Laura walked over to the sole piece of furniture – the old brass bedframe, bolted to the floor.

‘It was probably less hassle to leave the frame there.’ The forensics expert confirmed what she was thinking. ‘But I’m not sure why it was stuck to the floor like that to begin with.’

‘He could put chains on the bolts,’ Ray said, and Laura felt her stomach somersault.

She hunkered down and placed her hand on the slats, closing her eyes. Was this were Mary Ellen had lain? Staring at these walls, looking up at the trapdoor and praying it would open? Had it been pitch dark, or did he leave her a light? What had he done to her on this bed?

She was torn from her reverie by a sudden wail.

Nora Lehane was standing over the trapdoor staring down, her mouth hanging open in suspended terror. Behind her, they could hear Elizabeth roar at Doyle to leave her mother alone as he attempted to pull the older woman away.

‘She was here,’ Nora croaked, her face pale. ‘My baby was here, the whole time.’

And then Doyle was joined by reinforcements and Mary Ellen’s mother and sister were half pulled, half pushed out of the kitchen. Laura remained frozen to the spot, shivering in the cold stone prison.

She felt as though the ghost of the dead woman was standing beside her.

CHAPTER 21

Mary Ellen, 2008

Something wasn’t right.

Mary Ellen could sense the change in the atmosphere. It was coming. Something bad – if it could get any worse.

She estimated she’d been in the cellar for a week. She’d got the feeling he was going to keep her captive for a while, but now … now she wasn’t sure.

When she had realised she was being kidnapped, Mary Ellen hadn’t fought. She’d learned, bitterly, that resistance just caused more grief. Sometimes it was better to just give in.

Her docility seemed to confuse him. When she woke up in the cellar, her ankles and wrists were bound with chains and attached to the floor. Between that and the dark, she’d started to hyperventilate. She passed out again and this time, when she came to, he was standing over her.