In a Cottage In a Wood: The gripping new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Woman Next Door. Cass Green

puffs vigorously on a Vape and regards her in the mirror.

      ‘Where you wanting, then?’ he says.

      ‘Can you tell me how much will it cost to get to Cador?’

      The driver regards her.

      ‘That’ll be thirty.’ His voice has a slow, West Country drawl.

      This seems like an outrageous sum and Neve feels a flash of anger that she is being ripped off. She is of the view that everywhere outside London is cheap. The cost of this will clean out her purse. But she doesn’t really have any choice.

      ‘Okay,’ she says grudgingly, mentally thinking she wouldn’t have given the miserable git a tip anyway.

      She tells him the rest of the address. The driver punches it into the satnav then pulls away.

      Before long Neve realizes that Cador is considerably further than the two miles the bus driver specified. For once it feels that, in taking this taxi, she is doing the sensible thing.

      The driver doesn’t say a single word as they drive. While she would ordinarily welcome this, part of her feels the need for some reassuring conversation.