Whatever her motives, Holly knew she couldn’t ignore what Maggie had said. Babysitter would want to silence both of them. ‘I’m not jeopardising Abigail. We drive to the address and check it out before we go in there.’

‘Maybe it’ll be too late by then. Perhaps he’s planning to ambush us before we even reach it.’ Maggie scrutinised Penny in the mirror.’

‘She’s fine. And how could he do that?’

‘He knows we’ll have this conversation. He’s going to be trying to think one step ahead of us. He doesn’t know how far we are away from Astley though.’

‘So what edge does that give us?’ Maggie had a point: what would happen to Abigail if he did attack both of them in Astley?

‘We have to think about this. Let me pull over.’

‘Keep driving,’ Holly snapped. ‘And grip the wheel with both hands.’ She couldn’t allow Maggie to call any of the shots. ‘I don’t want Abigail to spend one more second away from me than she has to.’ She leaned on her right side to take the weight off her wound.

‘I understand that. But obeying him isn’t going to guarantee you getting her back.’

‘It did for you,’ Holly said stolidly.

Maggie squinted at the road, as if wanting to focus anywhere but on responding.

‘Sorry, I forgot. You got lucky at Janet’s house. But if there were a chance you’d guess Babysitter was the East County Slayer why did he let you walk away?’

‘He didn’t. You came calling. And, like I say, once you’ve taken care of me it’ll probably be your turn. But with the police in pursuit he can’t afford to have us around for long.’

Holly kept her eyes on the older woman’s expression. ‘Babysitter told me you were a killer who had escaped justice.’

Maggie nodded. ‘And when you did your online research, as I did with Janet, what did you find?’

Holly’s body slanted left as they negotiated another bend and the wound flared against the sudden pressure. ‘Nothing.’ She grunted as her stomach muscles clenched.

‘But you still want to believe it, don’t you? I had to believe it of Janet although she was probably just a struggling mother like us.’

‘Was?’

‘Jesus, stop trying to trip me up. I don’t know why Babysitter targeted us. I spend my days processing dental health insurance claims. Penny is my only slice of happiness.’

‘I know all that.’

‘And I guess you’re the same.’

Holly wouldn’t be drawn. But Maggie wasn’t far off base. After paying for childcare, the hours she spent as a clerk in the offices of a small, family-owned law firm barely paid the bills. But Abigail made every day worth it. ‘So why the hell is Babysitter doing this?’

‘Maybe we can figure that out.’

Holly registered Maggie was using the word ‘we’ again. But even though a part of her wanted to share the torture of what Babysitter was putting them through she couldn’t trust her. ‘What if he does know exactly where we are?’

‘The drone?’ Maggie said sceptically.

‘I saw it.’ But Holly could see she was unconvinced. ‘And what about this?’ She held up her phone. ‘Could he be tracking it?’

‘If he does, he’ll know the exact moment we get into Astley.’

‘So there’s no edge.’ The meds were relieving the pain in Holly’s hip; but as she squeezed her pullover sleeve and made sure the dried flower head was still where she tucked it a new thought occurred to her.

Maggie glimpsed at the satnav. ‘So what are our options? Either we go there or we don’t.’

‘There is another alternative.’

‘What?’

‘You go there alone.’

Maggie glared at her. ‘Why the hell would I do that?’

‘Because it’s what you’ll have to agree to if you want me to make sure Penny is in a safe place.’ Holly watched the muscle pulse at the side of her jaw.

‘He’s not going to let me go.’

‘If you’re right, he needs to silence both of us. You negotiate with him.’

‘Don’t be naïve. Even if it does work we’ll both be looking over our shoulders.’

‘I know. Which is why I’ll follow him afterwards. If we can find out who he is then he has no power.’

Maggie’s pupils darted. ‘If you can follow him. That’s a real long shot.’

‘We could build a file. Tell him to stop and that that will buy our silence.’ But Holly doubted it would be as straightforward as that.

‘And ensure it’s released to the police if anything should happen to us?’

‘Exactly.’

Maggie chewed her lip, as if considering it.

But Holly was positive Maggie was planning on something before they even got to Astley.