Dora smiled. ‘I’ll pop down there as soon as I’ve finished changing this bonny lad.’

Hurrying up the stairs to the top-floor rooms, Matron tapped softly on Edith’s door. ‘Hello,’ she called.

Getting no response, she tapped again, this time a little more loudly. ‘Hello, anybody there?’

Beginning to feel worried that Edith might suddenly have been taken ill, Matron gently turned the door handle. As the door swung open, she called softly, ‘Edith, Sister Mann, are you all right, dear?’

Creeping into the room, Matron, struck by the absolute stillness that greeted her, stopped dead in her tracks. The bright morning sun slanting through the large bay window illuminated an immaculate, tidy, empty space with no evidence anywhere that it had ever been occupied. Matron gazed around, stunned: the bed was stripped, the wardrobe door hung open to reveal an empty clothes rail, and when she opened the drawers they were empty too. Hurrying down the corridor, she checked the bathrooms and lavatories before running back downstairs to peep into the sitting room and dining room. Seeing Sister Mary Paul clearing away the breakfast things, she called out, ‘Have you seen Sister Mann this morning?’

The old nun shook her head. ‘No,’ she replied. ‘Come to think of it, I didn’t see her last night either.’

Not stopping to explain, Sister Ann ran into the garden, where there was no sign of Edith. Remembering that Sister Mann owned a little car, Matron hurried around to the back of the Home, where cars were usually parked up in the yard. She gasped when she saw that Edith’s car was also gone.

‘She’s taken her car,’ she muttered incredulously to Sister Mary Paul, who had just joined her, breathless. ‘And her room’s stripped bare.’

‘Sister Mann wouldn’t just leave without an explanation; she’s not that kind of person,’ Sister Mary Paul insisted. ‘Maybe she’s left a note explaining where she’s gone?’

Dashing back indoors, they checked the pigeon-holes for mail but found no letter waiting for them.

Matron shook her head in bewilderment. ‘How on earth could she have left without any of us seeing her go?’

Sister Mary Paul looked worried. ‘More to the point, why has she left? Was she unhappy? She went about her duties as usual. In fact, I’d say she’s been more cheerful than usual recently – I got no sense that she was brooding or unhappy. Maybe she’s taken herself off for a bit of a break?’ she suggested.

‘That’s unlikely, Sister – all her possessions are gone, literally everything. But also Edith is so meticulous that I can’t imagine she would take a break, as you say, without notifying us first. To me it looks like Edith didn’t want to leave anything to chance; it’s clear that every detail has been carefully thought out.’