"Jonathan Creek" he answered, picking up his mobile after just a couple of rings and frowning at the unknown London number.

"Jonathan?" he heard a voice ask, a voice he recognized but which sounded uncertain and very unlike the woman he knew it belonged to, the woman he hadn't heard from in over a week.

"Yes, it's me" he quickly responded. "What…where are you?"

"Jonathan" she repeated, almost sighing in what sounded to him like relief. Now he was starting to worry.

"Maddy" he said, the name feeling strange in his mouth. He'd never said it much for some reason, but needed to here, to ground her in reality. "It's me, I'm here. Where are you? What's wrong?"

"I…I don't know where I am. They took me. You…your number was the only one I remembered". Jonathan paled. Who took her? This sounded nothing like the Maddy he knew.

"Who took you? When?"

"Revenge. They said they've been waiting for me. I got out. I got away. They were going to kill me. They…"

"Maddy!" he repeated, "Are you still in danger?" His mind was whirling, trying to figure out who she was talking about, where she could be.

"I don't know. I don't think they'll know I've gone yet."

"Can you tell me anything about where you are? Can you describe it to me?"

"I just ran. I got their keys and I waited, and then I got out and I ran."

"That's good. That's really good" he said, trying to calm her, and quiet his own rising panic. "Now you need to tell me where you are. Where are you phoning from?"

"A shop. I'm in a shop"

"Ok good. Good. Is there someone there? Someone who works in the shop?"

"Yes. There's a man. He let me use the phone."

"Can you let me speak to him?" he said as clearly and kindly as possible, as if he was talking to a small child.

"Ok" she whispered, and he heard her hand the phone over to someone else.

"Hello?"