The voices sounded closer now. Suppressing every instinct to scream out, she moved another few inches and stopped to listen again. There was nothing other than the rumble of Jay’s breathing. She moved again. Three moves, she counted to herself. And then again. The voices were louder. Four moves. She could make one of them out. Five. There was a woman’s voice. Six. It was Bee. And then another. Seven. Bridget. Yes, it was Bridget. Eight.

She was out of breath. How could she be? And then the voices moved away. They were retreating, becoming fainter not louder. She almost screamed out, ‘No, don’t go! Wait! Come back!’ She lifted her ankles and moved once more, nine, and she almost gasped as she saw a long line of daylight on the cave floor. She was out of breath because she was moving up an incline. She could see the entrance; she was closer. She moved again, ten, and then she stopped dead, mid movement, as his voice pierced the darkness and made her blood run cold.

‘I have my gun on you. Don’t you make a sound.’

Chapter 22

‘It’s as if someone has died in here,’ said Peggy to Keeva as they manned their station behind the table, slapping butter on overly thick slices of bread. Loaves were being baked by villagers to feed the search parties and were arriving into the post office still warm.

Peggy had voiced Keeva’s inner fears and she immediately became distressed. She placed her hands over her eyes and pressed them hard. ‘I can’t bear to think about it,’ she said. ‘I’ve known her since the minute she was born. Sarah was like my sister. I just can’t bear to think of it.’

‘Stop.’ Peggy took hold of one of Keeva’s hands and pulled it down. ‘I spoke to Pete as they took off up the hill. He said there’s no way McGuffey will harm her because he’s after the money. He said Joe will leave a note saying he can have the money but he has to hand over Mary Kate in return. He may be rich as Croesus, Joe, but he has brains too.’

Keeva took her handkerchief from the pocket of her skirt and began to dab at her eyes. ‘I know, McGuffey is evil and it’s money he’s after, it always was.’

‘Aye, true enough, and that’s what’ll keep her safe. Come on, look, we’ve made enough sandwiches to feed an army – Paddy will be running out of ham at this rate and will have to move on to cheese.’ Peggy flopped a slice of bread onto the board in front of Keeva and changed the subject. ‘What do you make of the doctor and the Matron. She’s a funny one, isn’t she?’

Keeva looked up and over to the chair where Matron had been sitting for the best part of four hours, back straight, smile stiff, always polite. ‘Aye, she is. Mrs Doyle says she runs a big hospital, and those two ladies from Liverpool told me she knows Mary Kate.’