‘That’s great,’ Nadia said. ‘But it’s the same as with the phones. Roland’s there now. And he’s going to tell her she’s been found out, at which point she’s going to try to kill him, or get the fuck out of there. The only hope we have is if he stops her somehow. But she’s not going to be stopped easily. She’s a psychopath, boss. And the thing with psychopaths is that they will stop at nothing to get what they want. If he takes her on thinking she’s anything like a normal woman, she’ll tear him apart.’

‘I think that’s a fair assessment,’ Wynne said. ‘But I’m not sure what options we have. Like you said, the Lake District is a big place.’

‘So what do we do?’

Wynne shrugged. ‘We wait. And hope. This one’s in the lap of the gods now, Nadia.’

Alice

She’d had enough. She knew what he was doing. He was playing for time, trying to stall her to see if anything showed up, if any opportunity arrived.

He was probably hoping the sedative would wear off and he could jump up and overpower her. She almost sighed at the thought. He may have been bigger and heavier and even stronger than her, but she fought with a ferocity that he couldn’t even imagine. She’d bite his throat and rip out his larynx and spit it in his face if need be.

She’d enjoy it. It would be an interesting experience.

And she didn’t want to hear any more of his drivel. He should die with some dignity. Accept his fate. Accept she was the better person. This begging was unseemly.

She’d explained her position. She didn’t care about him. She didn’t hate him, she wasn’t angry at him. She didn’t feel she needed revenge on him. She felt nothing. He was an inconvenience, and so he had to be removed. She no more felt animosity to him than she did to the trash when she was taking it out to the bins.

The fucking baby was different. That thing was a parasite, sucking the very life out of her. She was looking forward to pushing its face under the water and watching it drown.

Maybe he didn’t understand it, but that wasn’t her fault.

‘Alice,’ Tom said. ‘Or Andrea. Whatever your name is. Please. Stop this. There must be some part of you that wants to let me – me and Jo – go? So please, just leave. Leave here and you’ll never hear from me or anyone I know again. I’ll tell the police anything you want. You went for a swim and drowned. We had a big argument and you left. Anything at all. Please, Alice. The years we spent together must mean something?’