Dani opened her mouth to say just that but he’d already hung up. Less than impressed, she thumped the phone down onto the seat next to her as she glared over at Jason’s car.

What should she do now?

The reality was, there was so little she could do.

Of course she could just head home and wait for Jason to come back. Why wasn’t she doing that?

Her phone chirped again soon after, this time with a message. Dani fully expected it to be Jason once again, but was surprised to see it was from Easton, of all people.

Sorry about this morning, Dani. I know everything will work out in the end.

She really didn’t know what to make of that and didn’t bother to respond.

She remained in the car for more than half an hour more, getting colder, more tired and more anxious with every minute that passed. In that time several pedestrians, mostly dog walkers, had strolled past her car, more than one gazing suspiciously inside. She really couldn’t just sit there all night.

And she didn’t have to. Because finally up ahead she saw Jason striding down the drive and back to his car.

Dani found herself in a sudden panic. If she stayed where she was Jason would surely spot her car as he passed it, even in the dark.

She fired the engine up and as Jason ducked into his car she pushed the gearstick into reverse and pressed the accelerator and her car rolled back. She continued fifty yards, to the turning for the next street and wound her car around the bend. Then she sat and waited with her engine idling and her headlights still off. Once Jason had passed by in front she’d follow again.

Except that seconds soon turned to two minutes and he still hadn’t gone by.

Surely he couldn’t be sitting in his car outside Ed Francis’s house still.

Dani pulled her car forwards again and rolled it slowly along and back up to the junction where she’d been parked earlier. There was no sign of Jason’s car at all now.

She cursed under her breath. She’d made the most basic of mistakes. She’d always come and gone to the Grants’ house from the same direction, and had simply assumed Jason would similarly retrace his steps on leaving. But he hadn’t. At the end of the Grants’ road, he’d gone in the other direction. To where, who knew, but one thing was abundantly clear. Dani had lost him.

Chapter Fifty-Seven