She was suddenly no longer sleepy. Not sleepy at all.

She hurried to undo her seat belt, and then pushed the door open. She scrambled out in a crouch, hoping to be hidden behind the SUV until she could make a run for the shop and the tills. She could feel every inch of her flesh crawling as she scooted forwards and round the front of the car, not caring that a woman leading a small girl back from the shop was staring at her.

‘Hey!’

It was Issa’s voice. He’d seen her.

She stood up and ran for the shop. She didn’t notice a car trying to exit the petrol station until she was already in front of it, and she gasped as it jolted to a stop. But she ran on. And then she cannoned into the heavy swing door, feeling the time it took to open as if it were an age. But she was through, into the shop, where April was. Strong, dependable April, who would somehow stop whatever it was that Alex’s husband was trying to do.

Except that there were only two customers in the shop, and neither of them was April.

35

‘We’re coming up on Junction Eight,’ Jonah told O’Malley.

‘I’ve already passed Nine,’ O’Malley answered. ‘I haven’t seen either of them yet. Are they still on the M27?’

‘I’ll check with Yvonne’s team.’ Jonah rang off and listened to the phone ring four times. ‘Come on,’ he muttered.

And then Yvonne Heerden was there, telling him they had the two cars thirty seconds apart going past Junction Nine. ‘They were still on the road eight minutes ago, but we haven’t picked them up since.’

The toilets. April must be in the toilets. And there were locks on the doors. They could hide if they had to.

Louise saw an open door at the rear left of the shop and ran towards it. She almost tripped on the mop and bucket that were propping it open, but then was through.

She was so busy running forwards, totally fixed on escape, that she was slow to realise there were no toilets here. They must have been through another door. Out here there was just a small staff kitchen and a storeroom. Boxes of confectionary spilling out into the hall.

There was nobody here, and nowhere to lock herself away.

She could feel her pulse twitching madly in her chest and neck.

Shit. What do I do?

There was a way out. A heavy grey door with a bright green lever. She barely paused before bolting towards it. She slammed it open, and felt as if she were leaving some form of hell behind her as she ran out into the bright sunshine again.

She closed it behind her as quietly as she could, and then moved to her right, along the blank back of the shop. What next?