  You're beginning to run out of ideas. You're fairly sure she's been moving round the city even while you've been trying to find her, almost as if she's deliberately been trying to avoid you. But it does occur to you that you haven't yet tried the Concert Hall.
  
  You're beginning to run out of ideas. You're fairly sure she's been moving round the city even while you've been trying to find her, almost as if she's deliberately been trying to avoid you. But it does occur to you that you haven't yet tried Carlton Terrace.
  
  > Go north
  You can't go that way. The only obvious exit is outside (to Car Park).
  
  > Go east
  Mandlebury Road (outside Police Station)
  Mandlebury Road continues to east and west, while the main city police station stands just to the south, and Church Road runs off to the north.
  
  > Go north
  School Lane is a relatively short street running north up to the junction with Church Street and south to Cornwallis Avenue. It's mainly residential, but the primary school you attended is on this street; its playground is just to the east.
  
  > Go east
  Little more than a large concreted square partly walled off from the road, this area serves as playground (and occasionally overflow car park) to the primary school you attended twenty years ago. The school building is just to the east, set a little further back from the road, but it looks dark and all locked up. With no light from the building and little from the street, the playground feels a strange, dark place, bathed in eerie moonlight. The street is just off to the west.
  
  This was a co-ed school, and this playground was where you first saw her, all those years ago. Perhaps your recollection of that first encounter has been coloured by events of the last two decades, but as you recall it, when your eyes met across the playground it was as if everything else around receded into two-dimensional monochrome, and she was the only three-dimensional technicolour object left in your field of view. Again, as you recall, she smiled shyly at you, and you went and introduced yourself in your earnest six-year-old fashion, but so much fantasy and wishful thinking has surrounded the frequent rehearsal of that memory that you can't really remember what either of you actually said.
  
  > use the detector
  You switch the torch on.
  
  You switch the metal detector on.
  
  Your search turns up nothing of interest.
  
  > turn off the torch
  You switch the metal detector off.
  
  You switch the torch off.
  
  > think
  You're beginning to run out of ideas. You're fairly sure she's been moving round the city even while you've been trying to find her, almost as if she's deliberately been trying to avoid you. But it does occur to you that you haven't yet tried the Supermarket.
  
  > Go south
  Cornwallis Avenue runs straight down from the crossroads to the north and continues to the south. Amongst the buildings lining this part of the street is the Coroner's Court just to the east.
  
  You remember you had to attend the Coroner's Court after Kate drowned. It was a miserable business; the police doctor had confirmed that Kate's death was by drowning, but as you'd arrived on the scene so soon after she had fished Kate out of the river that you were an important witness. Although she (your friend, that is) said she'd seen Kate jump off the bridge, there was no suicide note and no evidence that Kate was feeling suicidal, so in the end the coroner's jury reached a verdict of death by misadventure. With the wisdom of hindsight you wish they'd been a bit more thorough and a lot more suspicious.
  
  > go to the south
  Cornwallis Avenue (south)
  Cornwallis Avenue continues to north and south. The Odeon Cinema stands just to the east.
  
  > Go east
  You walk into the foyer, take a quick look round, and then proceed into the main auditorium.
  
  It's almost totally dark in here, so you can hardly see anything apart from the bare outlines of the seats and the screen, and, of course, the exit to the west.
  
  You came here once with her to see a film when you were both students, it was one of the few occasions you actually went out with her. If you remember rightly the film was Titanic, but at the time you were much more interested in her than the film. Typically, she seemed so much more interested in the film than you that she didn't even notice where your interest lay.
  
  > turn on the torch
  You switch the torch on.
  
  The beam of your torch picks out a box lying under one of the seats.
  
  > take the box
  You pick up the chocolate box and examine it.
  
  It's a small box of chocolates.
  
  > open the box
  You open the chocolate box.
  
  > look at the box
  It's a small box of chocolates.
  
  > read the box
  On it is written "The car-park delivery is fine. The contents will settle the final installment. Spasiba".
  
  > go west
  You walk back through the foyer and out into the street.
  
  You turn off the torch to save its battery.
  
  Cornwallis Avenue (south)
  Cornwallis Avenue continues to north and south. The Odeon Cinema stands just to the east.
  
  > Go south
  Junction of Market Street and Cornwallis Avenue.
  Market Street (to the west) comes to an end at this junction with Cornwallis Avenue (running to north and south). Opposite Market street stands a small electronics store called The Radio Shop.
  
  > go south
  South of the junction with Market Street, Cornwallis Avenue becomes the London Road, and its character changes to match. The area looks grubbier and slightly more run-down. For the most part the road is lined with parades of uninviting-looking shops with blocks of flats built above them. Incongruously, the Fairfax Hall occupies one block on the east side of the road. The road itself runs north and south.
  
  > Go east
  The Concert Hall (in darkness)
  The auditorium is shrouded in semi-darkness, but you're quite familiar with it. It was designed to be multi-purpose, so, for example, that opera could be staged here as well as concerts.
  
  You've attended many concerts here over the years, many of them good, but the one you remember best is the amateur performance of The Marriage of Figaro in which she sang the part of Cherubino. You thought she sang like an angel, and in your mind's ear you can still hear her beautiful rendition of the aria "Voi che sapete" - "You who know what love is". You came back to hear her again several nights in succession; it's fortunate that you're so fond of Mozart.
  
  > turn on the torch
  You switch the torch on.
  
  The auditorium is shrouded in semi-darkness, but you're quite familiar with it. It was designed to be multi-purpose, so, for example, that opera could be staged here as well as concerts. A quick sweep of the area with the beam of your torch indicates nothing untoward, and in particular reveals no sign of her or anyone else. But you do spot a lectern on the stage, suggesting that the hall may recently have been used for something other than music, as does some of the litter left on the seats. The way out is to the west.
  
  > examine the lectern
  (first climbing onto the stage)
  It's just an old wooden lectern, of plain utilitarian design. On closer inspection, it could almost be a conductor's music stand.
  
  You find a civil defence manual on the lectern.
  
  > take the manual
  You pick up the civil defence manual and examine it.
  
  It seems to be all about what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. It doesn't quite say "Dig a two-metre trench and lie in it", but at a quick glance the advice offered doesn't seem much more useful than that.
  
  > take the beret
  None of the stuff left on the seats looks worth bothering with.
  
  > read the manual
  It seems to be all about what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. It doesn't quite say "Dig a two-metre trench and lie in it", but at a quick glance the advice offered doesn't seem much more useful than that.
  
  > move lectern
  It is fixed in place.
  
  > go west
  (first leaving the concert platform)
  You turn off the torch to save its battery.
  
  South of the junction with Market Street, Cornwallis Avenue becomes the London Road, and its character changes to match. The area looks grubbier and slightly more run-down. For the most part the road is lined with parades of uninviting-looking shops with blocks of flats built above them. Incongruously, the Fairfax Hall occupies one block on the east side of the road. The road itself runs north and south.
  
  As you emerge from the Fairfax Hall you hear the distant clack of footsteps on the pavement, and turn to see a distant figure disappearing off to the south.
  
  > Go south
  Elmbridge Roundabout is one of those huge roundabouts built on the edge of cities with the apparent intention of smoothing the traffic flow and the normal effect of snarling it up. Tonight, however, there is not a single vehicle in sight. The east and west exits lead to the ring road, the southern exit to the motorway, and the north exit back into the city.
  
  Whoever's footsteps it was that you heard just now, there's no one in sight here.
  
  > Go west
  You must have driven down this section of road a dozen times without being more than minimally aware that it crosses the river at this point, but on foot it's all too obvious; you can stop and stare at the moonlight reflecting off the water without a single car headlight to disturb you. The ring road continues to both east and west.
  
  You vividly recall one occasion when you were driving this way. It was shortly after graduation and you were driving a group of friends back from a celebratory party. The traffic suddenly slowed to a crawl and you became aware of flashing blue lights a short way up ahead.
  
  "Quick; change places with me," she said.
  
  "But..." you began to protest.
  
  "Don't argue, there isn't much time." she insisted.
  
  There was something about her tone of voice that silenced any further argument, so you surreptitiously changed places before the traffic started moving again. A few dozen yards further on the police stopped the car and asked her to blow into a breathalyzer (there weren't meant to be random breath tests in those days, but they found some pretext). She, of course, was clean. To this day you don't know whether you would have been, but you're profoundly grateful that it wasn't put to the test.
  
  > go west
  Walking along the ring road feels positively eerie; after all, it was built for cars, not pedestrians, and normally it wouldn't even be possible to walk here. But now it's totally deserted, apart from a large advertising hoarding by the side of the road. The ring road continues westwards to Oak Tree Roundabout and eastwards over Elm Bridge.
  
  Suddenly, the silence is rent by the roar of engines. You leap out of the way just in time as a sports car races past, hotly pursued by a police car with lights flashing and sirens blazing. Both cars vanish off to the west, and the road falls silent once more.
  
  > examine the hoarding
  The best-illuminated poster is one that declares:
  
  Myles Biggar Haulage, for all your transport needs. Miles better by far!
  
  email: sales@mylesbiggar.co.uk
  phone 01921 743589.
  
  > Go west
  This large roundabout is normally busy and frequently congested; seeing it without a car in sight seems distinctly strange. There are four exits from the roundabout: to east and west is the ring road; to the north the road over Preston Bridge into the city centre, and to the south the dual carriageway heading out into the country.
  
  > Go south
  That's one of the main routes out of the city. She can't have gone that way.
  
  > go to the north
  This bridge is normally something of a bottleneck at rush hour, but now it's just as deserted as everywhere else in the city. It's a bit too narrow for the volume of traffic it normally has to take, but its old stone parapets overlooking the river make it too historic to widen.
  
  > Go north
  The lighting is a bit better here, since it's a junction of two normally busy roads: the High Street continues to north and south, while Market Street heads off to the east.
  
  > Go north
  High Street (Outside Hairdressers and Pub)
  Amongst the various buildings lining the street here you particularly notice two: the glass-fronted Ladies' Hairdresser to the east and the mock-Tudor olde worlde pub - the Kings Arms - which stands directly opposite it to the west. The High Street continues to both north and south.
  
  > Go north
  High Street (South)
  The High Street runs north to the City Centre and continues to the south. A narrow alley runs off to the east, opposite a newsagent to the west.
  
  > Go north
  The junction where the High Street crosses Mandlebury Road is generally reckoned to be the central point of the city. From here the High Street runs north up past your office and south towards Preston Bridge and the ring road, while Mandlebury Road runs east towards the police station and west towards the river. Most of the buildings on the junction are closed up, but the supermarket on the northeast corner is partly lit, and lights are blazing from Morgans Bank to the southwest.
  
  > go southwest
  You walk cautiously towards the bank, wondering if there's anyone inside. You pause outside, just by the imposing classical pillars that surround the entrance, and listen for signs of life. Hearing nothing, you carry on inside.
  
  The bank is deserted now, but it looks like someone was here not too long ago: the service counter is surrounded by broken glass. That presumably explains why the bank is unlocked and the lights left on; whoever has just robbed the bank didn't hang around to lock up and turn out the lights. The street exit is to the northeast.
  
  A heavy mallet left lying among the shards of glass indicates pretty clearly how the barrier was broken.
  
  You ran into her here about eighteen months ago; she was just ahead of you in the queue.
  
  "Oh, hello!" she said, with one of her brighter smiles, "Are you here to take all your money out too? These people obviously can't be trusted with it!"
  
  "Why not?" you asked.
  
  "Didn't you hear about it on the news?" she replied, "Someone hacked into Morgans' mainframe and siphoned off a couple of million. Doesn't say much for their security, does it?"
  
  > take the mallet
  You pick up the heavy mallet.
  
  > examine the mallet
  It has a long wooden handle and a massive metal head.
  
  > examine the counter
  The service counter is deserted, of course, but it is also surrounded by broken glass, a hole having been smashed through the barrier that would normally protect it. It looks as if some crooks have taken advantage of the evacuation to commit a tempting felony.
  
  > go to the north-east
  The supermarket is all locked up; you can't get in.
  
  > examine Supermarket
  The supermarket occupies the entire corner on which it stands, and was seemingly designed by an architect desperate to win the International Bland Building of the Millennium contest. Through its plate glass window you can see the front part of the shop is partially lit, perhaps as a security measure. An unmistakeable security measure is the burglar alarm mounted just above the entrance.
  
  > look at the alarm
  It's a square, red box with "Metro Alarms" printed on it.
  
  > hit alarm with mallet
  The burglar alarm is too high up.
  
  The sound of a clock striking three mingles with the roar of a jet aircraft flying overhead.
  
  > hit glass with the mallet
  You smash through the glass with the mallet, and then keep smashing until you've made a hole large enough to step through. Meanwhile the alarm starts to ring.
  
  > go northeast
  Very carefully, so as not to cut yourself or tear your clothes, you step through the large jagged hole in the window and find yourself just inside the Supermarket.
  
  There's no one here, and most of the aisles are in shadow; the only light is in the checkout area by the exit to the southwest.
  
  It was here that you last saw her, about ten days ago, when she came up behind you in the checkout queue. She seemed pleased to see you, and appeared to have made a deliberate choice to join your queue, but the conversation remained inconsequential until you were ready to leave. Just as you'd packed up your shopping and paid your bill, she became suddenly solemn.
  
  "If I ever needed you - I mean really needed you - you would be there for me, wouldn't you?" she asked.
  
  "Of course," you replied, without hesitation.
  
  "Good," she smiled, and then changed the subject to something inconsequential like the weather.
  
  > think
  You're beginning to run out of ideas. You're fairly sure she's been moving round the city even while you've been trying to find her, almost as if she's deliberately been trying to avoid you. But it does occur to you that you haven't yet tried Lafayette's.