‘Most of the time, I was just down in the cellar on my own. It was pitch black and I couldn’t see a thing. When he spoke to me, he said he wanted to be stopped. But then he put me in the boot of the car. He drove around for hours, until we arrived at those woods. He didn’t mention Fiona Holland the whole time I was with him.’

Laura relaxed once she’d got the words out and Ray squeezed her hand.

‘Have forensics turned up anything at the scene?’ he asked his boss.

‘They collected a lot of samples,’ Tom replied. ‘Emmet is working through them as we speak, but he believes he’s isolated blood and hair for Una Dolan. There’s a lot of it, so they’ll be working for a while. They have to discard Laura’s, ours and Lane’s, obviously.’

Laura shuddered. She’d never shake the horror of being down in that cellar where other girls had been held and had not been so fortunate. She knew she would have nightmares about it for the rest of her life.

‘It will take time,’ the inspector said, examining her face and reading her thoughts. ‘But you’ll recover from this. Don’t try to bury it, though, Laura. Deal with it properly. You’ll need to see the garda counsellor.’

‘The only thing I need is for us to find Fiona,’ she answered. ‘I can’t bear the thought of her being kept somewhere like that. I felt so … hopeless. And that was just for a day. She’s been gone weeks.’

‘I know,’ Tom said. In his gut, he didn’t think Fiona was still alive, no matter how much he wished it so.

On cue, the hospital administrator arrived at the door of the room.

‘Inspector Reynolds, he’s ready.’

Ray stood up with Tom.

‘I don’t think so,’ the inspector said.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘You shot him, Ray. There isn’t a hope in hell of you doing this interview with me. Michael is waiting downstairs. He’s just as eager as you to nail this bastard.’

‘Michael? What the hell? He was injured and you’re still bringing him instead of me?’

‘It was a flesh wound. His arm is in a sling and unlike Laura, I have no medical advice telling me he can’t return to work. Please, you need to stay here.’

Ray sat back on the chair, glowering.

‘Is my company that bad?’ Laura asked, her doing the comforting now.

The tension eased in Ray’s shoulders and he smiled.

‘I suppose if Tom is ordering me to stay with you, I’d better do it.’

The inspector left the fledgling lovebirds alone. Once outside the room, his features hardened again. He sent Michael a text and within minutes, the other detective arrived.