Mary-Jane Riley - Gone in the Night

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

KillerReads

an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019

Copyright © Mary-Jane Riley 2019

Cover design Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

Mary-Jane Riley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © May 2019 ISBN: 9780008340254

Version: 2019-03-27

For my parents, who did so much to encourage my love of books

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page Gone in the Night MARY-JANE RILEY A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright KillerReads an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019 Copyright © Mary-Jane Riley 2019 Cover design Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019 Cover images © Shutterstock.com Mary-Jane Riley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Ebook Edition © May 2019 ISBN: 9780008340254 Version: 2019-03-27

Dedication For my parents, who did so much to encourage my love of books

Prologue PROLOGUE He watched them kill her. Not a needle in her arm, not a quick bullet in the brain, but blows to the head with a large, heavy rock – one blow to each temple. Then they rolled her over on the plastic sheeting they had laid on the floor and stove in the back of her head. The iron, meaty smell of her blood mingled with the sweat of her killers. He tried to remember her name. They would throw her into the sea and let the water and the rocks cover up their dirty work. She might never be found – after all, the sea doesn’t always deliver the dead back to the living. Or maybe they would take her to one of the many out of the way foot crossings on the Norwich to London railway line. He didn’t have the strength or the will to intervene. Not yet. All he could do was watch and commit it to his memory. Commit that last look she gave him, that last sad, defeated look, to his memory. By the time her body was found, there would be no evidence that she had been murdered.

Chapter One CHAPTER ONE

Day One: Morning

Chapter Two

Day One: Evening

Chapter Three

Day One: Evening

Chapter Four

Day One: Late Evening

Chapter Five

Day One: Late Evening

Chapter Six

Day One: Late Evening

Chapter Seven

Day Two: Morning

Chapter Eight

Day Two: Morning

Chapter Nine

Day Two: Morning

Chapter Ten

Day Two: Morning

Chapter Eleven

Day Two: Morning

Chapter Twelve

Day Two: Morning

Chapter Thirteen

Day Two: Late Afternoon

Chapter Fourteen

Day Two: Late Afternoon

Chapter Fifteen

Day Two: Late Afternoon

Chapter Sixteen

Day Three: Early Morning

Chapter Seventeen

Day Three: Morning

Chapter Eighteen

Day Three: Morning

Chapter Nineteen

Day Three: Late Morning

Chapter Twenty

Day Three: Late Morning

Chapter Twenty-One

Day Three: Evening

Chapter Twenty-Two

Day Four: Morning

Chapter Twenty-Three

Day Four: Late Morning

Chapter Twenty-Four

Day Four: Late Morning

Chapter Twenty-Five

Day Four: Evening

Chapter Twenty-Six

Day Four: Evening

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Day Five: Morning

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Day Five: Morning

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Day Five: Morning

Chapter Thirty

Day Five: Afternoon

Chapter Thirty-One

Day Five: Afternoon

Chapter Thirty-Two

Day Five: Evening

Chapter Thirty-Three

Day Six: Late Morning

Chapter Thirty-Four

Day Six: Afternoon

Chapter Thirty-Five

Day Six: Late

Chapter Thirty-Six

Day Six: Late

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Day Six: Late

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Day Seven: Early Morning

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Day Seven: Early Morning

Chapter Forty

Day Seven: Early Morning

Chapter Forty-One

Day Seven: Early Morning

Chapter Forty-Two

Day Seven: Early Morning

Chapter Forty-Three

Three Weeks Later

Acknowledgements

Keep Reading …

About the Author

Also by Mary Jane Riley

About the Publisher

He watched them kill her. Not a needle in her arm, not a quick bullet in the brain, but blows to the head with a large, heavy rock – one blow to each temple. Then they rolled her over on the plastic sheeting they had laid on the floor and stove in the back of her head. The iron, meaty smell of her blood mingled with the sweat of her killers.

He tried to remember her name.

They would throw her into the sea and let the water and the rocks cover up their dirty work. She might never be found – after all, the sea doesn’t always deliver the dead back to the living.

Or maybe they would take her to one of the many out of the way foot crossings on the Norwich to London railway line. He didn’t have the strength or the will to intervene. Not yet. All he could do was watch and commit it to his memory. Commit that last look she gave him, that last sad, defeated look, to his memory.

By the time her body was found, there would be no evidence that she had been murdered.

Cora Winterton dabbed concealer under her eyes and applied shocking pink lipstick to her lips. She peered at herself in the mirror, then grimaced. She looked terrible. Nothing a few good nights’ sleep and some decent meals wouldn’t cure, but she wasn’t going to get those any time soon. Working nights was a bitch. Especially when she didn’t get much sleep during the day. Couldn’t do it. Even after all these years her body clock wouldn’t adjust to hospital shifts. But she wasn’t going to put it off any longer. She couldn’t pretend any more that Rick had moved sites or was staying in a hostel. Besides, she had been around all the obvious places, and plenty of the not so obvious ones and there was still no sign of him. But she had to check once more, there were still some people she hadn’t talked to.