‘Nope,’ the girl with the gun replied, lobbing Lucy’s car keys onto the couch. ‘You’re about to do that now.’ She stepped to the side, aiming her Browning at Lucy’s head with both hands.

Alyssa Torgau came around the chair. She was wearing trainers, running shorts and a sports bra, her exposed flesh glinting with a sheen of sweat as though she’d been in mid-workout. Lucy noted that her face was swollen and bruised, and that there were dried cuts on it. Quite clearly, this was the same girl who’d attacked Sister Cassie.

‘Think you two have met before, haven’t you?’ Lucy’s captor said.

Alyssa eyed Lucy curiously, particularly her leather jacket. ‘Well … if it isn’t the biker chick who helped that Maggie slut.’

‘She was sitting outside in a car.’ The other girl came back into Lucy’s line of vision, though she still kept the weapon trained on her head. ‘Not very observant, I have to say. Didn’t see me coming up from behind. Your handiwork was sitting on her back seat. Question is … is that incident the only reason she’s here?’

Alyssa rummaged through Lucy’s jacket pockets, pulling out her phone, which she placed on the mantel, then her handcuffs, and then the wallet containing her warrant card. ‘Detective Constable Lucy Clayburn,’ she read aloud. ‘Crowley CID.’

‘No radio?’ the other one said.

‘Not on her.’

‘Go and check the car.’

Alyssa took Lucy’s keys, and sauntered out into the hall. While she did, the other one grabbed Lucy’s phone.

‘What’s the security code?’ she asked, keeping the gun level.

With no option, Lucy gave it to her. The girl used one thumb to access the list of recent calls.

‘You got any mates out there who think they’re about to storm this place,’ she finally said, throwing the phone at the stone fireplace, where it shattered, ‘guess who dies first.’

Lucy didn’t answer, because she wasn’t sure what the right answer might be. If they thought she was only here to investigate an assault, that was good – it was less serious. But they’d now abducted her, of course, so they might still need to take drastic action. On the other hand, if they thought she was part of a larger operation, they might consider it sensible to keep her alive as a hostage. But with dangerous criminals you simply never knew.

In light of which, the best plan was surely to keep them guessing by saying as little as she could get away with.

Alyssa returned, closing the front door behind her and tossing the keys back onto the couch.

‘No radio in the car,’ she said. ‘No sign of anyone else out there, either. Think this one was just being nosy, Ivana.’

Ivana, Lucy thought. Alyssa and Ivana.

The Torgau twins.