‘I think you’re the one.’ She didn’t know what he was talking about. ‘When I climbed in the van everyone was talking, chat, chat, chat, screaming, shouting, making noise, but you were sitting quietly, Karin, and I knew, I knew, that you would listen to me.’

Dizzy with fear, Karin hardly dared to breathe. The blackened pipes on the walls seemed to uncoil silently like snakes, to slip around her waist and wrists, forcing her tighter into the chair.

‘How… how do you know my name?’

His top lip curled in a revolting smile, revealing a perfectly straight row of small teeth. ‘Because I know everything. Like I know that she doesn’t like you.’

‘Who?’ asked Karin, bewildered.

‘That other one, the tall one. Miss Perfect. The one who thinks she’s better than the rest of us. If she was chocolate, that one, she would eat herself.’

‘I don’t know who you—’

‘I don’t like the way she treats you.’

She was shocked to realize he was talking about Becky. ‘She’s my friend.’

He snorted, as if he didn’t believe her. ‘I’ve met people like her before, oh, the world is full of them. People who pretend to like you, who tell you how you’re going to be together for ever, but the truth is, they can’t wait to get away. There’s a word for people like that.’ His hand slapped on the table, making the knife jump and Karin flinch. ‘They’re called liars!

‘I saw you in that van, I saw the way you looked at her, but she will never love you the way you want her to. Can’t you see that? Oh, she’s too high and mighty. I’ve met her type many times, people who leave you high and dry the first chance they get.’ He gave her a sly look. ‘Like your father, he left you, he didn’t look back.’

She blinked in shock. How did he—

‘We’re the same, me and you. Because people leave us behind. They smell the desperation on us. Our trouble is, we love too much, Karin, as if love was a crime!’

She didn’t like the way he kept talking as if they were the same, as if it was him and her against the world, and wished he would stop.

‘But I’ll be your friend.’ His fingers walked across the table towards hers. ‘Can I be your friend, Karin?’

‘I… don’t…’ She didn’t know why he wanted to be her friend, and was terrified of what would happen if she said yes. Maybe she would have to stay up here with him all the time. She wouldn’t ever be allowed to go back downstairs to the others… to Becky. She didn’t know what Jerry wanted, she was scared and confused, and wished she could run or scream or grab the knife.