Where are we going?

Holly read it out, hit send and pointed to the shuttered ‘Garganta Burger’ stand just beyond the right fork. ‘We could park up there while we wait.’ She suspected Maggie was still lying about Janet but, at least for the moment, they weren’t trying to kill each other.

She glanced at the dash.

Less than four and a half hours until sunrise.

‘Company.’

Holly followed Maggie’s gaze to the mirror. There was a vehicle approaching them from behind. As it drew close, Maggie squinted against the glare of the headlights.

‘They’re out late.’ Maggie didn’t move her eyes from it.

‘Could be a fisherman.’ But Holly swivelled and studied the shadow in the driving seat. It was a midnight blue Nissan Frontier pickup, and it braked only half a foot from them.

Maggie was about to take off when it honked harshly at them. It swerved around and surged by.

Holly strained to catch the driver’s face but the Nissan quickly accelerated past the burger stand.

The road was quiet again, the snow falling even harder.

‘So, do we hang fire over there?’ Maggie turned the wheel.

A message arrived from Babysitter.

Follow.

Holly’s attention whipped back to the receding lights just as they rounded a bend. ‘That was him. He wants us to go after him.’

Maggie stayed put. ‘He’s drawing us into a trap.’ She regarded her daughter in the mirror. ‘I’m not taking Penny to him.’

Holly knew she’d feel the same way. ‘OK, let’s stay behind him and see where he takes us. The minute we’re not sure, we stop the car.’

‘We need to get Penny somewhere safe.’

‘OK. Let’s consider where but we can’t lose him now.’

Maggie was torn. ‘She should be with Sascha.’

‘She should be,’ Holly said significantly. ‘But that’s past. We have to move now or we’ll lose him.’

Maggie still didn’t budge. ‘The minute I suspect we’re in danger, we’re pulling over.’

‘Agreed.’ Holly contemplated the darkened road ahead.

Maggie shot after the pickup.

A few moments later they spotted the twin red glow from the Nissan. The trees opened up and suddenly they were on a wide expanse with white fields either side. But visibility got poorer as they drove against a squall.

‘He’s leading us out into the middle of nowhere.’ Maggie shook her head, as if she was about to give in to her reservations.

‘I’ll contact him.’

Where are you taking us?

She didn’t expect a response, but one came immediately.

Hexham.

Holly informed Maggie and consulted the satnav. ‘That’s about four miles from here.’

‘I know it. Not much there but salt marshes.’ Maggie had caught up with the pickup, but decelerated to open up the distance between them again.

They were now about a hundred yards from the Nissan; Holly appreciated Maggie wouldn’t want to get any closer. ‘It’s a straight road into Hexham. He won’t be able to spring any surprises before we get there.’

‘Let’s not assume anything.’ Maggie hunched forward so she could focus on the vehicle.

‘He’s improvising, expected things to be over at the wharf.’

‘We shouldn’t underestimate him. He’s probably got a backup plan.’ She flicked the wiper speed up to max.

Holly shared her trepidation. Did he know exactly what he was doing, or was he luring them somewhere remote and devising plan B in the meantime? He still had Abigail, so he was assured that at least Holly would follow. ‘Maybe…’ she was thinking out loud, ‘I should go in alone this time.’

Maggie said nothing but checked Penny in the back seat.

‘He wants to silence us both. If it’s just me that goes into Hexham, I can tell him you’ll go to the cops if anything happens.’

Maggie chewed it over, and Holly could tell she was sorely tempted, for Penny’s sake.

‘But like he says, with what? We still have no idea who he is or why he’s doing this.’

Holly wondered if Maggie was still afraid to go to the police because of implicating herself in whatever had happened to Janet Braun. ‘We have his licence plate.’ She nodded towards it, but the numbers weren’t visible through the darkness and snow. ‘If we get a little closer.’

‘That’s probably exactly what he wants. And something tells me that’s not going to make any difference.’

‘You need to get Penny somewhere safe.’

‘I can’t drop you in the middle of nowhere.’

Holly acknowledged how swiftly the dynamic had changed. Or was that more to do with Maggie not wanting the death of another mother on her conscience? ‘You could drop me on the outskirts once he’s told us where he wants us to go.’

But at that moment Babysitter’s pickup squealed to a halt.

Maggie stamped on the brake, but they skidded nearer to the Nissan.

Babysitter’s vehicle skewed on the wet snow before righting itself. Their Scion froze about thirty feet away.

‘Load the guns.’ Maggie put the car into reverse and jerked them back.

Holly’s fingers were already retrieving the bullets from both pockets.

‘Shit!’ Maggie had lost control, and they skated sideways.

The front tipped up, and the Scion juddered to a standstill.

‘We’re in a ditch.’ She gunned the engine, but the wheels couldn’t get any traction. Maggie passed Holly’s Browning to her and opened the cylinder of her snubbie. ‘Hurry.’

Holly passed Maggie her bullets, and she snatched them out of her palm. She fumbled her own into the magazine. Holly peered through the snow. Their headlights no longer illuminated the pickup. Had he got out? She slid the magazine hard into place.

The doors clunked as Maggie locked them.

Snow churned outside while the engine ticked over.