But was Driscoll trying to tell her something? Was there some reason why he needed her to be at Porthtowan? Somewhere deep inside herself, she knew she’d already made her choice.

Michaela insisted, whenever she and Nick talked to each other, that they should remain optimistic. ‘While there’s hope, there’s life, right?’ Nick wasn’t sure, but he didn’t dispute the point. ‘Your wife will be moving heaven and earth to find you, won’t she?’ There was no doubt Kate would be doing everything she could. And by now she was bound to have learnt from April – who’d be in a high state of panic – that Nick had misled her about his trip to Iceland. How much else she was likely to have uncovered he couldn’t summon the concentration to imagine. When they met again, he would have a lot of ground to make up.

If they met again.

Wada sat on the train. She was following Peter Driscoll back to his beginning, to the place where he’d ceased to be Peter Ellery and become this other version of himself that had taken him so far – but not quite far enough. She was following. To see his beginning become his end.

Michaela was in the middle of one of her periodic exercise sessions. ‘You’ve got to keep your strength up, Nick,’ she reminded him breathlessly, as she went through the routine he was by now familiar with: press-ups, sit-ups, running on the spot, pulling herself up on the cage wire. Nick was tempted to ask why, but he didn’t. Nothing would be gained by denting Michaela’s spirit, which seemed to be stronger than his. Nothing, in truth, would be gained by saying or doing anything.

Six hours after leaving London, Wada reached Porthtowan, by taxi from Redruth station. A golden evening was stretching itself along the north Cornish coast, mellow light thrown up from lazily rolling surf. The beach looked a little like those of Okinawa she’d seen – as she’d seen so much of her homeland – only on television.

Wada had booked a room at Jubilee Villa B & B on the inland side of the village. It was a short walk to the shore. But Wada went straight to her room. She didn’t know if Driscoll and Espersen were already in the area. Or Nishizaki, come to that. But she reckoned it was safer for her to lie low. Until morning.