‘We didn’t lure her down to this very room, you understand.’ Alyssa walked towards the two drums, pulling on a pair of heavy-duty plastic gauntlets. ‘Just caved her bonce in with a brick and left her in a derelict house. She’ll get found eventually, but no one’ll care. Just like they never cared about all the homeless ones Dad practised on when he was young. We have to have a bit of variation, you see. Like the meathead from the gym. They’ll never find him, but if they ever do, it won’t be connected. You see, there are lots of reasons for disposing of people, and lots of reasons for doing them all differently. That said –’ she patted the nearest of the stone lids ‘– most of them need to disappear … which is why most of them end up down here.’

With a big effort, she pushed the lid away, dropping it to the floor, where it landed with a crash. The stink intensified. Lucy gagged, her eyes watering.

‘I know … horrible, isn’t it?’ Alyssa said. ‘You want to get a whiff of it when it’s fresh … and unpolluted.’

‘Enough gabble,’ Ivana said. ‘I take it she’s alone?’

‘Seems to be,’ Alyssa replied. ‘There’s no one else outside.’

Ivana tut-tutted. ‘Flying solo again, DC Clayburn? Something tells me you lot do a lot of work off the clock. Very unwise tonight.’

‘Just about the biggest mistake you ever made.’ Alyssa produced something from behind her back. Through Lucy’s blurred vision, it looked like a thick plastic pint-glass, the sort supplied at outdoor wedding events. Grinning, the girl dipped it into the open drum and, when she lifted it out again, it was filled with a brown, soup-like liquor, which fizzled and hissed as she carried it over, holding it at arm’s length.

‘You’ve heard it said that whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger,’ she said. ‘Well, this stuff’s a bit different. In this case, whatever doesn’t kill you … turns you into an unrecognisable monstrosity. Not that you’ll see it. Those pretty green eyes won’t last a second.’ She raised the beaker to Lucy’s face. ‘They’ll melt like sugar cubes …’

‘Hang on, no,’ Ivana said, jerking Lucy backward. ‘We can’t just waste this stuff.’

Alyssa pulled a face. ‘We can get more.’

‘Yeah, but not straight away. Dad arranged all that. But even then, it was expensive. That’s why he didn’t let us use it on the dogs. Don’t worry, we’ll get some more, but until then we conserve what we’ve got.’

‘But she needs to suffer!’ Alyssa said this with feeling; she all but spat it.

‘She’ll suffer.’ Ivana twisted the tourniquet, not once but twice, cutting off Lucy’s air supply again. Lucy clawed at the wire, barely able to gag.

‘Wait!’ Alyssa shouted. ‘Memento first.’