Holly’s ear felt like it was filling with warm water, and the tone of the gunfire hiss changed as it did. She’d shot someone. When she set out that evening she thought she wasn’t capable of it. Now she’d pulled the trigger defending the person she was meant to have killed.

‘The cops will be all over this place if I ring you an ambulance.’ Maggie sucked air in through her teeth and readjusted the weight on her injured left leg.

‘I don’t give a shit about that. Just get me a medic.’ Connor raised his head, but dropped it to the floorboards again. ‘I think I’m… think I’m gonna pass out.’

Maggie examined the blood spots around the punctures in her jeans. ‘Tell us what you had to hide from the police.’

‘Jesus… just help me.’ Pain pinched his words.

‘What’s Waggity Camp Mill?’ Maggie asked sternly.

‘I just let them use the place. Nothing to do with me.’

‘Who?’ Maggie demanded.

‘Don’t know what they get up to in there and don’t want to. They’re people you really don’t want to fuck with,’ he slurred at the floor.

‘We’ll make that decision. Tell us where it is.’ Maggie nodded at the phone on the coffee table.

The handset was off the hook.

Holly replaced it and picked up the whole unit.

‘Out back. Down the slope to the river.’

Maggie continued the interrogation. ‘What do we find there?’

‘They keep it locked.’

‘Who?’

‘I don’t know who. I deal with one guy.’ His breathing was laboured. ‘Don’t know his name. He pays me to let them use it. I make sure it stays private. That’s the deal. Only met him once. Money turns up in my account every six months.’

‘Is he the one who called you?’

‘Didn’t say it was. Could have been,’ he responded weakly.

Holly gripped the phone tight. She had to get him help.

‘How far is the mill, Connor?’

He was motionless.

There was blood pooling around his shoulder and Holly was relieved he was still breathing. She lifted the handset from the cradle.

Maggie held up her palm. ‘Wait. Connor? We’re not going to dial until you tell us exactly where it is.’

He still didn’t reply.

Maggie shook her head. ‘We need to see the mill.’

‘But he could be bleeding to death.’

‘He tried to kill us. And he could be faking,’ Maggie said aloud. ‘One of us could stay here and keep a gun on him while the other has a scout around.’

Holly didn’t look up from Connor’s prostrate form. ‘How long d’you think the ambulance will take to get here?’

‘In this weather, could be half an hour.’

‘Might be long enough for me to find the mill. You dress your wound.’

‘We don’t know how many acres this property sits on.’

‘I’ll call 911. Then I’ll go hunt for it.’ Holly could tell Maggie was genuinely prepared to withhold the ambulance. ‘If I can’t find it in fifteen minutes we’ll have to split.’

‘OK, fine, but you’d better hurry.’ Maggie kept her attention on Connor.

Holly lifted the red handset, but there was no tone. She fumbled the wire into the wall and dialled.

‘Which service?’ the female operator sounded bored.

‘Ambulance. A man’s been shot.’ Holly knew that would immediately be flagged to the police.

‘Putting you through.’

Holly quickly relayed their location to the next voice before hanging up on them.

‘You’d better get moving.’ Maggie adjusted her grip on the shotgun. ‘I’ll stay with him for now, but I’ll meet you back at the car.’

Holly set the phone on the coffee table and headed for the door.

‘Careful,’ Maggie cautioned.

She stepped wide of Connor and listened at the panel. No dog activity outside, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t get pounced on as soon as she walked into the hallway. Holly took a deep breath and half opened it.

There were no pit bulls in sight. She inched out. None by the front entrance, but the back door was ajar. She let the one behind her close, padded to the kitchen and sealed it.

‘You OK?’ Maggie called.

‘So far. Gonna check upstairs.’

She ascended them, Browning extended and her hip smarting as she reached the top. There were five frowsy rooms, and she swiftly investigated each, turning the light on and then closing the door – bathroom, three bedrooms and an office. Nobody. If any of the dogs were cowering up here she’d shut them in.

Returning to the hallway she made her way to the kitchen door and listened. She could hear panting. Holly gently pushed the panel and found the pit bull with the injured ear lying in front of the sink unit. Blood was smeared around the tiles. Its tongue was hanging out but, although it cocked its head and studied her, it made no move to attack.

Holly’s gaze settled on the open back door to her right.

A dog barked from beyond it. Should she go out through the front entrance and down the side of the property? But she might not be able to access the rear from the other side of the perimeter wall.

The injured dog didn’t move. Holly clocked the faded photograph on the refrigerator. It was Connor kneeling beside a woman in a wheelchair. There was a wooden shield of hooks with keys hanging from them on the wall beside it.

She eased herself around the door. The dog didn’t budge. Holding her breath, she hastily snatched up each fob off the hooks and slipped into the yard, pulling the door closed behind her.

Something scurried in the darkness to her right, and she followed the noise with her barrel until she spotted the metal gate before her. Holly hurried through it and slammed it shut.

A bright light came on illuminating the snowflakes drifting in the space around her. She whirled around and found it was a movement detector light mounted on the front of the wooden roof of the lean-to she’d just walked out of.

Holly was standing in an ivy walled courtyard surrounded by metal cages. They were all empty.

Barking started in earnest again, and she could discern the shapes of the dogs behind the wire fence that divided the kennels from what she guessed was the exercise yard. She was relieved to be the right side of it.

On the far left of the courtyard a door was set into the wall. Did that lead to the grounds at the rear of the property? She hurriedly trudged through the snow and undid the icy latch.