‘I never meant to hurt anyone.’ Tony Nightingale spoke quietly, looking at his hands which were curled in his lap. He’d survived the stabbing, with a little help from the NHS. He looked tiny in our interview room, much smaller than he’d seemed in his own house or when he was trying to kill me. He had his own solicitor, but the man kept giving him shocked sideways looks as if he couldn’t quite comprehend what Tony had done. There had never been a case like this in the UK before.

The recording apparatus was on. Jai was next to me. My eyes and nose were still bruised, my wrist painful and my throat not quite right, but I was okay. Ready for this. We had plenty on Tony. What I was after was evidence of Kirsty’s involvement. We didn’t have enough on her, even though I was sure she’d killed Gary, wearing Daniel’s overalls, and then doctored Daniel’s painkillers to murder him too. If she ever recovered I wanted her in a secure psychiatric unit for the rest of her life.

Tony looked up and caught my eye before looking down again. ‘How is Nina?’ he asked. ‘And Sofia?’

‘As well as can be expected,’ I said. ‘They’re being looked after.’

‘Sofia might not cope,’ he said. ‘With being outside.’

‘You can let us deal with that. You’ve done enough. Now you’d better tell us what happened with Violet Armstrong.’

‘Will it help me if I cooperate?’ He looked at his solicitor, who gave a quick nod.

‘It will definitely be taken into account,’ I said. He’d be going nowhere for a long time either way.

Given that he was being interviewed by the person he’d drugged, punched, knocked out, chained to a wall, and imprisoned with his family who he’d kept locked up for thirty years, Tony seemed to realise he wasn’t in a strong position to deny anything. He let out a breath of air. ‘What do you want to know?’

‘Do you admit to abducting Violet Armstrong and holding her against her will?’

‘You make it sound terrible. They had everything in there. A good life. A safe life.’

‘You abducted Violet?’

‘She told me she made videos,’ he said quietly, almost beseechingly. ‘People were threatening her. How could I let her go again, knowing she was going to get hurt? It was the same with Bex. Why did she have to come back to Gritton?’ He wrung his hands together, squirming in his chair. ‘I didn’t want to have to do it. I couldn’t help myself.’

‘You drugged Violet?’

He said nothing, his breathing coming heavily.

‘You drugged her, Tony?’ I made my voice loud and he shrunk back, playing the poor old man. As if I was going to buy that after what he’d done to me.