Priest increased his grip on the seat and stared, mesmerised by the monologue unfolding in front of him. Fucking hell – Georgie was right. Elinor is the girl of Devil’s Point. That’s why she is so messed up.

‘One day, Elinor escaped us. Escaped me.’ Tears were streaming down the old man’s face but he fought on, apparently determined to exorcise the demons that festered within him. For all the good it’ll do you, Dominique. ‘My wife, Alexia, knew what I was doing, what I was capable of. But she did nothing to stop me. She even . . . she even helped sometimes. We . . . shared the same . . . needs, you see. These needs were satisfied in different ways, but they were spawned from the same root. But we took good care of Elinor. She was bathed, fed well, given toys and access to television. We read to her, played with her and she was happy being a child. All that we asked in return was that, when we dressed her as a doll, she did what she was told.’

Priest had had enough, fuelled with anger and disbelief, he got up. Headed to the stage.

‘That’s enough, Dominique!’

Dominique looked panicked. He began speaking at ever increasing speed, as if he had to cram in everything before Priest got to him.

‘I used to look out across the water to the sunset in Tome. It was the only place where I could find some form of peace. I can still hear her voice, her cry, ringing in my ears. It haunts me. That’s where I want to go – to where the sun sets behind the water. Take me there. To where the sun . . .’

Priest cut across him, almost at the stage. ‘Dominque!’

It all fitted together – this whole affair had been about revenge. Revenge for what Dominique had done to his daughter, with Alexia’s help. Simeon was going to be the undoing of Alexia but he bottled it and was murdered for it. Then the plan had expanded. The instigator didn’t just want the Eliases ruined, they wanted them exposed.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

And now the confession was being delivered, judgement was imminent.

Wait! Dominique didn’t invite me to this theatre to hear this. Someone else did. Priest lost his footing and stumbled over the row in front, shouting with anger and pain as he trapped his leg in between the seats.

Then there was a crack and Priest fell to the ground.

*

The owner was listening to the recoding through earphones plugged into the MacBook that had been rigged up the day before. There was a microphone under a seat on the front row and Elias’s confession was coming through loud and clear, just as the owner had told him to do it.