‘Why did you approach him?’ he asked, more forcefully than he had intended.

‘To try and stop him,’ she said, suddenly angry.

He nodded in silent apology. ‘What happened?’

‘He was parked by the gate, trying to get Chucker’s quad started. With the noise of the old thing I thought I’d managed to sneak up on him but I guess he saw me in the mirror. Hit me before I had the chance to take him down. I thought he was going to kill me but instead he just asked my name. When I told him, he pistol-whipped me.’

‘Your name? He didn’t say anything else? Anything about where he was heading?’ interjected Mitch, impatient.

Tanya shook her head. ‘Nothing.’

‘Not even a hint?’

‘No,’ said Tanya, glancing at Chandler as if pleading for him to get Mitch away from her. ‘In fact, he seemed almost, disinterested in me.’

‘You’re not the one he’s after,’ said Chandler.

‘Or possibly because he has half the police force after him,’ countered Mitch. He turned to Tanya. ‘What direction did he go in?’

Tanya shook her head. ‘I didn’t see, but I’d guess further in. Somewhere we can’t get to by car.’

‘We need to get going,’ grunted Mitch, directing this at Chandler.

‘I’m not leaving Tanya.’

‘She’s fine, a bump and a bruise. We can’t waste more time. My team will call an ambulance.’

Chandler looked to his senior constable. Her fury was barely confined. Her response was given through clenched teeth. ‘Go. I’ll be fine.’

Chandler put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Not until—’

‘Go,’ she said again. ‘Don’t let the bastard disappear.’

Chandler ran back to the car to find Mitch behind the wheel. Circumnavigating the Holden, Mitch fought with the steering wheel on the gravel road as he increased the pace of the pursuit, his foot heavy on the accelerator.

‘Why do you think he let her go?’ asked Chandler, thinking out loud.

‘I don’t know,’ said Mitch, sawing at the wheel. ‘Maybe he doesn’t want to kill a woman or a police officer?’

‘There were two women amongst the bodies we found.’

‘Maybe he isn’t as crazy as we thought. Maybe there’s a plan behind all this.’

‘Maybe,’ said Chandler. He hoped it was the truth. A plan was good news. Plans, by their very nature, could be discovered and foiled; random acts of violence were harder to determine and prevent. But to stop Gabriel, first they had to capture him.