‘No, she just left. Disappeared, I suppose you could say. Sometimes that happens, but in the past Melissa’s always made sure to say goodbye. Checking out, she’d call it, and I’d always pretend to present her with her bill, ask her if everything had been to her satisfaction. It was kind of like our little joke.’ Zack smiled fondly, and it was clear he had a soft spot for Melissa. It was even possible his feelings went deeper than that. ‘But this time she just vanished,’ the manager went on. ‘Left everything she owned in her room. Which isn’t much, but even so, it’s one of the things that struck me as strange. When all your worldly possessions fit into a single carrier bag, you tend to guard those possessions with your life.’

‘Did you report her as missing?’ Nicky asked.

‘To the police, you mean?’ Zack’s expression suggested he thought Nicky might have been making a joke. ‘With all due respect, Detective Sergeant, I think you know as well as I do how that conversation would have gone. They don’t send people like you out to look for people like Melissa unless …’ He frowned. ‘Why are you looking for her? You still haven’t said. And really, I don’t want to cause Melissa any problems. Any more than she already has.’

‘I just need to ask her a few questions,’ Nicky said, attempting to sound reassuring. ‘For her sake as much as anyone else’s.’

Zack was looking at her dubiously. ‘Yes, well,’ he said at last. ‘It’s like I said. She was here, and now she’s not. I’m not sure what else I can do to help.’

‘Might I perhaps be able to take a look in Melissa’s room?’

Zack bridled. ‘Well, I … I’m not sure that would be—’

‘I only want to help,’ Nicky insisted. ‘Truly. And I won’t disturb anything, I promise. You can stand right beside me the whole time I’m in there.’ She gave the manager her sweetest smile. That was something else she’d learned over the years she’d been a police officer: being a woman made almost everything harder, but sometimes, in certain circumstances, it paid off.

Zack continued to hesitate. But in the end his expression softened, and he sighed. ‘Follow me,’ he said.

The manager led the way from the recreation room straight out into the neatly tended yard. The main building appeared to be U-shaped, with a squat, single-storey extension having been built on either side of the original church. One of the wings had been boarded up, however, and was in a similar state of disrepair as the church had appeared to be from the street. It was the only blot on what would otherwise have been an attractive open space, with benches scattered around the perimeter and geraniums flourishing in the late autumn sun.