Harri looked at Sabih with concern. Where could this strange man be taking this child at such a late hour? Why was he talking about leaving?

‘Come on,’ Ben commanded. ‘Get in the car.’

He badgered Elliot into the passenger seat before running around the car to get behind the wheel. The engine growled, the wheels spat up stones, and soon the red lights tore down the lane, speeding away from the cottage.

‘Come on,’ Harri said, and she and Sabih sprinted to her car.

A couple of minutes later, she was pushing the little hatchback to its limits. She raced along the winding road, and Sabih held the hand grip and gasped at every violent turn. The Golf lurched around the bends, rocking onto two wheels in places, as Harri tried to close the gap.

When they reached the junction with the main road, Harri scanned left and right, before spotting a set of tail lights heading east. She pulled onto the main road, turning towards Buxton, and followed what she hoped was the Land Rover.

As Harri accelerated, Sabih took his phone from his pocket and placed a call.

‘What are you doing?’ Harri asked.

‘What we should have done the moment we saw him acting like that with the kid,’ Sabih replied. ‘Checking someone’s car is one thing. This is something else. That child might be in danger.’

He was right. Harri had thought about intervening at the cottage, but she’d been caught by surprise. And could they charge Ben for harsh words spoken to a child? Her instincts told her this was beyond harsh words, and a nagging dark feeling in the pit of her stomach signalled something bad was about to happen.

‘Yeah, who is this?’ Sabih said into his phone. ‘Julia? It’s Sabih Khan. I’m in pursuit of a suspect. Benjamin Elmys. We’re on the A4015, heading towards Buxton. I need backup and a wagon.’

He paused.

‘Hold on,’ he said.

A hundred yards ahead, the tail lights glowed an angry red, and the vehicle slowed before turning left onto an overgrown track. As it made the turn, Harri saw the unmistakeable Land Rover silhouette before it vanished into the trees.

‘He’s heading north, towards Lud’s Church,’ Sabih said. ‘Pinpoint my phone. Powell should have access. OK. Thanks.’

Sabih hung up as Harri turned onto the overgrown track. She killed her headlights and relied on the overcast moon to show her the way.

If Ben had spotted them, he gave no indication. He sped through the brambles and branches that reached across the track, and the Land Rover bounced around violently as it shuddered over the potholes that marred the surface.

Sabih fiddled with his phone, texting Powell and others. They’d send a couple of blues from Leek, which would take ten or fifteen minutes. She and Sabih just had to make sure nothing bad happened to the child before then.

Chapter 28

Ben pulled into a space beside the track, next to a gap in the treeline. Harri stopped a short way back. The trees in the forest beside them were misshapen giants, and the shadows they cast were black and endless, havens in which nightmares lurk.