Even when Maggie applied the brakes hard, the wheels of the Scion kept sliding down the hill, the whole vehicle slewing sideways before she got traction again and hung a right towards Lot 4.

As she grabbed Holly’s coat and got out of the car she could just discern her footprints, their indentations nearly filled in. She followed them. The wind had dropped but the snowfall was still heavy. The crunch of her footfalls echoed off the front of the building, and her breath escaped in huge clouds.

She pushed through the plastic drapes and gazed around the illuminated but deserted loading bay. ‘Holly!’

No reply.

A sickly aroma of smoke wafted over her. Was she too late? Where the hell had Babysitter locked her? ‘Holly!’ She peered beyond the forklifts to the tiny office on the far side and strode towards it. ‘Holly!’

A muffled yell and pounding from above.

Maggie froze and made for the metal steps to her left. Noticing the name of the smokery she quickly climbed them and thudded noisily along the gantry until she reached the shutter door.

There was frantic banging coming from one of the stainless steel cabinets before her. Maggie ran to them and swiftly swung one open. Nothing inside but cooking chunks of meat.

It came again. The cold room. Maggie crossed to it and pressed the button on the handle so it unlocked.

Holly staggered out, arms hugging her body. ‘He’s here.’ She shivered and darted her eyes around.

‘No, he’s not. He found me.’ She handed Holly her coat.

‘What happened?’ She registered the cut to Maggie’s neck. ‘He harmed you?’

‘I’m OK. He just threatened me.’

‘What did he say to you about Abigail?’

‘He said she’s safe.’

‘I have to see her. I have to know she’s still alive!’

‘Calm down. The situation is the same. He’s going to keep her alive, so we do exactly what he wants.’

‘You let him go?’

‘I had my gun on him but what could I do? If I pulled the trigger we’d never get Abigail back. He told me to release you. Did you find anything here?’

Holly angrily yanked open the door of the smoker behind her.

Through the pungent blue smoke, Maggie could see the doll wrapped in a pink blanket, the middle of its face sucked in by the heat.

‘He locked his arm around my neck when I opened it. I blacked out and woke in the cold room. I didn’t get a look at his face.’ She rubbed her throat.

‘I did. He was the guy who snatched Penny from the parking lot. Mid- to late-twenties. Shaved head. Weird splayed nose.’

Holly rubbed the tops of her arms then slid on her coat. ‘What did he say to you?’

‘That we have to work out who he is by sunrise.’

‘What?’

‘In other words, we indulge him, go where he tells us. The threat’s the same.’

‘He had the opportunity to kill both of us.’

Maggie nodded. ‘He’s enjoying himself. Told me we’re to be part of the endgame, and I think it’s going to be more fucked up than whatever he originally had planned.’

‘So where do we go from here?’

‘He said he’s already given you a clue.’

Both their eyes slid to the open smoker.

Maggie pulled the doll out. ‘Shit!’ The blanket was hot, and she dropped it.

The plastic baby rolled face down out of its blanket. Maggie turned it over with her foot so its eyes were looking up at the ceiling, their lids bouncing to a standstill.

They both read what was written on its bare chest.

Maggie looked up at Holly. ‘Mean anything to you?’

But Holly already had her phone out. She searched for it. ‘Waggity Camp. It’s a dog kennels in Lime Falls. Run by a Suzanne Welch.’

‘How far?’

Holly consulted Google Maps. ‘Eleven minutes, probably longer in this weather. We’d better go.’ She was already heading for the door.

‘Wait. Are we missing something here?’ Maggie surveyed the smokery. ‘This is Tom Fresnade’s old place of work. Shouldn’t we be trying to locate his family?’

‘Come on, we’ve got the next destination.’

‘So we go running in every direction he sends us?’

‘What else can we do if Abigail might be there? We’re wasting time.’

Maggie was still reluctant to leave. ‘The Fresnades live in town. Shouldn’t we call on them?’

‘We found Tom Fresnade’s name too easily. I think it’s going to be more complicated than knocking on their door.’

‘But don’t you think we should be determining our own direction?’

‘No. I can only think of Abigail.’

‘Me too.’ Maggie could see the anguish on Holly’s face, but her instincts told her they needed to consider where they’d just come from. ‘Which is why we need to be thinking outside the path Babysitter is leading us down.’

‘We know about Fresnade because Babysitter sent us to the square. Maybe we’ll discover more if we go to the kennels. Besides, we don’t know where the Fresnades live.’

‘Check the online directory.’

‘We can while we’re driving to Lime Falls.’ Holly trotted towards the door.

‘Which, again, could be a trap.’

She halted. ‘Like I said, he could have killed both of us here. This is a journey he wants us alive for.’

‘Until the end of it.’

‘Sounds like he has it all planned out, but we don’t have much time left and the police are still looking for us.’

Maggie took a breath. ‘OK. Lime Falls. Wait a moment.’ She carefully picked up the doll with the hot blanket. ‘Maybe this is more than a pointer. Let’s take it with us.’ She wrapped it and walked out onto the gantry.

Holly was ahead. ‘Ever been to Lime Falls?’

‘No. You?’

Holly didn’t answer until they’d reached the top of the steps. ‘Once.’