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CHAPTER ONE

EDEN was in the changing cubicle pinning up the hem on a customer’s skirt when she heard the shop door open

‘You’re always very busy,’ the older woman commented ‘I suppose people just don’t have the time to do their own alterations these days’

‘I’’ With a rueful sht Five feet four inches tall and slightly built, she wore her thick golden hair twisted up into a clip Her heart-shaped face was doreen eyes

E from the cubicle, she looked in some surprise at the twowoed assistant, Pam

‘These people are looking for you, Eden’ Pam could not hide her curiosity

‘How can I help you?’ Eden asked

‘Eden James?’ The older of the two men double-checked

Conscious of the keen appraisal she was receiving from the trio and also of the indefinable tension they exuded, Eden nodded slowly

‘Is there somewhere we could talk in private, Miss James?’

Eden’s eyes widened

‘Perhaps upstairs in your apartested briskly

She both looked and sounded like a police officer, Eden reflected, her anxiety increasing But usually the police identified thele customer were a captive audience, she flushed and hurriedly opened the door that led into the short passage which gave entrance back out onto the street

‘Could you tell me what this is about?’ Eden prompted tautly then

‘We were trying to be discreet’ The older man now extended an official identity card for her inspection ‘I’ woentleman with n Office May we go upstairs to talk?’

So automatically to that calm note of command What did they want? The police? A senior policen Office? Her mind blanked out with sudden horror and her hand started to shake as she stuck the key into the lock on her front door Da, she had waited for such a visit but here it was catching her totally unprepared When had she stopped fearing every phone call, every ring of the doorbell? When? Guilt-stricken dismay at that discovery about herself froze her to the spot

‘It’s all right,’ the fee Eden out of her paralysis and over the threshold ‘We haven’t coanzi’

Mrs Braganzi? The naht of press intrusion had become more than she’d been able to handle So many reporters had wanted to ask her what it was like to be the wife of an important man who had simply disappeared into thin air Refused those interviews, tabloid interest in Eden Braganzi had taken a nastier turn

Not bad news? Eden blinked, ain How could it not be bad news after five years? There was no good news possible! And then natural common sense exercised its sway and steadied Eden a little Was this yet another official courtesy call; was that it? Just letting her know that the case was still open but unsolved? It had been some time since anyone official had requested actual face-to-face contact with her She herself had gone long past the stage where she continually phoned the for soradually come to appreciate they could not offer her And only at that point had she begun finally to give up hope…

After all, Daiven up hope of his survival within a month of his disappearance Damiano had been in the South American republic of Montavia when a military coup had taken place In the street violence which had followed in the capital city that day, Damiano had simply disappeared He had checked out of his hotel and climbed into a limousine which should have taken hiht ho of hiuards in the car behind had been blown off the road by an explosion Unhurt but with their vehicle wrecked, they had lost the limousine Damiano and the limo and the driver had all vanished without trace

During the subsequent enquiries, the new dictatorship had not been particularly helpful, but then by that ti and a full-scale civil war had been threatening Montavia The overstretched authorities had had little interest in the disappearance of a single foreign national and had pointed out that, during the fighting which had raged a full week in the city, many people had died or disappeared There had been no trail to follow and no witnesses had come forward But neither had there been any evidence found to actually prove that Da lack of proof of any kind which had tormented Eden for more years than she could bear

‘Please sit down, Mrs Braganzi,’ some one of the three prompted her

Didn’t the police always ask a person to sit dohen there was a nasty shock co? Or was that only how actors portrayed the police in television productions? Still finding it i ordered around in her own home, Eden sat down in an armchair and watched the two men settle themselves on the small couch opposite The frown-line on her brow deepened Their faces were taut, flushed, aler

‘Constable Leslie was telling you the truth, Mrs Braganzi We’re not here to break bad news but to give you extreood news Your husband is alive,’ the police superintendent informed her with firm emphasis

Frozen within the armchair, Eden stared at him in shaken disbelief She parted dry lips ‘That’s not possible…’

The other n Office started to speak He reminded her that at the outset of Da had been suspected But only along with every other possible crime or reason under the sun, Eden recalle

d, her dazedyears

‘After all, your husband was…is,’ Russell corrected himself at speed and continued, ‘a very wealthy, influentialfraternity—’

‘You said alive…’ Eden broke in shakily, her face stricken as she surveyed the men in instinctive condemnation that they should dare to try to raise hopes she did not believe she could stand to have resurrected ‘How could Damiano still be alive after so many years? If he’s alive, where has he been all this time? You’ve made a mistake…a dreadful, dreadful mistake!’

‘Your husband is alive, Mrs Braganzi,’ the superintendent spelt out without of the blue as it has this is a considerable shock for you But please believe e are telling you Your husband, Daanzi, is alive and well’

Eden tre her eyes tight She was struggling to overco up a prayer of desperate hope to God Let it be true, let it be real, please don’t let me wake up if it’s a dream—for over the years there had been many such dreams to torment her

‘Your husband surfaced in Brazil aled

‘Brazil…’ Eden echoed shakily