He opened every cupboard and drawer but they were empty. The fridge was empty and the freezer had a tray of ice cubes inside that was half empty. He pulled the tray out with his fingers, careful not to touch the frozen brown liquid that had dripped onto the back of it. It was probably cola but it might be blood. Debs or whoever was the duty CSI would soon figure that one out. He put it back into the freezer and shut the door.

He walked across to the sofa that ran along one side of the wall and sat down. Was this where he’d sat each day planning what he was going to do to Annie? Will shivered then closed his eyes. ‘I don’t know where you are at the moment, Henry Smith, but I’m getting nearer. I’m coming to get you and to put an end to this bullshit.’ The door opened, a gust of wind making it slam against the outside of the van, which made him jump. He looked up at the figure in white standing there and smiled. ‘Thank God for small mercies, Debs. I’m so pleased to see it’s you.’

She nodded. ‘I wouldn’t miss this for the world, Will. We have a psycho to catch. Is there anything?’

He pointed to the freezer. ‘Something on the side of the ice-cube tray, but apart from that it looks clean. However, I’ll leave you to be the judge of that. If you can find me some fingerprints or any evidence to link our victim, Beth O’Connor, to this place, that would be amazing.’

‘I’ll do my very best.’

Will smiled at her. ‘I know you will. Thank you.’

He went back outside, taking in big gulps of the cold, sea air. Glad to be out of that claustrophobic space and in the open. ‘Come on, Stu, let’s get back to the station and see where we go from here.’

Stu followed him to their car, which was parked some distance away. ‘Do you think Debs will be okay in there on her own?’

‘There are armed police standing guard, Stu. I’m pretty sure she will. I wouldn’t put her at any risk. You know that, don’t you? She’s our magic weapon. The other techs are okay, but she’s the one who really gets it and actually wants to help catch the fuckers who do this shit.’

‘I know she is. That’s why I’m asking.’

They got into the car, Will letting Stu drive because he had so much going on in his head he couldn’t concentrate. If they linked the caravan to Smith and their victim it would be great. It wouldn’t help them to find out where he was hiding now, but it was something against him. And right now Will would take anything he could get.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jake strolled into the office, rolling his eyes at Annie and nodding his head in the direction of the inspector’s office. She frowned at him but he shook his head and mouthed, ‘I’ll tell you later.’

‘What are we going to do next?’

‘Eat.’

‘I meant after we’ve eaten.’

‘Whatever you want, my friend. Personally, right about now I’m thinking about a cruise to the Bahamas. What do you say we all go home, pack our bags and bugger off until this nightmare has ended?’

‘You’re the second person to suggest that in the last thirty minutes.’

‘Well then, what are we waiting for? It makes perfect sense. Let the plods do their work and catch him, while all we have to worry about is what factor sun lotion to use.’

‘Like I said before to Will, do you think it would be so easy? I mean, do you really think he’d let us all ride off into the sunset to live another day? Because I don’t.’

‘God, you’re such a spoilsport. I’d have let you rub sun lotion all over my body.’

‘Tempting Jake, very tempting, but it won’t work.’

‘I’ll have you know it works just fine.’

‘Not you, us.’

‘Ah, alas, I agree with you. You and I would never work as a couple, as much as it breaks my heart. You know I prefer the manly type.’

Annie laughed. ‘You’re such a dick. I meant it wouldn’t work if we all just ran away. You know he would start killing anyone close to me to bring me back. It’s safer for everyone if I stick around.’

He sat on the corner of the desk and grabbed her hand. ‘But what about you, Annie? It’s not safe for you to stick around. If he hurt you I’d never live with myself.’

She squeezed his hand. ‘And if he hurt you or Will or, God forbid, Alex, then I would never live with myself either. I have to be here to stop him, whether it’s a good idea or not, because one way or another, I can’t help feeling that my life is over anyway. I’d rather die trying to stop him than run and hide, leaving you all behind as bait. I don’t know what we’re waiting for really. We should just stop putting off the inevitable and let him get on with it. Why don’t I just go back to working on my own, driving home on my own, and see if we can’t lure him out? Can’t someone fit me with a tracker? What about my iPhone tracker? If I go missing you’ll be able to find me with that.’

‘Are you completely insane, Annie? Don’t talk like that. We can’t just throw you out on your own and wave goodbye. Yep, it’s been great working with you, even though you’ve turned my hair grey and all that. Now run along like a good girl and get killed so we can all go back to normal.’

His voice had raised enough that the two PCSOs in the room were now listening to their conversation. And standing at the door was Cathy, whose mouth was open wide enough to catch flies. She looked at the PCSOs. ‘Haven’t you two got somewhere you should be?’

They both nodded and scrabbled to get out of their seats and leave the room. Cathy waited until she heard the station door slam shut.

‘Now, my little sweet potatoes, do you want to run that little lovers’ tiff by me again? Did you seriously suggest putting yourself out there as bait, Officer Ashworth?’

Annie nodded.

‘I thought that was what I heard. It’s a terrible idea and one that won’t be very good for your health, if you want my opinion. But it just might work if we got the logistics right, of course.’

Jake swung around to face her. ‘Are you having a fucking laugh, boss? You actually think we should just throw her out of the station door on her own and let her get on with it?’

‘Well, I wouldn’t put it quite like that. I’m thinking more along the lines of a set-up. You know, we put a proper tracker on her and a microphone, have task force ready to follow and blow the fucker’s head off should he try to do anything.’

It was Annie who stood up. ‘I think it’s a good idea. We could be waiting days, weeks, even months for him to make a move. This way it’s us who are in control, not Henry. He won’t be expecting me to be working on my own. It will throw him and he might panic and completely screw it all up.’

‘And he might come along and cut your bloody head off, you idiot, before task force can figure out how to get the safety catch off those big machine guns they carry.’

‘Come on, Jake, we can’t live like this – waiting for something to happen. We need to draw him out of wherever it is he’s hiding. He might batten down for months, maybe years. I can’t live like this. I refuse to live like this.’

‘You’re forgetting the one thing in this equation that would never allow you to do it.’

‘What?’

‘Will. He won’t let you do it. Under no circumstances will he let you put yourself at risk like a sitting duck so Henry Smith can come along and kill you right under his nose.’

Annie sat down, deflated. Moments ago it had seemed like the best idea she’d ever had. Anything was better than this half life of waiting around.

Cathy nodded. ‘I don’t suppose he would agree to any of this. It’s completely foolish and dangerous. But if Will is as fed up as we are, you never know.’

‘I know, we could find a decoy – someone who looks like Annie – dress them in her clothes and let them drive her car. He might agree to that.’

‘So you won’t allow me to put myself in danger, but you’ll let some innocent woman who has nothing to do with this dress up and pretend to be me. Jake, that’s seriously fucked up and not just totally wrong. It’s immoral.’