‘The nearest town between where we’re staying and here is Skipton,’ I went on, ‘so I’m going to try and find a garage there. I’ll drop you at the station before I do. I suggest jumping on a train to somewhere like Leeds: a big city; busy, lots of people. We need you to fade into the background. I’ll give you my other bank card for a hotel room: don’t go for some shithole, but avoid a top-of-the-range one as well. The blander and more anonymous the better. Once you’re settled, call me from a payphone and give me the details. In the meantime, while the car’s being repaired, I’ll go back to the hotel and box up all the Black Gale paperwork. As soon as the car’s ready, I’ll meet you.’

After that, we were both quiet, the car filled with the defective tick of whatever was broken in the engine and the sound of rain on the roof. Eventually, Healy shifted in his seat, and I saw him glance at me, poised as if to say something.

‘What’s up?’ I asked him.

He made a grunt of disbelief. ‘What do you think? We’ve been listened to, maybe watched as well, and some arsehole’s got me on tape when I’m meant to be six feet under the ground.’

But it didn’t feel like that was it.

‘What else is on your mind?’

We were a couple of miles outside Grassington now, where I’d met Ross Perry for the first time the day before, and where Emiline Wilson had worked at the library. I turned to Healy and said, ‘He doesn’t have your name, okay?’

‘Maybe he doesn’t need my name.’

‘If he doesn’t have a name, it’s much harder.’

‘Much harder to what? To find out I’m actually alive?’ He shrugged to himself. ‘All this bullshit should have been secondary, you know that? We should have been coming up here to find out why nine people vanished into thin air and why this prick has planted bugs in their homes, not worrying about how much he knows about me.’