He finished the drink and the cigarette, then had another of each.

Quarter past midnight.

No Eden.

Where are you?

He went to bed.

9

Monday 2 September

Niall Paternoster was woken with a start by the clatter of the letter box. The orange glow of the street lighting had been replaced by daylight. From the brightness around the edges of the curtains it looked like a fine day. He glanced at the clock radio by his bed: 7.03 a.m. The morning paper delivery, he realized.

Then he realized something else as he became more awake.

The right-hand side of the bed was empty. Undisturbed.

Hauling himself up against the headboard, he reached over to the table, grabbed his phone and peered at it. No texts. There were a couple of emails, which he opened. One was from a newsfeed he subscribed to, the other was spam his filter hadn’t picked up. No word from Eden.

He slipped out of bed, padded out onto the landing and checked the spare room, where she sometimes slept on the few occasions when they’d had a really bad row. But the bed was clearly unused. ‘Eden!’ he called out in the forlorn hope she was somewhere else in the house. But the only reply was a plaintive miaow from Reggie downstairs. No doubt hungry, as ever.

‘I’ll be down soon, Reggie!’ he called out.

The cat responded with a noise that sounded like he was being tortured to death.

Niall went back into their bedroom, sat on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers through his hair. Thinking hard. He rang Eden’s mobile, but nothing. Was its battery completely dead? He had to keep trying. Who to call next? Her four best friends, Georgie, Dem, Helen and Sharon? Her sister? Her mother? The local hospitals, Worthing and the Royal Sussex, in case she’d been in an accident or taken ill?

He went downstairs, threw a handful of dry pellets into Reggie’s bowl to shut him up, made himself a strong coffee, then began phoning each of Eden’s girlfriends in turn, telling them what had happened. What he got back from each of them was concern for Eden, but not much sympathy, nor surprise. No, they hadn’t seen her. Would he please let them know when she turned up?

Of course.

He rang the hospitals. No patient by the name of Eden Paternoster had been admitted during the past twenty-four hours.

Next, he rang her elder sister, Evelyn. She and Eden were close, too. Evelyn hadn’t seen her either. Nor had her brother, Adam – her parents sure had referenced the Bible for their children’s names. He rang her mum, who had never liked him, and was interrogated by her for a full ten minutes.

Ending the call, Niall continued thumbing through the book. Who the hell else might she have contacted?

He made more calls. Finally, all out of ideas, he looked at the ridiculously modern and stupid clock on the wall. The one she had chosen, which had no numbers on it, so you had to look at your watch anyway to be sure of the time.