His mouth hangs open in abject shock.

“Surprised, Chris?” I laugh and pick up his phone, which I took from his pocket earlier. “Now then, in a few minutes I’m going to call the police and have them come to rescue me.”

“You think they’ll believe this shit? Megan, Leah is lying in that freezer with your fingerprints all over the body.”

“No, Chris.” I shake my head slowly. “In that freezer is the body of your wife, Megan. My beloved sister. Who you killed. And then you kidnapped me and held me hostage. You forced me to pretend to be Megan, threatening to kill me if I didn’t do what I was told.” I allow a tear to snake down my cheek. I hope it makes my mascara run even more.

“But… but…”

“But, but, but! Use your words, Chris, you’re not five!”

“But…”

“But what, Chris? This isn’t how it was meant to be? This isn’t the plan?”

“They won’t believe you.”

“Which bit exactly do you think they won’t believe?”

“I’ll tell them you’re Megan. That you killed Leah. That you’re framing me.”

“But I’m not Megan. That’s where this all went wrong for you, Chris. When you saw something and made an assumption. You placed your bet and you lost, big-time.”

“I know you, Meggie. Leah wouldn’t—”

“What? Put up with your shit?” I’m standing over him now. I want to hurt him, punch him in the face, make him feel some of the pain he put me through. But I won’t give him the satisfaction. I step back. “I needed time. I was just going to slip away. Before. Have Megan just disappear. I’ve been working on it since the cabin. Megan was going to vanish into the night, and everyone would think she’d done a runner. Hannah would come forward and say you were having problems. There might be a bit of suspicion of foul play concerning her creepy husband, but in the end… well, no body, no foul, right? Corpus delicti. You said it yourself.”

I turn away from him and pull the shorts up so he can see my bare arse cheek. “But then you did this, Chris.” You can still see the red welts. I think they’ll scar a little. “You lost control. I can’t forgive you for that. So now, you will go down for the murder. With hostage-taking and GBH added to the mix for good measure. Who do you think the police are going to believe? Some wild story that I’m really Megan, but I’ve been pretending to be Leah since I killed her, and now I’ve staged the hostage-taking and whipped my own backside with a belt?” It’s beautiful to watch his face fall. “Or will they believe that you killed your wife, and then kidnapped her sister, who you tied up in your neighbors’ garage? How many people will step forward and say you are a sick fuck, Chris? Even your mum offered to help me escape from your clutches.”