‘Ah, serious competition.’

Then he winked at her and was gone, back to the kitchen where an almighty crash had just echoed through the shop.

Will opened her car door for her, checking that no one had climbed into the back seat while they hadn’t been looking. It was empty. He took the drinks with him. ‘Jake can hold them. Save them spilling on your leather seats.’ He winked at her and she smiled. Her face didn’t betray the turmoil she felt inside. She was so angry that she hadn’t realised who Meg was sooner. There had been something about her that had made her feel uneasy, and now she realised what it had been. The girl was almost as evil as Henry and she’d been able to sense it on her psychic radar. It was just a shame that inbuilt radar hadn’t made the connection much sooner. Things would have been a lot simpler. They could have arrested her at work and made her show them where he was hiding before he’d realised what was happening. She got back out of her car and ran into the café.

Will threw his arms in the air. ‘What the fucking hell is she doing now? Jesus, if she carries on like this I’ll have a heart attack.’

He drove up and parked on the double yellow lines behind her car. ‘Go and see what she is doing, Jake. If she’s gone back in for sugar, drag her out.’

Jake jumped out of the car and went inside. He couldn’t see her, but then he looked into the kitchen and saw her talking to the manager. He had a filing cabinet open and was passing Annie a brown file. ‘Gustav, if she turns up for work, don’t say anything to her, but make sure you ring me. Don’t let her hear you do it either. She’s very dangerous.’

He nodded his head. ‘Lovely Annie, how could this be? How could she work in my café, with all my lovely customers?’

Annie patted his arm. ‘It’s okay. You weren’t to know. We’ll catch her soon.’

She turned and saw Jake who was standing with his arms crossed. She walked towards him and he lowered his voice. ‘Your husband is in the car on the verge of a coronary because you keep changing the plan without any notice.’

She waved the file at him. ‘Megan’s personal records, phone number, address, etc. It might just make our job of finding them slightly easier, don’t you think?’

‘Not bad, not bad at all. That, my friend, is almost worth the foul language my delicate ears have just had to listen to coming from Will’s mouth. I had no idea he knew some of those words. I’ve never heard him use them before.’

They got outside and she mouthed ‘sorry’ to Will. He didn’t smile, but nodded his head. Bugger. He might have calmed down by the time they got to the station.

This time she got into her car and drove off, followed by Will, who watched Annie park outside the station. He carried on driving until he reached the next turn-off where he parked, out of the way. Then he and Jake got out of the car and made their way to the side door, which wasn’t used as much. Jake passed him the drinks while he typed in the code to get in. They walked to Cathy’s office, where Kav, Cathy and Annie were already sitting. Annie was in the middle of telling them about Megan’s job right in the middle of the town and Kav was shaking his head in disbelief. Cathy took the file from her and skimmed through it. ‘Cheeky little bitch. Who does she think she is? I mean, what a brazen little hussy.’

Will sat down on the chair furthest away from Annie. He was annoyed at her, but slowly beginning to calm down, and he found that he could actually think much more clearly when he was angry.

‘What does that file say? Please tell me it has an address we can go and pay a visit to.’

‘It does, but it’s that bloody caravan park down in Barrow. It does have her phone number and I don’t see why she would give him a false one. How else would he have contacted her to tell her about the job? It’s not much, but it’s something.’

Jake passed the coffees around. Annie shook her head and he raised an eyebrow at her.

‘You give us a bloody heart attack with your detour for a latte, and now you don’t want it? Are you ill? You love coffee.’

‘I know. Sorry about that. I just wasn’t thinking. No, I’m not ill but my stomach feels really off. Anyway, it was meant to be. If I hadn’t stopped, we wouldn’t have found out about Megan, would we?’

She stood up and went to the ladies’ locker room. She didn’t want them to see how much her hands were trembling or for them to hear her throwing up. There was no one else inside but her and she tried her best to be sick, but couldn’t. This was all she needed – to turn into a wimpy wreck. She was standing pressing her hot head against the cool tiles by the sink when Cathy walked in.

‘You look like shit, kid. Maybe we should call this whole thing off. Bring in task force and let them get on with it.’

‘No, I mean, I feel like shit, but I don’t want to put it off. I need it to be over with today and you have to admit it, we’re so close. What were the chances of my going to the coffee shop the same time as her for a takeaway? He’s close by, Cathy. I can feel him. I’m not bothered about her. She’s just a kid. I feel pretty confident I can take her out on my own, but he’s a different game altogether.’

‘I agree with you, but I’m worried about you.’ She walked over and pressed the back of her hand against Annie’s forehead. ‘You have a temperature. Let’s get some paracetamol down you and see how you feel in thirty minutes before we decide to send you out like a sitting duck.’

‘I don’t want to take anything, but thanks. They might make my stomach feel worse than it is.’

‘Will’s pretty pissed off with you, but I think that might be a good thing for now. If he’s too busy fawning over you, there’s a good chance he’ll fuck it all up anyway. He’s in there calling out the shots like the professional he is, so keep away from him. Don’t tell him you feel like shit and keep your mouth shut. I’ll do the talking. You are just going to agree with whatever they have decided to do. Is that okay with you?’

Annie nodded, hating that Will was still angry with her, but if it made him focus and kept him and everyone else safe she would keep making him angry. Then Cathy did something that almost made Annie faint. She walked over and hugged her.

‘I’m relying on you to keep yourself and the rest of us alive. Today is not the day any of us is going to die. Kav would be destroyed if anything happened to you. He thinks the world of you and, if that were to happen, I’d be devastated, because he is the best shag I’ve ever had. But don’t you go telling anyone that; it’s our secret.’ She winked at Annie who began to laugh. All the tension from the room had gone.

Annie squeezed her back. ‘I know. He’s been like a dad to me and I’m so glad the pair of you are so, erm, compatible. You actually make a really good couple. I can’t believe it’s taken you both so long to get it together.’

Cathy pushed her arm through Annie’s. ‘Come on, when this is all over I might need you to help me plan a wedding. You know, Kav once asked me to marry him a long time ago and, like the fool I was, I turned him down. Then I ended up with the cock of the North who treated me like shit and left me anyway. I’m not waiting around for years, so that’s another reason you can’t go and get yourself killed today.’

Annie stopped at her locker. ‘I’ll be out in a minute. I need to put my kit on; and Cathy, if you so much as leave this station, make sure you put yours on too.’

‘I will. Now come on, let’s go catch our killer.’

She left Annie to get dressed and walked back into her office to see Will writing out his plan on her whiteboard. Kav looked at her and she smiled, then mouthed, ‘She’s okay.’ He nodded then looked back at Will, taking in every word that he had written down.

***

Henry drove past and saw the Mercedes. ‘Good. She’s there. Now where do you think we should go?’ He turned into the same street where Will had parked, then turned the engine off and got out of the car. ‘I’m going to find somewhere to loiter for a while and watch to see who she comes out with and what car they go off in. Then I think I know exactly what to do to get her to come to us without any risky botched jobs in the middle of a busy street in broad daylight.’