“It’s a good solid motor,” Darcy replied. “It should handle the conditions all right.”

“I don’t want to skid and find myself upside down in a ditch,” I said.

We passed by roads leading to the cities of Leeds, then York, although no sign of them could be seen. We seemed to be driving through bleak hills with little sign of human habitation. We might have been in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly Darcy jammed on the brakes and I felt the rear of the motor sliding sideways. I think I screamed. Darcy fought to right us. We spun around. Headlights flashed crazily onto trees and snow. Then, miraculously, we stopped sliding. I opened my eyes to find us facing the wrong way.

Chapter 2

NOVEMBER 29
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT SOMEWHERE IN YORKSHIRE.

“What was that?” I asked, my voice horribly shaky.

“A bit of a wild ride for a moment there.” Darcy sounded almost as if he’d enjoyed it.

I glared at him, fear giving way to anger. “You didn’t do that on purpose, did you?”

“Of course I didn’t. Do you take me for an idiot?”

“Then why did you brake suddenly like that?”

“Because there is a damned-fool lorry blocking the road ahead.” Even he sounded tense now. He opened the door, letting in a freezing draft and swirling snow, then stepped out into the blizzard. I wrapped the rug more firmly around me, trying to peer out through the snow to see what was happening. Darcy had vanished into the swirling whiteness. I held my breath until he returned, looking grim.

“Well, that’s that for tonight,” he said. “The road ahead is blocked by snow. I asked if there was another route we could take but the chap said that if the Great North Road was blocked then the smaller roads would be hopeless. His very words were, ‘If it’s snowing like this down here, then a right bugger of a blizzard would be howling up on the moors.’” He sighed impatiently. “We’ll have to wait until someone comes to clear it tomorrow. Or the day after. . . . The chaps there didn’t seem to know much, just that we can’t go any farther. So I’m afraid we’ll have to take your suggestion and find a place to spend the night.”

“We passed a pub a mile or so back,” I said.