As he spoke, two other masked men silently materialized on opposite sides of them. ‘Ah, my other brothers. This is Fluke.’ He pointed to one of the other men, a small man with a large knife clasped tightly in his right hand. ‘And that one over there, you guessed it, is also Fluke.’ He laughed. ‘I hope I’m not confusing you, officers. But you see, to be able to be in more than one place at a time gives one a wicked reputation.’

‘Where’s Doyle?’ Nikki’s voice held nothing but contempt. ‘You and your freaks don’t interest me one bit. I want Doyle.’

‘Don’t be a fool, Inspector. Frankie was never going to be here. It’s me you should be worried about. It always was.’

As the man ranted at her, Nikki half heard his words, and half watched Joseph, as she saw him glance back along the narrow avenue that they had just innocently walked down, and visibly pale.

To her horror, she looked past him, and saw the reason why.

Across the concrete parking area, a young woman was just unlocking her car, and extracting a child’s pushchair from the boot.

Her knowledge of the area automatically kicked in, and she saw in her mind the children’s playschool situated at the end of the river walk. She even saw the rainbow-coloured sign above the doors. Bizzy Little Bees. She swallowed hard and tried to think of a way of alerting the girl to the dangers that lay ahead of her.

‘One word from either of you, and I’ll let one of my freaks have her! For as long as they want her, if you see what I mean?’ The voice had a sibilant quality and Nikki imagined snake’s eyes beneath the mask.

‘Then just let her go on her way,’ she hissed back. ‘She has nothing to do with any of this! It’s me you want, isn’t it? Well, you got me, so let her be!’

‘Then you better be as quiet as the grave! Her life, or maybe just her sanity, depends on it.’

As they spoke, the click, clack of the woman’s shoes got closer. Nikki’s mouth was dry as chaff, but she managed to whisper to Joseph. ‘Say nothing. Do nothing.’

‘Wise words, Inspector.’ Came softly from behind her.

The silent masked men had blended back into the shadows, and as the girl got closer, it took all of Nikki’s strength to stop herself screaming out loud for the woman to run for her life or she may never see her child again.