The house was deathly quiet without her, and it had somehow got dark and he hadn’t noticed, and Lucy hated the dark. They always had to sleep with the landing light on. Matthew Rider was really panicking now. He had rung the police, but they were no help whatsoever. He couldn’t make them understand just how worried he was. They said there was nothing they could do. They didn’t realise it wasn’t like his Luce to go off. It was almost like they were humouring him, and insinuating she had met another man. He would try ringing her best friend, Penny, in a minute. They had been friends since their school days, so if she did have a boyfriend, they would have talked about it. He knew in his heart that wouldn’t be it. She loved her home and her comforts. She loved him.
But he had a feeling that s
