The bedroom was in darkness. He contemplated lying down on the couch. He wasn’t drunk exactly, but doing that would look as though he was. He would, he decided, get undressed and climb in beside her. If she wakened, he would tell her he’d explain in the morning. They would talk about it then.

McNab went into the bathroom to undress. Stepping briefly under the shower, he rubbed himself dry then cleaned his teeth. Finally he braced himself and walked silently through.

A street light seeped round the blind, giving the room a strip of light that led towards the bed. The soft mound that was Ellie lay perfectly still as he slid in beside her. Normally he would wrap himself around her, but fearing the cool of his body would wake her, McNab stayed six inches away.

But still he wanted to touch her to feel her breathing.

He reached out, only to discover the soft shape beside him to be nothing more than the heaped shape of the duvet.

‘Ellie?’ he said stupidly. ‘Ellie?’

Her name echoed round the room, drifting out of the door to meet the other empty rooms.

Ellie wasn’t here, his still-inebriated brain told him. The ruffled bed was not Ellie.

McNab swung his feet to the floor and switched on the light.

Now he could see that the bag she’d brought her clothes in was missing. He went back to the bathroom, looking for the stuff she’d put in there, wondering why he hadn’t noticed its absence when he’d showered.

Because I was pissed and pretending not to be.

McNab rummaged for his phone in the strewn clothes he’d thrown down earlier. It was well after midnight. Too late to call her?

He did it anyway. Her voice answered with the usual funny message, asked him to state his business and she’d get back to him. McNab, tongue-tied, hung up instead.

He lifted his clothes as though considering putting them on again, then brought them through and sat down on the bed, undecided.

Should he go round to her place and check on her? He couldn’t ride the bike or drive, not in his state, but he could call a taxi. And he had a key, one that he’d been supposed to give to Harry. So he could get in without disturbing her.

A thought suddenly struck him. Was this about Harry? Had Ellie found out that he’d disappeared?

McNab registered that his last moment of clarity had been when he’d spoken to Rhona to tell her about the tracing of the service number, which he’d then used as an excuse to order another drink, telling himself although he’d lost one soldier, he’d found another.