“I did,” Francine sobbed.

“I’m sure he loved you back.”

Francine looked up, her eyes red and puffy and pleading. “Did he ever mention me?”

Ryan hesitated, and Valkyrie smirked at him from behind Francine. “All the time,” he said. “Yes. God, every time I spoke to him he was all, Francine this and Francine that and… ohh, how I love Francine.”

“He said that?”

“Uh, something along those lines, definitely…”

Francine clasped her hands to her chest. “I knew it,” she said. “I knew he loved me. All those long silences. All those awkward moments. I should have told him I felt the same way. Then we could have… Then we could have…”

She broke off into a fit of sobbing. Behind her, Valkyrie gave Ryan the thumbs up. He had a feeling she meant it sarcastically.

“Did you talk to Deacon much?” Skulduggery asked, leaning down to gently pat her hand. “Did you tell each other about your days? Did you confide in each other…?”

“With a love like ours,” Francine warbled, “we didn’t need words.”

“How inconvenient,” Skulduggery muttered, straightening up immediately and walking away.

“Francine,” Ryan said, “we’re looking for something that Deacon was keeping for us. Do you know where it is? It’d be big, now, as big as a house.”

Francine blinked away tears. “What could he have had that was as big as a house?”

Ryan frowned. He really had no answer to that.

“A house,” Valkyrie said quickly. “He had a house. He was keeping it for us. One of those mobile houses, you know the kind.”

“A mobile home?” Francine asked.

“Something like that. A little bigger. Do you remember if he ever mentioned a warehouse, or some kind of big storage facility that he visited?”

Francine frowned. “Well, I… I heard him on the phone once. I remember him saying something about having the paperwork for a warehouse that was cluttering up his files.”

“It has to be here somewhere,” Skulduggery said, going back to the filing cabinet. Valkyrie went into the bedroom, started pulling the place apart.

“Did I say something wrong?” Francine asked.

“No,” Ryan said. “Actually, you’ve been a big help. Would you like something? A cup of tea or…?”

“I should get back to my apartment,” Francine said, standing slowly. “I need a lie-down. This is all… this is all a big shock to me.”

“I’m really sorry,” Ryan said.

She smiled weakly, took a step and swayed. Ryan jumped for her, wrapping one of her arms round his neck.

“I’ll help you,” he said.

“Thank you,” she replied. A tear rolled down her cheek. “You’re very nice.”

While Skulduggery and Valkyrie searched, Ryan hobbled along with Francine out of the apartment and down the corridor. She was light but awkward.

“Your friends are a little odd,” Francine said.

“I know.”

“The girl’s pretty, though. Is she your girlfriend?”