Connor had never seen any of the Cleavers before, but now, standing here and confronting one of them, he could see that it was lunacy to think you could talk reasonably to these people, ask them about Claire or Blue or any of that stuff.

Connor opened his mouth to speak. Say something about his car stalling, breaking down, any shit he could think of. But he was here now. And this was not a horror movie, this was just two men facing each other in broad daylight.

‘I’m Connor Flynn,’ he said. ‘My dad used to live up the road on the campsite.’

Jeb Cleaver was silent a while, looking him over. Then he started to smile.

‘Are you, by Christ,’ he said, and then he came forward fast, raising the axe.

Shit, thought Connor, backing up.

‘You know what I’m going to do to you?’ said Cleaver, swinging the axe in his hand. ‘I’m going to send a few choice pieces of you back to your mammy in a carrier bag, how’s that?’

He lunged forward. Shocked speechless, Connor dived behind the gate and the axe swiped down, steel flashing, and hit the post, splitting it in two.

Connor stumbled back, looking around for something, anything, to defend himself with. Jeb Cleaver was laughing like a mad man, bringing the axe up again, ready for another swing.

Then a dusty dark-blue flatbed truck came shrieking around the corner of the lane, roaring like its exhaust pipe was nothing but a memory, shattering the silence. It screeched to a halt outside the Cleaver house. Bubba Pole emerged from behind the wheel, and three men hopped down from the back of the flatbed.

‘How do, Jeb?’ asked Bubba cheerily, coming around the front of the truck.

Jeb went still. He lowered the axe. The three men came closer to him. They were each holding a baseball bat.

‘My friend, you got lost, yeah?’ Bubba said to Connor. Then he turned and spoke to Jeb. ‘This is a mate of mine, he was looking for my place, we saw the silly fucker miss the turn and shoot past. Sorry to disturb, Jeb.’

Jeb Cleaver said nothing. He eyed the three men with the bats, idly swinging the axe as he did so.

‘Let’s go then,’ said Bubba, the smile slipping from his face as he addressed Connor: ‘Come along, let’s sink some ales.’