She stumbled backward until she backed painfully into the metal edge of the desk. He moved so close she could smell the combination of stale gin and sweat. She could feel bitter vomit rising in her throat and swallowed it back with effort. He reached beyond her and picked up a roll of colored plastic tape. “Now turn around and walk slowly to the chair by the wall. The one with the arms.” Lindsay obeyed, bewitched by the knife that was now pricking into her neck just below her ear. When she reached the chair, he punched her roughly into it and handed her the tape. “Use your left hand to tape your right wrist to the arm of the chair,” he told her. “And make a good job of it.” Lindsay did what she was told like an automaton. Only now was her numbed mind beginning to come out of shock and beginning to reason. Not that that was much help, since she couldn’t think of anything that could be effective against this animal with the knife.

He watched her carefully, and picked his moment well for the next part of his operation. His hand darted out and grabbed her left wrist. Without breaking the tape, he swiftly taped her free hand to the chair, throwing the knife on to the floor.

Lindsay tried to kick him as he bent over her, but her foot only glanced off his shin. He started with the pain and reacted swiftly with a hard slap to the head that Lindsay felt the length of her spine. “Bitch,” he spat. “Try that again and I’ll kill you here and now. And don’t think I’m bluffing. That was Lorna Smith-Couper’s mistake.” He moved to the side of the chair and pushed it away from the wall. He came round behind her and started going through the pockets of her jacket. He removed the tape recorder triumphantly. “I thought you might have one of these,” he crowed. “I’m not daft, you know.” He opened the machine and pulled out the cassette. He walked over to a metal bin and began to draw the tape viciously out of its plastic cassette. When he reached the end of the tape, he took a cigarette lighter from his desk and set fire to the tape, which blazed briefly, then died.

“Thought you’d got me, didn’t you?” he gloated. “Well, you were wrong. Now I’ve got you. And you’re not going to live long enough to tell your little tale to anybody else. This bloody land was worth killing once for. It’s got to be worth killing twice for it.”

Lindsay found her voice. “Make that three times. You as good as killed Sarah as well.”