‘Perhaps we should try to talk to James before we go to the police. He said he had some information for me.’ She thought about it for a moment, the mysterious request to meet on the moors. His accident. ‘He must know who’s behind all this.’ She checked her watch. ‘It’s visiting time at the hospital. How about I go and see if I can talk to him while you wait for the locksmith to come? You can tell him Matt accidentally locked you in or something.’

‘Okay, if you think it’ll help. And if Matt comes back, I’ll be ready for him. I won’t let him just come in and press a few buttons and delete everything, all right?’

Sara’s jaw tightened. ‘Sounds like a plan.’

James was in the Airedale General Hospital, situated in the next valley. After a quick conversation with the help desk, Sara followed the directions she’d been given through the maze of corridors. Eventually she arrived in the right place and was shown to a side ward with four beds, all of them occupied. Two of the other patients had visitors and it felt a little cramped – no privacy at all with the curtains drawn back. She hovered in the doorway, heart sinking as she realised there was going to be little opportunity for a confidential conversation. Still, she was here now, and even a snippet of information would be progress.

James was dozing, his head bandaged, left arm in a plaster cast, lying on top of the covers. She spoke softly as she sat by the bed.

‘James, are you awake?’

His eyes flicked open and he blinked a few times as if unable to believe she was real. He glanced around, clearly unsettled. ‘You can’t be here,’ he whispered.

Sara frowned. ‘I asked at the desk and they said—’

‘No. No, I can’t speak to you.’ He looked… frightened.

Sara glanced over her shoulder, but there was nobody there and the other people in the ward were more interested in their own conversations.

She leant towards him, her voice a low murmur. ‘I’ll go in a minute. But I need to know what you were going to tell me last night.’

He stared at her but didn’t speak, so she carried on.

‘I found out what Matt’s been up to and I think I understand what happened to me at the hotel. But I need to find out who’s behind it all.’ She studied his face. ‘You know, don’t you?’

There was a wild look in his eyes, sweat beading his brow. ‘I can’t tell you anything. I can’t.’ He pressed his lips shut, clutched the blanket that covered him closer to his chest.