Jake almost spat his lager all over but managed to swallow it and laughed. ‘Well, I never saw that one coming. Congratulations.’

Annie and Will walked back into the kitchen and she smiled at Alex. ‘Sorry about that.’

He walked over and squeezed her arm. ‘Don’t you apologise; it’s fine.’

‘Yes, and besides, it’s not as if it’s the first time. You’ve puked in our en suite before after one too many glasses of wine, so don’t worry about it. Don’t you go pretending you’re all ladylike on us. You’re amongst your friends now and we know the truth.’

Annie began to laugh, easing the tension, and the others joined in. Will kissed her cheek and they both sat down.

‘Tell them all my dirty secrets, Jake, why don’t you.’ She looked at the plates of food that Alex was handing around and her stomach groaned, but this time it was in hunger.

‘That looks delicious. Glad I’ve made room for it now.’ She winked at Alex who passed her a plate, half expecting her to dash out again, but she didn’t. She began to tuck in as if she’d not eaten all day. Will felt relieved. If she was eating that was a good sign. It would have been much worse if she’d lost her appetite.

When they’d finished and spent ten minutes talking about Alice and the weather, it was Cathy who brought them back to reality. She hadn’t wanted to, but it needed to be said. ‘So then, now we’re all stuffed after that lovely meal – thank you, Alex – I think we need to sort out exactly what we are going to do about that fucking man who is turning my hair greyer by the day. I’m sorry, but we can’t go on like this. It’s not fair on anyone, especially not Annie.’

Annie looked down at her hands. The thought of Henry made her stomach churn all over again. Will reached out and clasped her hand in his, then wrapped his other arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him.

Cathy continued, ‘Now our very own Thelma and Louise came up with the most stupid idea I’ve ever heard, but I’ve been thinking about it ever since, and I have to say they have a point. Will, you are about to throw the biggest shit fit in the history of the world and, believe me, I know how you feel. It’s how I felt when they were talking about it, but once the shock of it sinks in you will realise that it makes sense. It might be the only way we can speed things up and catch him.’

Annie squeezed Will’s hand. His heart was already racing and he didn’t want to know what Cathy was about to suggest, because deep down he knew anyway. She was going to suggest using Annie to draw him in.

Cathy looked at Will, whose normally tanned skin had turned almost as white as his wife’s. ‘This was Annie’s idea. I wouldn’t dream of even suggesting it, so before you want to rip my head off and shove it up my arse, I’d appreciate it if you could remember that.’

The whole room was fraught with tension. Everyone already knew what Cathy was going to say – it was so obvious – but none of them was brave enough to say it out loud.

‘Annie suggested putting herself out there on her own to draw him in so we can catch him.’

Alex, who was standing with a pile of plates in his hands, began to shake his head. Kav was also shaking his head and Will felt as if he was going to pass out. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, put her in any more danger than she was already in.

‘I don’t just mean chuck her out of the door and leave her to it. Annie suggested a tracker. We could give her a taser, get Smithy to give her the standard course in a half-hour session – as much as I’m scared to do that in case she ends up tasering herself – and she has her CS. But we could have task force following her every move. She wouldn’t technically be on her own. There would be a whole team around the corner waiting to swoop in and catch the bastard.’

‘No.’

Everyone looked at Will, who had stood up and was now pacing up and down. ‘No fucking way is my wife going out there on her own to face that maniac. So you’d better have a plan B.’

‘We do, actually. I suggested that we get one of the task force women to pretend to be Annie and see if that draws him out.’

Will stopped in his tracks. ‘That’s a brilliant idea. Let’s just throw some other poor bugger out to the wind and hope he doesn’t cut her head off as well, should we? Then what? He’s not stupid. He will know it’s not Annie, and whoever it is will end up dying for trying to help. Jesus, I can’t believe I’m hearing this. You’re all mad; do you know that? I mean, listen to yourselves.’ He turned and walked towards the front door. He needed to get out of there and get some fresh air. His friends were suggesting that they actually sent Annie to her death with a can of bloody pepper spray and a taser. He went outside, letting the door slam behind him.

Annie stood up to run after him.

‘Where are you going? You can’t go out there.’

‘Let me talk to him – and do you know what? If Henry Smith is out there, I’m past caring. At least it will be over, one way or the other.’

Cathy looked at Jake. ‘Well, that went better than I thought it would.’

Annie took off after Will, wanting to calm him down and bring him back inside. She couldn’t live if anything happened to him either, and there was a good chance Henry knew this. She opened the front door to see him leaning with his head on the roof of Alex’s car. Annie ran across to him and wrapped her arms around him. ‘Come back inside – please, Will. Don’t be mad. It’s just an idea and it was my idea, not anyone else’s, so if you’re pissed off with anyone, it should be me.’

‘They’re supposed to be our friends, Annie.’

‘They are our friends. Who else do you know who would put up with this shit? I’m very lucky to have such an amazing husband and friends who are willing to stand by me at the risk of losing everything that’s important to them. But I can’t live like this. We have to finish it, and I’d rather have the upper hand than wait around for it to happen when we least expect it. Please come back in and talk about it. You know it makes perfect sense. If I can lure him out, you, Jake and Kav can be there to arrest him. Isn’t that what you want?’

He turned around to face her. This time it was Will whose eyes were leaking. ‘I love you so much, Annie. Just the thought of it…’

‘I love you too, but we can’t carry on like this. It’s not fair to anyone. Come on, I’m pretty good in a fight. You know I am. I beat him before and, if it comes to that, I’ll beat him again. There’s no way I’d let him win.’

Will kissed her. ‘For a girl, you’re a pretty good fighter; I’ll give you that.’

‘Well then, come on, let’s see what we can come up with. It beats this empty feeling of helplessness that’s been rolling around inside my stomach for days.’

She grabbed his hand and tugged him back towards the door and into the warmth and safety of Jake’s brightly lit house.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Henry was in his bedroom, staring at his reflection in the mirror. He was humming a song that his mother used to listen to a long time ago. It was about being what you are, and not needing excuses. His scars were like war wounds. He no longer thought of them as something to be ashamed of. They were his battle scars and he should be proud of them. He wanted Annie to see them in their complete glory when the time came to take her, and it was going to be soon. He couldn’t wait any longer. The police were sniffing around and Megan seemed to be having a bit of a so-called crisis of faith at this very moment in time. He could hear her snivelling to herself on her bed.

Yesterday he would have gone to her and given her some comfort, but today he’d realised that this wasn’t about her, it was about him. He had no idea whether she would hold out. She could decide to go to the police, and then it would be game over for both of them, so he would tell her that it was tomorrow. She was finally going to be famous in her own right because she would be the one to kill Will Ashworth while he kept hold of Annie. He would make her watch the man of her dreams die in front of her eyes. He smiled. A slight twist on the last attempt where he had attempted to kill Annie in front of Will – only that hadn’t gone too well, but he wouldn’t dwell on that. This time he was more than ready and he had Megan to help him.