She hadn’t seen Henry since the trial and wondered how badly scarred his face was now. Knowing the British justice system, they had probably forked out for him to have some plastic surgery so he didn’t feel out of place when he looked in the mirror. In her mind he would always look like Vincent Price when he played the crazy man in House of Wax. In fact, come to think of it, he looked like him before she had set his head on fire. It was just a shame he hadn’t bled or burnt to death in the house. If he had then they wouldn’t all be living in fear and those two women who were now going to be remembered for ever as the severed heads would still be alive. Life was truly shit at times. Jake opened her door and she jumped.

‘Steady on, I don’t look that scary, do I?’

‘No, of course you don’t. I was just thinking about Henry Smith.’

‘Well, try not to because that’s what he wants. It’s a control thing. He wants us to be afraid of our own shadows. He will be getting his rocks off on that big time.’

‘I know, but it’s pretty hard, Jake. I love my life now. It’s never been so perfect and I don’t want anything to happen to change it.’

‘I know you do. I love your life now. It’s much less stressful – well, it was until this latest round of murders.’

They walked around to the side door of the station and Jake pressed the code into the keypad. As they shut the door behind them another door banged further down the corridor and they both jumped.

Annie held his arm. ‘Don’t worry, that’s just our resident ghost letting me know he’s around. He always bangs the door when I come in or go out.’

Jake looked down at her, shaking his head. ‘Completely normal, then. What resident ghost and why have you never told me about it?’

‘Because he’s shy and I think he just likes to be here. He doesn’t bother anyone or mean any harm. We sort of have an understanding. I talk to him and he bangs the doors.’

Amazed, Jake led the way through the corridors, checking each office until they reached the locker room where they both began to get dressed into their body armour. They fastened the heavy belts with batons and handcuffs attached, then clipped on their radios and the CS gas. Jake, who was taser trained, took one from the special cabinet and put in a fresh cartridge. He turned to her and grinned. ‘If I get the chance I’m going to taser him until the bastard is that charged up with electricity you could plug some fairy lights up his arse and they’d glow.’

Annie laughed so hard she couldn’t catch her breath. ‘Now that I would like to see.’

‘What do you want to do first? Begin checking the caravan parks? We could take the photos we have of them and go ask the site managers if they recognise them. If anyone does then we scarper and come back here. Let Will know and sort it out, then all go in undercover except for you and Will. You both have to hang back; he knows what you look like.’

‘I suppose so. I’ll print off a map and a copy of all the sites but Cathy’s right. There are hundreds of them. We’ll start at one end and work our way towards the middle. I think we should begin at the parks before you reach Bowness from Newby Bridge. If he’s killing in Barrow and dumping heads here I don’t think he’ll be stopping near Troutbeck or Ambleside.’

‘Good idea. You’re not just a pretty face, my friend. That’s very good common sense even if neither of us do have a clue.’

Annie went into the office to begin looking for two clipboards. She felt sick but had to do something. She didn’t want to put any of her friends in jeopardy but there really was no choice. She wanted to find Henry and this Megan more than anything, to put an end to it all. Annie felt a chill spread over her. She saw movement from the corner of her eye and was pleasantly surprised to see both Alice and Sophie glowing in the corner. Alice was the first ghost she had ever seen and she had helped Annie to overcome Henry when she was fighting for her life in the cellar of Abbeywood Mansion. Alice had fought her very own serial killer back in 1886 after she had discovered that her husband was none other than Jack the Ripper. He had tried to kill her in the very same cellar that Henry Smith had discovered and was using as a place to kill his victims over a hundred years later. ‘Hello, what are you both doing here?’

Alice smiled but it was Sophie who stepped forward. ‘Annie, he’s looking for you.’

Annie felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. She already knew this but to hear it from Sophie made it very, very real.

‘I knew he was, but thank you for coming to tell me. Do you know where he is?’

Sophie shook her head. This time it was Alice who spoke. ‘Not yet but we are looking for him and if we find him Sophie will let you know. She finds it much easier than me to come and go. Annie, I’m scared for you. He will not stop until he’s done what he set out to do, until you’re dead. And the girl is going to help him although he doesn’t want her to touch you. He wants you all to himself.’

‘He does? What should I do?’

‘Find him before he finds you. He is in one of those caravans but they all look the same. All I know is this one is brown and it is next to a huge, green hedgerow, with a hole in the middle of it. Sophie and I will keep trying to find him but he’s very hard to fix on to. It’s as if he knows and is blocking us both.’

‘Thank you, at least that’s more of a start than we had.’

Sophie ran over and wrapped her arms around Annie’s waist, hugging her tight. Annie felt as if an icy cold band was squeezing her stomach but she leant down and tried her best to hug Sophie back. Alice smiled at Annie then took hold of Sophie’s hand. Sophie grinned up at Annie, about to say something, but Alice frowned, shaking her head ever so slightly. They both disappeared into thin air. Annie had goosebumps; they had just confirmed her worst fears. Up to now she had been hoping they were all wrong about Henry Smith, that he was at the other end of the country hiding, but now it was a race to find him because he already had a good head start on her and he knew where she was.

Jake walked in and she jumped.

‘Will you stop doing that? You’re turning me into a nervous wreck. Who were you talking to? I heard voices.’

Annie decided not to say anything; she didn’t want to listen to him making fun of her all day. Her head was pounding and her was stomach churning.

‘Cathy just phoned me.’

Annie turned so he wouldn’t see the faint redness creeping up her neck. She hated to lie to him but sometimes it was easier and it was only a white lie. He didn’t need to know that she’d been talking to dead people again.

‘Did you ask her about Kav? I’m telling you now, you should have seen them both coming into the briefing late this morning. She was positively glowing; I haven’t seen her look so happy for a long time.’

‘Really, why did I not know this? You should have told me first thing. That’s sweet. I think they would make a great couple and it’s about time Kav had someone to take care of him. He’s a big softie underneath that gruff, scary exterior.’

‘I know. I did actually think that myself. Sorry, I guess scary motherfucker took over my priorities. Have you printed that list out?’

Annie shook her head and walked across to the wall where there was a map with red dots all over it. She unpinned it and took it across to the photocopier where she made two copies then handed one to Jake.

‘There you are.’

‘You are having a laugh. Are all these red dots camp sites and caravan parks?’

‘Yes.’

‘But there are almost more red dots than there is map.’

‘I know. I told you that before.’

‘I know you did but I thought you were exaggerating. Where on earth do we start?’

‘Well, we can rule out camp sites. We’re looking for a brown caravan that is next to a long green hedge with a hole in it.’