That feeling stayed with him as they reached the point they had last seen Mary Locke. Five paths converged, spreading outwards from the centre like spokes on a wheel. Shadows coated the route she had taken, a protective cloak of green allowing only a fraction of the light safe passage to the ground. They could still make her out ahead. The gloom had turned the red of her coat into a rusty hue as she picked her way along the path.

Porter turned to his partner, his voice a low whisper. ‘I say we take a side of the path each and stick close to the trees in case we need to take cover.’

Styles nodded and pointed off to the left. Porter nodded and moved to the right. They carefully picked their way along the edges of the path, careful to avoid making too much noise by doing anything as clumsy as stepping on fallen twigs. They both froze as the figure ahead took a sharp right off the path and into the thick combination of trees and undergrowth, glancing back the way she had come as she turned. Neither of them dared move, unsure as to whether they had been spotted, or whether they’d blended into the shadows. Porter looked across at Styles and gave a shrug. His partner replied by wiggling his hand palm-down to signify a maybe.

Porter waited a full count of ten before risking a glance ahead. Nothing. He took a chance and crossed the path to where Styles hunched behind a large oak.

‘Three options,’ he said, counting them off on his fingers. ‘We head back to the car, we head in there after her, or we walk past where she dodged off the path and keep walking but see if we can see where she’s at.’

‘How about option four?’ said Styles. ‘We hide out here and wait for her to head back. One of us follows her back towards the cars, the other has a nose round up there and see if we can figure out what she’s doing. Worst case we’ll be at the cafe five minutes behind her.’

‘If she shows.’

‘If she shows,’ agreed Styles.

Porter thought about that for a moment, then nodded. ‘Alright. Let’s get set behind there.’ He pointed to a large bush to their left. ‘You pick her up when she goes past and I’ll take a look.’