A minute later the rain stopped, almost as suddenly as it had started, and there was a break in the clouds. Branson kept his binoculars glued to the Range Rover. Then he exclaimed, ‘She’s on the move!’

Grace raised his glasses. He saw a female figure in a knee-length belted coat and jeans, umbrella low over her head, walking across the car park towards the road. She then crossed, striding determinedly over the grass in the direction of the clifftop.

‘What the hell?’ Branson asked.

Both detectives kept their binoculars trained on her as she walked up the grassy slope towards the cliff edge.

‘What’s she doing?’ Glenn said. ‘Why’s she going there?’

Grace looked down at the red dot, which was moving ever closer. ‘I don’t know, mate,’ he replied.

She stopped some distance short of the edge, then stood, as if she was looking out to sea admiring the view. Except, Grace was well aware, in this darkness there was no view, other than the possibility of a few silent lights far away on the horizon, of supertankers and container vessels out in the English Channel’s shipping lanes.

Suddenly they heard Smudger’s voice. ‘Vehicle containing subject one approaching from west.’

Grace felt a rush of excitement as bright lights appeared from their right and a Fiesta came into sight, driving slowly. A red glow inside might have been the driver, presumably Paternoster, smoking a cigarette.

A second later the car began indicating and turned into the car park. As it did so a trail of small sparks of red flared fleetingly behind it.

105

Thursday 12 September

Niall Paternoster was in a sunny mood, despite the darkness and the crappy weather. And his mood improved even further as he put the window back up, barely noticing the sparks of the remains of his fag in the rear-view mirrors as he drove into the car park.

Rebecca was already here!

He glanced happily at the Range Rover and thought about what lay ahead with his lover – his very adventurous lover. He liked that about her. A lot.

Sex with Eden, more recently, had become so bloody boring. So bloody unsexy. But with Rebecca – wow. It was the real deal!

He was pleased to see she’d parked in a discreet spot, shielded from most of the rest of the large car park by a temporary industrial unit. Only a few other vehicles in here, he clocked, looking around, making sure her husband’s car wasn’t one of them, spying on her. But there was only a Nissan Micra, a camper van and an empty dark-coloured saloon parked alongside it.

Pulling up close to the Range Rover, he reached into the door pocket and pulled out a pack of mints, popping one into his mouth. He felt the tingle of arousal deep in the pit of his stomach. In daylight he’d have had to wait to get out of the car until his swelling had subsided. But hey, in the darkness it was fine. Who could see it?