‘They refused to speak to me. About you.’

‘Out of guilt,’ spat Gabriel. ‘I’ve heard all I want to from them; leaned against the wall and whipped as they read out the start of that book to me.’

‘Genesis.’

Gabriel paused. ‘Yes. Genesis. Whipped and told how we were all sinners. All sinners but it was only me that was punished, as if I was their conduit to salvation: spare the rod, beat the child. They gave me this.’ He shone the flashlight up to his ear, revealing a four-inch scar normally covered by his shaggy hair.

By focusing the light on his ear, Gabriel revealed his head as a target. But Nick wouldn’t shoot, not until the exchange. At least Chandler prayed that he wouldn’t.

‘One time they struck me right here,’ he said, caressing his scar, ‘splitting the flesh. It wouldn’t stop bleeding so they took me to the doctor. The doctor was from the church too. He didn’t ask questions. He stitched it back together and told me that God would only heal it with silence.’

‘Their evil doesn’t mean you have to hurt others.’

Gabriel snorted. ‘They took away the last link I had to my parents. God’s love. They taught me that I am evil, and evil does as it pleases. If I am the Devil as they claim, then I must carry out the Devil’s work, the Angel Gabriel sent back to punish those that have been named. I am the Devil’s hands.’

‘What about all the names you’ve missed?’ asked Chandler.

The beam danced as Gabriel shrugged. ‘I take them as I come upon them. I do not choose which order but carry out what is written down. Imagine, Chandler, imagine reciting those names over and over again, the beatings lasting as long as it took me to read them out. And if I made a mistake? After a stray lash struck bone? Then I’d have to repeat the list. Right up until Chapter Thirteen.’

‘Why Chapter Thirteen? Because it’s unlucky?’

‘No, because it first mentions Sodom and Gomorrah. Words that our beloved Geoff and Dina didn’t want spoken in their home. As if depravity had not already seeped into the walls. There are times I even forget the names of my brother and my parents – if only for a split second – but those names are ingrained into my skull.’

‘But everyone you took is innocent.’

‘How do you know that?’ said Gabriel. ‘No one named in that book is truly innocent. They are all cursed with the sin of association.’

Though his voice remained steady, Chandler could see that Gabriel was beginning to fray. Chandler needed to buy time, so he continued to probe him.

‘Why kill them out here?’ asked Chandler. ‘Surely this place only brings back bad memories. It does for me.’

‘And there I was thinking that you’d forgotten.’