Dash, dot, dot, dot: ‘B’.

Dot: ‘E’.

Dot, dash, dot –

She heard the key in the door, and jumped. Her heart started to pound in her chest. She could not let Guy find her signalling to someone on the lake. There was no telling what he would do.

She finished the L, then put the lamp down, and lay on the bed. She clenched her fists to stop her hands shaking with the adrenaline that was flooding her system.

So near. So fucking near.

She’d got as far as ANNABEL. It would have to do. Now she needed the person in the boat to go to the police and tell them what had happened.

An SOS, and part of her name. It was enough. Surely, it was enough.

The door opened and Guy came in. He looked around the room, his lips pressed together. His gaze settled on her.

‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Good day?’

‘Yes,’ she said. There was a tremor in her voice. She fought to control it.

His eyes narrowed. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Nothing. I – I feel a bit ill.’

‘Don’t bother,’ he said. ‘I’m not getting a doctor.’

‘I wasn’t asking for one. I have a cold, or something.’

‘Of course you do.’ He shook his head. ‘I suppose you’re not hungry, either?’

‘A bit.’

‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Would you like me to bring food?’

I can hardly get it myself, she thought. ‘Please.’

‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I’ll be back soon.’

Finn

ANAEL?

What the fuck did ‘anael’ mean? He had struggled to decipher the dots and dashes. The problem was he had to remember the sequence and then look at his phone to get the letters, by which time a new letter had started.

He’d missed a few, he was sure of that, but he’d hoped to be able to fill in the blanks. ‘Aneal’, though – that meant nothing to him. Was it a name? A Neal?

He had no idea.

Maybe he’d got a letter wrong. Maybe it was a real, but a real what? Or a near, but again, a near what?

He sat in the boat, patting the oars on the water and looking at the house. It was pretty big, and remote. You could easily hide someone in it.

He waited to see if the light would come again, but there was nothing.

His phone buzzed and he looked at the screen. It was Suneela.

Hey. You OK? Wanted to check in.

Ha. This was it. She had seen the error of her ways.

Fine, he replied. Just out on the lake. Heading back. Will call when on dry land.

He wanted to call right then and there, but that was a bit desperate. It could wait until he was out of the boat.

Which wouldn’t be that long, especially if he rowed fast.

He grabbed the oars and set off.

Wynne