‘I forgot. I was distracted by you, making sure you weren’t going to freak out.’ Liam’s tone had turned a little agitated. ‘What’s the big deal, Hannah? It’s just a few more minutes.’

She was sounding unreasonable and she didn’t want to make him suspicious.

‘Okay, it’s fine. I’m going to wait outside. I’ve seen enough.’

He stared at her and she thought he was going to say something, try to pressure her into going back inside, but instead he nodded curtly.

She wondered if he was going to hand Tank’s lead over to her, but he seemed happy for the dog to accompany him, heading up the path to the front door and stepping inside without another word to her.

Hannah’s heart thumped. Should she try to get away? It would probably take her five minutes to get back to the car if she ran. Liam was inside and hopefully wouldn’t see that she had gone.

She felt a stab of guilt at the idea of leaving him behind. They had brought her car and he would be stuck here. If she had this wrong…

No. Screw him. Josh had warned her to stay away.

She patted her pocket for her keys. Panicking when she couldn’t find them.

And then she remembered.

Liam had taken them.

Fuck!

Okay. Stay calm, Hannah. Think.

She could try to hide. But where? And would it really do her any good?

No, she was better to sit tight, drive back to Norwich, and act as normal as possible, until she had spoken to Josh and until she knew what the hell was going on.

In fact, she could call him now. Liam wouldn’t overhear. At least then she would know whether she was in danger or not.

She dialled Josh’s number, listened to it ring, willing him to pick up. It clicked into voicemail and she left a terse whispered message. ‘I’m in Hixton and I’m with Liam. You need to call me back and tell me what the hell is going on, Josh.’

As she hung up, she wondered if she should call the police. But how could she do that? Liam hadn’t attacked her and until Josh got back to her about his stupid cryptic voicemail, she couldn’t accuse him of anything.

Instead she turned to Google. Typing in Liam’s name again and looking through the search results. What was it she had missed?

Liam James Quinn. Thirty-five years old. Son of James and Jennifer Quinn. One younger sister, Ashley, and there was quite an age gap between them.

In one of the articles, Ashley was referred to as his half-sister. So who were her parents?

Hannah searched for James Quinn alongside Liam Quinn. He had met Jennifer twenty-two years ago, so how could she be Liam’s mother?