At the sound of a text arriving, Ava pulled out her mobile. ‘We’ve to meet them in level one of the car park, opposite the lift.’

Up to that moment she hadn’t known who they would send and her heart rose when she’d seen who the message was from.

Her joy was confirmed when she spotted his tall figure waiting for them.

She quickly did the introductions. ‘Nadia, this is Firash, Mark’s friend, who I told you about. Firash, this is Nadia.’

‘Thank you so much for agreeing to come for us,’ she added as Firash led them over to a sleek black car.

‘My father was very happy when you called,’ he said. ‘We want to help you bring these people to justice.’

‘We have two hours before they come looking for us,’ Ava said as they were installed in the car.

‘That’s plenty of time to get out of Glasgow and onto the road south,’ he assured her.

Ava hoped it would be. ‘Are we likely to have been picked up on camera?’ she said, spotting one as they approached the exit sign.

‘There were none where I parked. And with the tinted windows, you wouldn’t be visible once in the car.’

Ava cast her mind back to their swift walk through the shopping centre. There was no doubt that CCTV would have picked them up in the concourse. How long would it take before McNab started a search for them? How long before he figured out what had happened?

At this juncture it felt too easy, and knowing McNab’s terrier-like qualities, Ava couldn’t imagine him not working out how they’d departed the shopping mall.

Perhaps reading her thoughts, Firash said, ‘This isn’t the vehicle I used with McNab. He’s never seen this one before. Plus, if he does run the plates, there’s nothing in the ownership that would link it to us.’

Having navigated the exit, Firash eased his way out into the traffic.

‘There’s food and a flask of coffee in the bag beside you,’ he called back to Nadia. ‘It’s our own coffee, McNab’s favourite, although maybe a little cool by now.’

At the positive reminder of McNab’s part in all of this, Ava felt a stab of regret at what she was doing to the man who’d done so much to help her up to now. But, she reasoned, if she had suggested this course of action to him, he would have undoubtedly forbidden and prevented it.

Her plea after the interviews that she be permitted to take Nadia to buy some much-needed clothes and toiletries had been met initially by a definite no, then an attempt at dissuasion.