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was giving a demo of VIMS this morning and there was an accident and she was knocked unconscious.’
    ‘But what kind of accident?’
    I opened my mouth to rant at him, only to snap it shut a moment later without saying a word. He was just concerned about Mum and it would be really out of order to take out my anxiety on him.
    ‘Liam,’ I began when I could trust myself to speak without biting his head clean off, ‘I’ve played you the phone messages Jack and Pops left on the answering machine and I’ve told you what Pops said to me over the phone. You know as much as I do now.’
    Liam nodded slowly. ‘I know, it’s just that …’
    He didn’t say any more. Nor did he have to. I knew what he meant. Jack and Pops had both been deliberately unspecific when they phoned. Jack had only said that Mum was in hospital and I was to phone him on his mobile the moment I got his messages. Pops had said pretty much the same thing – except to add at the end of each of his messages how much he hated talking to bloomin’ answering machines!
    After what seemed like years, the door bell finally rang. I flew up and flung the door open. I gave a start of surprise. It wasn’t Pops. It was Julie Resnick, Mum’s boss. I stood blinking at her like a stunned owl.
    ‘Hello, Dominic. Can I come in?’
    ‘D’you know what’s happened to Mum?’ I asked. ‘Can I come in?’ Julie repeated.
    ‘Yes, of course.’ I stepped aside, allowing her to enter the hall.
    ‘So what happened?’ I said impatiently.
    ‘D’you want to sit down?’ Julie asked me.
    No, I didn’t want to sit down, or dance around, or stand on my head. I just wished she’d get on with it.
    ‘I want you to prepare yourself,’ Julie said grimly. ‘Your mum’s invention, the VIMS unit, went haywire again, only this time it knocked your mum off the stage she was on.’
    ‘The stage?’
    ‘The demonstration to the board of directors was taking place in a conference hall with a small stage. Your mum wanted to demonstrate VIMS’ capabilities and to show the board a film of what she and her team have been up to over the last year.’
    ‘And VIMS knocked her off the stage?’ I couldn’t take it all in.
    ‘It went haywire and started lashing out in all directions. Your mum moved in to stop it and it hit her across the chest, knocking her off the stage,’ Julie told me straight.
    The door bell rang again. I opened it. This time it was Pops.
    ‘I’m sorry it took me so long to get here,’ Pops apologized at once. ‘The traffic was a nightmare. Come on, let’s go to the hospital.’
    ‘Is Jack still with her?’ I asked.
    ‘As far as I know,’ Pops replied.
    Liam trooped out of the house ahead of us.
    ‘Dominic, phone me first thing tomorrow and let me know how your mum is doing, OK?’ Liam said.
    I nodded.
    I grabbed my coat and was about to make my way out the door after Liam when I realized that Julie was still in the house.
    ‘Can I help you?’ Pops asked politely.
    ‘I’m Julie Resnick, Carol’s boss,’ Julie explained to Pops.
    ‘Ah yes. You phoned me earlier,’ Pops nodded.
    ‘That’s right. I hope you don’t mind but I just came to make sure that Dominic was all right.’
    ‘He’s fine.’ Pops frowned. ‘We’re both going to the hospital now.’
    ‘Oh … er … I thought I might check through some of your daughter’s programs and documents on VIMS whilst I was here …’ said Julie.
    Pops’ look of astonishment rapidly turned to icy anger. He drew himself up to his full height and looked Julie straight in the eye.
    ‘My daughter is in hospital and she’s injured, not dead. There’s no need to collect up all her belongings quite yet.’
    ‘Oh, I didn’t mean to … Of course not,’ Julie stammered in her effort to placate Pops. ‘I’ll go. This is the wrong time to … I’ll go.’
    ‘I’d appreciate it,’ Pops told her, frost dripping from every word.
    Julie glanced behind her and up our stairs, before she sidled