‘Because kids do stupid stuff, kids commit suicide and have accidents. We all just write them off as kids doing irresponsible and dangerous kid things. Who would think of a scenario like this?’

‘I guess. I just find it hard to swallow that this has been happening under our noses for so long.’

The phone rang; it was Gary. Imogen put it on loudspeaker.

‘Shoot.’

‘The Automatic Numberplate Recognition has picked him up going past Stonehenge. It’s a bottleneck there at the moment, so the traffic isn’t moving anywhere. You should be able to make up some miles. Where are you now?’ Gary said.

‘Just coming up to Wincanton, so just over half an hour. I’ll put the woo-woos on and we can get there in twenty minutes. Are there any local police in the vicinity?’ Adrian asked, putting his foot on the accelerator as Imogen reached into the glovebox for the siren.

‘The DCI is worried about the jam sandwiches spooking Pike and so they are setting up a roadblock near Andover before the road splits off. There should be enough time to do that before he gets there the way the traffic is at Stonehenge.’

‘What’s a jam sandwich?’ Imogen asked unhelpfully.

‘Police car. They used to have a red stripe through them, completely doesn’t apply any more,’ Gary explained.

‘The road is pretty clear here, so we should be able to make some headway,’ Adrian confirmed.

‘I’ll call again with any developments.’ Gary rang off.

Imogen put the phone away and gripped the dashboard as Adrian moved as fast as he could. If she was talking, he couldn’t hear her. He was so focused on getting to the target that everything disappeared except the road ahead of him.

‘We can do this. We can get him,’ Adrian said eventually.

Maybe if they got Pike he would feel less guilty about letting Parker go – again. He knew he couldn’t let two killers go in as many days. What would be the point of him then? He found himself slowly pressing down harder on the accelerator. He wasn’t going to let Pike get away. He couldn’t.

‘Careful, Miley. There’s a roadblock up ahead. We’re going to get him no matter what. We know where he is; he isn’t getting away with it,’ Imogen said, her voice low and soothing but also slightly panicked.

He couldn’t slow down though; he had to keep going.

‘We’re making good headway, only eighteen miles to go. Any updates from Gary?’

‘He says Pike’s still on the A303, but he’s coming to the end of the bottleneck and he will be out the other side soon enough.’

Adrian had to get there before he got away. He watched the speedo climb until it was almost at the 100 mph mark. He had to make sure he paid attention to the roundabouts dotted along the road. He could do this though. The steering became lighter and he had to concentrate on not moving even a little or he might hurl the car into a country pub. He could get to where Pike was in ten minutes at this speed. Ten minutes, that was all that separated them. Did Pike even have a clue they were onto him? Was he watching over his shoulder? Or did he think he still had the luxury of today and tomorrow, maybe the weekend? After all, he had eluded them thus far.