Niall feels almost scared to be near the girls. His body wants only to destroy something. Destroy as he is being destroyed, piece by piece. He thinks of Sandy, in his house, talking to his daughter. Catriona and the fishing trip.

Ann-Marie speaks again, in a low voice. ‘We got to this house and he made me go down into the basement. It was so dark. There was a Samurai sword on the wall. His. I wanted to take it when he was looking for something in one of the boxes, but it was too far away. I got so lost in the woods afterwards. I was so tired, I couldn’t think any more. Started to hear things. I thought someone was following me. A bird. I found a stone shed – too far in the other direction. I had seen small fires in the distance. The lights. I felt warm, when it was so cold. In the shed I could hear a fire crackling outside. The fires, I told you. I was scared they would burn the whole place down. The next morning, there was nothing, just the snow melting.’

Niall reaches over and yanks open the glove box. The girls flinch. He snatches his flask of vodka and gulps it. The burn feels soothing. He stays still until he can trust himself. Two thoughts swim to the surface. One is the axe in the boot. The other he speaks aloud. ‘You’ve been bleeding. You’ve been bleeding everywhere.’

The barking is getting closer. Niall sees the two black dogs bounding towards them at the top of the drive.

Ann-Marie’s closed eyes tighten. ‘I’m OK. I feel so dizzy in here,’ she whispers. ‘In the basement, he stopped rummaging about and came towards me. But as he came, the air screamed. Like a woman’s voice. Things in the room started to move. I thought I was seeing things. I didn’t know what to do.’

Niall turns to her again and puts a hand on her shoulder. He swallows. ‘You’ve been badly hurt.’

‘No. I’ve not.’ She is hunched, barely moving with exhaustion.

‘The blood. It’s all over you.’

She takes a deep breath and opens her eyes. ‘It’s not my blood.’

Her fist is still tightly clenched, but he can see the end of something, a glint of metal.

Lauren says, ‘Is that my knife?’

He can hear the dogs panting outside the door, circling the truck, still barking.

Ann-Marie looks at Niall, a current of adrenaline running through her expression.

‘Can I have it?’ Lauren strokes Ann-Marie’s shoulder in a way that breaks Niall’s heart. ‘I lost it.’

‘It was in my pocket,’ Ann-Marie says, staring out of the window. ‘I don’t remember why it was there. I just remember I felt something made of antler. Then there was something soft, like fruit splitting open. I don’t know how it came to me.’