Necropolis

Scarlett Adams was trying to get back to her old life.
    The doctors had decided there was nothing wrong with her. The police had asked more questions but had finally given up. Maybe she had suffered from amnesia. Maybe the whole thing about her disappearance had been a prank — but either way, they had better things to do. Even the press had decided to leave her alone. A new president, a man named Charles Baker, had just been elected in the U.
    S.A., and according to all the reports, there had been something strange about the way the votes had been counted. It was turning into a huge scandal that left no room in the papers for a girl who had been missing for less than a day.
    Just forty-eight hours after he had flown all the way to England, Paul Adams went back to Hong Kong.
    Scarlett understood why he couldn't stay with her. He had only recently started his new job, working in the legal department of a huge company involved, amongst other things, in the manufacture of computer equipment and software. It hadn't made a good impression, shooting off to London at such short notice.
    He had to get back again.
    Back to Nightrise.
    Paul Adams took Scarlett out to dinner on his last night at home. The two of them went to a little Italian restaurant that he liked in Dulwich. He ordered half a bottle of wine for himself and a lemonade for her, and the two of them sat facing each other trying to think of things to say. Paul was wearing expensive jeans and a shirt that didn't really suit him. The truth was that he was only really comfortable in a jacket and tie. They were like a second skin to him. Maybe it was his age. He was forty-nine years old, and he had been a lawyer for more than half that time, devoting his life to contracts, complicated reports, and charts. It was hard to imagine what he had been like as a teenager.
    "Are you going to be all right, Scarly?" he asked.
    'Yes." Scarlett nodded.
    Neither of them had spoken very much about St. Meredith's. Paul Adams seemed to have accepted her story. She had fallen ill. She had forgotten whatever had happened. Scarlett wondered why she hadn't confided in him. He had always been kind to her. Why was she lying to him now?
    "I'm sorry, Dad," she said.
    "There's nothing to be sorry about." Paul Adams paused and sipped his wine. "Do you really have no idea what happened to you?"
    "I wish I did."
    'You could tell me, you know. I wouldn't be cross with you. I mean, if there's some sort of secret or something you're afraid of…"
    Scarlett shook her head. "I told the police everything."
    Paul Adams nodded. Then the waiter arrived with spaghetti carbonara for him and a pizza for Scarlett.
    There was the usual business with the oversize pepper grinder, the sprinkle of parmesan cheese. At last they were on their own again.
    "How's the job going?" Scarlett asked, deliberately changing the subject.
    "Oh. It's not too bad." Paul Adams twirled his fork in the spaghetti. "Do you want to come to Hong Kong for the Christmas holidays? I've spoken to your mother, and she's happy for me to have you this year. I'll get a few days off and we can travel together."
    "I'd like that," Scarlett said, although she wondered what it would be like, traveling, just the two of them.
    They seemed to have grown apart so quickly.
    They ate in silence. Paul Adams didn't seem to be enjoying his food. He left half of it, then took off his glasses and began to rub them with his napkin. Looking at him just then, Scarlett thought how old he had become. It wasn't just his hair that was going gray. It was all of him.
    "I'm sorry, Scarly," he said. "I'm afraid I've rather let you down, haven't I? If I'd known that Vanessa and I weren't going to stay together…maybe we should have thought twice about adopting a child, although, of course, I'm glad we did. I think the world of you. But it hasn't been fair. Leaving you on your own with Mrs. Murdoch."
    "It was my decision," Scarlett reminded him.
    "Well, yes. I suppose it was."
    "Why do you have to work in Hong Kong?" Scarlett asked.
    "It's a wonderful opportunity. Not just the money. Nightrise has offices all over the world, and if I can work my way up the ladder…" His voice trailed off. "I'll only be there a couple of years. I've told them already. Then I want them to transfer me to the London office and we'll be together again."
    "Don't worry about me, Dad. I'll be all right."
    "Will you, Scarly? I hope so."
    He left on the early flight the next day.
    Scarlett had