Finally, almost dreading the answer, I said, ‘And after that?’

‘I’d left my car in Skipton, so he dropped me there and then I didn’t hear from him again for almost two weeks. He had properties all over the place, including empty units he’d bought with a view to developing them into businesses, so I expect he took them to one of those. He would have drugged them at some point, to keep them quiet and pliant: I don’t know where he got his supplies from, or where he learned to use that crap, but he was good with it. He always knew the right amounts, how much kept you under for how long, the risks. Like I said, he was bright. That was what made him so dangerous. Anyway, a fortnight later, he calls me up and tells me to come to London.’

I frowned. ‘For what reason?’

He swallowed, his throat like a broken piston. ‘He says he’s put them all somewhere no one will ever find them. So I meet him at his house, and I ask him where this place is, where he’s planning on taking them, and he says to me, “They’re already there. Why do you think it’s taken me two weeks to call you?”’ Mills looked off into the forest. ‘He brought them here one by one to lessen the risk. That was why he was so quiet for so long. I don’t think he trusted me not to screw it up, which is why he never involved me until they were actually here and it was too late. The smaller things, maintaining his lie, sorting out his problems, digging into people’s lives, he’d seen enough of my work to know that I could handle that. But transporting nine people to their execution? That takes a different type of person, and he knew that person wasn’t me.’ He swallowed a second time, and a third, as if the taste of that moment was ash in his mouth. ‘And so he brings me here. This place is just another part of Vale that no one knows about.’

I looked around the forest.

‘There are others out here.’

‘What?’ I eyed Mills. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Somewhere in the trees, he’s put others in the ground. People who’ve got too close to knowing the real him, people who’ve endangered the lie he tells. I don’t know how many, or over how long, but I’ve seen their clothes in that box at Seiger and Sten, I’ve seen emails, paperwork, notes, little things that just don’t make sense. I’ve seen people disappear who I know he has dealings with, and I know it was him. I know he must have put them out here because, this place, it’s all his – and it goes on for ever.’

‘Where are we, Isaac?’

‘You ever heard of Parsonfield?’