Clearly, he was hoping to hide. The police would have come to the house and worked out what had been going on, and they would be looking for the man everywhere. The boat was perfect; nobody would think anything of another canal cruiser moored up for the night. He could keep them here as long as he wanted. She might be on a boat instead of in a cellar, but other than that her situation had not changed at all.

She lay down, Max asleep on her chest.

There was a bump and the rocking of the boat ceased. The hatch opened, and the man stepped into the cabin. He was wearing a hat and sunglasses.

‘Well,’ he said. ‘You went and messed it all up.’

Maggie gestured to the gag. Take it out and we can talk.

The man gave a sardonic laugh. ‘And have you start screaming? I can’t trust you, Maggie. I thought I could, but I was wrong.’ He pressed his palms together and held his forefingers against his mouth. ‘You know, I thought, at first, that we could have a normal life together. Man and wife. Once you understood what I’d done for you, I was convinced you would see past my age and see that I was a good person. That I had your best interests at heart. Think about it for a second, you ungrateful bitch. Have you any idea how much work it was to excavate that basement? And you threw it back in my face. You were too ungrateful to see it. And too stupid. Too self-absorbed.’ He folded his arms. ‘But then, this. How could you do it?’

He took off his sunglasses. His eye was gone, a gaping red hole where it had been.

He winced in pain. Maggie was amazed he could stand it, but then he was not the same as other people. He was insane in ways she barely comprehended.

‘How could you?’ he said. ‘How could you do this to me? All I wanted was to take care of you, and this is how you repay me?’

Maggie stared at his eye. It didn’t repulse her; she wished she had done the same to the other one.

‘Well,’ he said. ‘There’s no way back after this. An argument I could have forgiven. Even an attack. But not this. This is too much. I’m afraid it’s over between us, Maggie.’

She tilted her head. Over? What was over?

‘If I can’t have you, nobody can.’

He reached up to a shelf by his head and picked something up.

It was a knife, the blade long and sharp.