Because – like DSI Ryan had said – one day she’d turn up again. And when she did, Wynne would be waiting for her.

EPILOGUE

Barrow, Maine, USA, October 2021

A young woman – maybe early thirties – with close-cropped, metallic red hair, sat at the desk in the house lettings agency. The woman opposite smiled.

‘So, what did you think of the house?’ she said.

‘I love it,’ the woman replied. ‘It’s perfect for me. If it’s available, I’ll take it.’

‘It is. We’ll need first month, last month, and one month’s rent as a security deposit. Could I see your ID?’

The young woman handed over a driver’s licence. It was issued in Ohio, in the name of Dana Sand.

‘You’re from Ohio, Dana?’ the woman said.

‘That’s right.’

‘What brings you to Barrow, Maine? It’s quite a ways from Ohio.’

‘My job.’

‘What is it that you do?’

‘I’m a journalist.’

‘And you chose to come to Maine?’

Dana Sand nodded. ‘I was travelling in Scotland this summer,’ she said. ‘And I realized that I enjoyed the change of scene. So I decided to move somewhere different when I came home. I read an article about cool small towns, and Barrow came up.’

‘Well,’ the woman said, as she handed back her driving licence. ‘We’re glad to have you here. I hope I hear about some of your handiwork!’

‘I think you will,’ Dana Sand said. ‘I’m pretty sure of that.’

Keep Reading …

If you enjoyed Ready or Not, why not try these other psychological thrillers by Alex Lake …

Your children are kidnapped.

The ransom … your wife.

A kidnap …

Matt Westbrook only turned his back for a moment. But when he looks around, his car – with his three young children inside – has vanished.

A ransom …

Panicked, Matt assumes a car thief has got more than he bargained for, but then he starts to receive text messages: This is a kidnap. If you want to see your children again, you will exchange them for your wife.

A choice …

Matt and his wife Annabelle are horrified. They can’t involve the police, or their children will be killed. Which means they have to choose: Annabelle, or their children. Either option is unthinkable. But one is inevitable. And they have only hours to make their decision …

UK readers click here

US readers click here

A race against time to save her child …

In seven days, Maggie’s son, Max, turns three. But she’s not planning a party or buying presents or updating his baby book. She’s dreading it. Because in her world, third birthdays are the days on which the unthinkable happens … she loses her child.

For the last twelve years Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement. Abducted aged fifteen, she gave birth to two sons before Max, and on their third birthdays her captor came and took them from her.