Late afternoon had turned to evening. The sun was already low in the sky, a glowing red ball netted in branches. Time for me to go home and get some supper.

I put my right hand in my pocket for my keys. By now, Jacko was really going for it, snarling and barking his nasty little head off.

Too late I realised he wasn’t barking at me. Something clobbered me in the back, knocking the breath out of me, slamming my body hard up against the side of the van, trapping my arm against the door. An iron fist gripped my wrist and forced my free arm behind my back. I yelped, shopping falling to the ground, tins rolling in the gutter.

‘Hello, girlfriend,’ a voice hissed in my ear.

I could turn my head just enough to see the reflection in the wing mirror: Vlad, his body close against mine, his lips pressed to my ear.

He chuckled as Jacko’s barking reached a frenzy. ‘Your little friend over there can’t help you. No big black dog to save you now, eh?’

Once more it seems my van had led him straight to me. I tried to push away from him, but he gave my arm a warning twist, making me cry out. ‘What do you want?’

He grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled savagely. ‘I want it back. I want what is mine. They say the old man left you everything, girlfriend. You must have it.’

My voice came out in a broken whisper. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Like our friend with the fish. He didn’t know either.’

‘Murderer!’ I kicked back hard with one foot, catching him on the shin. He cursed, but didn’t loosen his hold.

‘I’m just a businessman,’ he told me softly and laughed.

I couldn’t shift my right arm, trapped against the van door but I could just wriggle my fingers. Deep in my pocket they found my keys. I let them slide into my palm and then closed my fingers in a fist.

‘We go for nice ride in car,’ Vlad’s voice was silky with menace, ‘up on moor. Maybe then you remember.’ He started to pull me away. The lane was deserted except for a red car parked a few yards down. If he got me into that vehicle, I knew I was dead.