‘Which has largely gone under the radar,’ he said. ‘It’s Friday night, with all the usual distractions that throws up. Ruth’s body’s already been moved; it’ll soon be moved again, permanently, and then it won’t be found … I don’t like that, but it’s necessary. The Archways is about to go under the hammer anyway, so there’ll be no crime scene. And all those people back there, those scummy bikers … well I can arrange for that place to be raided first thing tomorrow. Lots of drugs on the plot, lots of weapons. Every one of that lot’s facing time, and they know it … so an anonymous little tip-off beforehand should send them scuttling for cover, should make sure they don’t even contemplate trying to contact the police. All we’ll find when we get there is an empty barn. Oh …’ he smiled, ‘and your mum’s blood of course. All over the floor. That’ll be interesting for the CSIs.’

‘Your blood was on that floor too,’ Lucy tried to argue, grabbing at any straw she could.

The panic inside her was becoming palpable; they now had to be a long way from any potential witnesses. At any moment, they’d pull into a siding, where she and her mother would be dragged out into the stubble. But if she couldn’t talk them round in moral terms, perhaps she could appeal to their, or at least Tucker’s, common sense.

‘How will you explain that, Danny?’ she said. ‘Your DNA at the crime scene! Come on!’

‘Well … let’s see.’ He mulled it over. ‘Perhaps I should lead the raid tomorrow. It only needs to be a small one … just me and Harry perhaps. I’ll need to get my car back, anyway, so I’ve got to go back there … but obviously, I’ll say we were looking for you two. Trouble was, a couple of bikers were still hanging around, and they got the better of me. It’s not like I haven’t got the gashes to prove it. Better still, I can say I got there the previous night – i.e. now – but the whole mob battered me unconscious and kicked me out into the field. That’s near enough what did happen, isn’t it?’

‘We can say you were unconscious all night, and in the morning they’d gone,’ Harry put in.

Tucker nodded. ‘Along with Lucy and her mum. Neither of them ever to be seen again.’

‘See!’ Harry looked at Lucy through the rear-view mirror. ‘Improvisational thinking.’

Another option had closed, she realised. Her mouth was almost too dry to respond, but she tried anyway. ‘You would seriously frame all those people for murder?’