‘You could still go. Leave now. I won’t follow you.’

‘Too late. You know the truth. You’d go straight to the police.’

‘I wouldn’t! You could disappear and you’d never hear from me again.’

‘I can’t take that risk.’

‘You can. I promise. We must mean something to you. There must be some shred of maternal feeling deep ins—’

She laughed.

‘There is nothing,’ she said. ‘Nothing at all, other than hatred. You, I find annoying, in the way a lion is annoyed by the flies buzzing around its kill. Irrelevant, but irritating. The baby is different. I hate her, Tom. I want to destroy her.’

She leaned over, her eyes fixed on his. They were the eyes of a predator, hungry and cruel.

‘And besides,’ she said. ‘I’ve been looking forward to this. I have a need, Tom, and it has to be met. I must have my fill.’

‘No,’ he said. ‘No. Please.’

Nadia

Nadia banged the steering wheel in frustration. She and Wynne had just pulled onto the M6, heading north.

‘I can’t believe we didn’t get the address. I called the parents but they don’t have it. He only gave it to Roland.’

‘It’s frustrating,’ Wynne said. ‘But we have to move on and work with what we’ve got.’

‘Which isn’t much,’ Nadia said. ‘I feel so stupid. I should have asked immediately.’

‘A lesson learned.’ Wynne looked out of the window. ‘They’re in the Lake District,’ she said. ‘Which is a start.’

‘It’s a big place,’ Nadia replied. ‘But agreed. It’s a start.’

‘We informed the local police? So they’re ready when we get an address?’

‘Yes. They’re expecting us at Kendal Police Station.’

‘And we have a call into the phone companies, I presume? To get the last known location of Mr Sark’s phone?’

‘Yeah. But it’s late on a Sunday, and they don’t like handing out people’s personal data.’

‘Did DSI Ryan talk to them?’

‘She did. And they’re on it. But it takes time.’

‘Yes,’ Wynne said. ‘It does. There’s also the house. They took it on a long-term rental. Almost certainly through Vrbo or AirBnb. Even if not, there’s only so many ways to rent a house at short notice. So we ask those companies to look at recent long-term rentals to see if Alice or Tom Sark show up.’