Three minutes later Maggie came across a gas station. It was set off from the trees on their right and stood alongside a log cabin diner. The neon under the green snow-covered canopy said it was open, but there was no sign of life in the booths or stools along the bar.

Maggie halted the car on the empty forecourt. ‘Not a moment too soon.’ She opened the door, swung her injured left leg out and blenched. It felt like the area around the bite re-ignited as soon as she put her weight on it.

‘I’ll fill it.’ Holly put her hand on the door.

‘No. It’s fine.’ She could see her jeans were tight around the swelling. ‘Keep searching online.’ Holly was trying to find out as much as she could about the Fresnades and their meat empire. If they were delivering bodies to the mill then they had to be prepared for their visit to the plant. Maggie levered herself out of the Scion and hobbled to the old-school pump.

There was no attendant in the little wooden kiosk, so she started filling it herself. The sound of an engine turned her head back to the road. It was a patrol car, and it slowed beside the forecourt.

Maggie froze. The car had only just started filling up. Should she pull the nozzle out of the tank, hang it up and get straight back in? She glanced at Holly in the side mirror. She’d noticed it as well. Maggie nodded she’d seen it.

The patrol car pulled out of the blizzard, passed them and slid into the space beside the pump in front of the Scion. Maggie kept her finger on the trigger. If the policeman was here for gas it was better to do nothing that would draw attention to them.

The patrol car’s engine was switched off and a female, uniformed officer got out. She was tall and slim, in her thirties, with a pale, freckled complexion and wore a hat with her red hair tucked up inside it. Her focus was on the kiosk, and she frowned at the empty window.

‘Looks like Chet’s gone AWOL again.’ The police officer shook her head, but made her way over to the kiosk anyway.

Maggie smiled and rolled her eyes, as if she might know who Chet was.

The police officer peered in at the window and cupped her hand around her brow. ‘Not crashed out in there either.’

Maggie hadn’t seen her clock the licence plate when she got out of the patrol car but the rear one was quite visible now. And if the police were on the look-out for the two women who had fled Bozeman Street they probably had a description of them from Chuck Bretton. She darted her gaze to Holly as the officer strolled by the car. She was rigidly facing front.

The officer headed towards the diner, but swivelled back to Maggie. ‘You’ll have to pay in here. I’ll see if I can find him.’ She yanked the door and disappeared inside.

Maggie released the pump trigger. If they took off now without paying that would immediately arouse suspicion. But was the officer already in there phoning their location in?

Holly’s window whirred down. ‘What are we going to do?’

‘I’ll go in there. See what she’s doing.’

‘Shouldn’t we just split?’

‘She’ll definitely alert other officers if we do that. I’ll take a look. If she’s not using her radio, I’ll pay and come out as quickly as I can.’ Maggie replaced the nozzle and shut the tank cover.

‘Hurry then.’

Maggie limped to the door, straightened and girded herself to pace casually on her injury. She didn’t want to start any conversations about it. Peering in through the pane she could see the police officer was standing at the counter with her back to Maggie, her head moving. She was talking to an older man with thinning white hair. Was the officer just chatting to the cashier, or telling him there were two suspects on the forecourt?

The man at the counter spotted Maggie. He said something and nodded at the door. The police officer turned, and her eyes fell on Maggie.

Maggie pretended she was on her way in and tugged the handle. As she entered she grinned and tried to discern if she’d interrupted the officer having a furtive discussion. ‘Should I pay here?’

The police officer nodded but said nothing else.

Maggie reached the counter. ‘The pump nearest the kiosk.’

The man behind the counter was wearing half spectacles. He tapped the register. ‘That’s um… $38.50.’

The police officer kept her body angled to the cashier and said nothing as Maggie fumbled out her charge card from her puffer jacket. She just had to keep cool until she paid and then they could hopefully leave without suspicion.

He indicated the reader beside the register.

She touched it with the card, and it beeped.

‘Nasty.’

Maggie turned and found the officer examining her leg. ‘Dog bite. Not as bad as it looks. My own fault. Shouldn’t have taken on another stray.’

‘Shouldn’t you get that bandaged?’

‘On my way to ER now. What a time to run out of gas.’

‘Best be on your way then.’ The cashier showed her his capped teeth.

Maggie felt the urge to hesitate. To make it clear to the officer she was prepared to answer any of her questions. ‘Night.’ She walked in silence, her bite throbbing tightly before she was at the door again. She pushed it and returned to the car.

Holly was sitting in the driver’s seat and started up as soon as she appeared.

Maggie shook her head at her and got in. Were they watching them on security cameras?

‘Well?’

‘Still don’t know.’ Maggie swung the door shut. ‘Wait a moment. Don’t drive off too fast.’

They both waited while the engine puttered.

‘OK. Don’t look at the diner until we’re at the ramp.’

Holly accelerated them slowly past it. As the car cut across to the exit side Maggie checked the officer in the side mirror. She was still standing at the counter, but had turned to watch them go.

‘What d’you think?’

Maggie squinted. ‘Don’t pick up speed until we’re out of earshot.’

Holly negotiated the car back into the storm and drove slowly up the road.

Maggie kept a watch on the diner until it had disappeared behind the trees. ‘OK…’ She consulted the satnav and found the nearest general. ‘Thought so.’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Told them we were going to the hospital, and we’ve just left the wrong way.’