I sink down onto the sofa. There’s a gnawing inside me, like a rat chewing at the end of a fraying rope. Liam prowls the inside of the cottage. He checks and rechecks the locks on the doors and windows as though he’s a soldier securing a fortress from an attack.

It’s unnerving seeing him like this. I’ve seen him agitated, but never afraid, as he is now. He might be trying to disguise it with anger, but I can see that the pressure is getting to him. I worry he’s going to crack.

‘It’s fine,’ he says, more to himself than to me. ‘No one’s getting inside. And if he does try anything then he’ll have me to answer to.’

Adrenaline courses through me; my heart starts to pound as though someone is beating a drum inside my chest and I have to stand up again and keep pacing. The wind howls down the chimney. It sounds as if a thousand ghosts are trying to force their way inside the cottage.

‘Why do all this to us?’ I ask, wrapping my arms around my body as I pace. ‘It must be for a reason.’ I look at Liam, who is frowning intently at the empty fireplace. ‘You’re good at getting in the heads of people,’ I say to him, my frustration growing. ‘What do you think their motive is? It can’t be a treasure hunter. I mean, everything he’s doing is so personal. It’s vindictive. Don’t you think? It’s like he’s chosen us.’

Liam scowls, chewing the inside of his cheek. He doesn’t answer me, but I can tell his brain is whirring.

‘Could it be related to one of your cases?’ I ask. ‘Someone you put away?’

‘Not likely,’ he says, but he doesn’t sound convinced.

I sit down and look around the darkening room with a shiver.

‘This isn’t a honeymoon, it’s a bloody nightmare,’ Liam mumbles under his breath. ‘It was meant to be a romantic getaway but it’s turning into the honeymoon from hell.’

I agree.

Chapter Sixteen

Day Five

The cottage feels like a ship being tossed about on a stormy sea. We’ve battened down the hatches and are stowed away in the cabin of the bedroom, lying side by side in the bed. Neither of us is asleep though. I find myself clutching the side of the mattress as though at any moment I’m about to be thrown out of it by a large wave colliding into the side of the house. I strain to listen, unsure if it’s the rain lashing against the window or someone trying to break in.