‘You mean, as in, are those bastards worshipping the fucking Devil?’ Wolf spread his hands. He’d had longer to think about it, and had formed his conclusions. ‘What does it look like to you? The guy with the horns? A bunch of robed and masked maniacs chanting in tongues while they watch some poor girl get butchered? Look up the spring equinox. I did. You’ll see it’s a big date on the calendar, if you’re into witchcraft. Wicca. Black magic. Occult ritual. Call it what you like. And that creepy statue with the body of a man and the head of a bird. What kind of fucked-up evil shit is that?’

‘It’s Thoth,’ Ben said.

‘It’s what?’

‘Thoth. He was an ancient Egyptian god of writing, knowledge and magic. Features in the Book of the Dead.’

‘Seriously, man. How. The. Fuck. Would. You. Know. That?’

‘Because I studied theology before getting into the army. I was planning on entering the Church, at one time. But we didn’t just learn about the Christian religion.’

Wolf looked at him as though he’d said he came from the Andromeda Galaxy. ‘You’re kidding me. The Right Reverend Ben Hope. Get the fuck out of here.’

‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Jaden.’

‘Okay, Your Excellency. Tell me why these sicko scumbags would make human sacrifices to an Egyptian god.’

Ben shook his head. ‘I’m not sure. I think there are some associations between Thoth and black magic. Astrology, mysticism, Tarot, stuff I know nothing about.’

‘No shit,’ Wolf breathed. ‘Well, whatever it is, it’s fucked up.’

Ben fell silent as he tried to get his thoughts together. ‘I don’t get it. Why were you there? How are you even connected to these people?’

Wolf explained.

‘Like I told you, I was on a job that went wrong. Just bad timing. It was a place outside Brighton. Nice house. Expensive. They usually are, because in that world poor folks don’t generally matter enough to kill. It was that afternoon. I’d been told the guy would be alone. But it turned out his kids had come to visit. His ex-wife dropped them off, with the nanny or au pair or whatever.’

Ben remembered the rule. No kids, no women.

‘So I hung around and waited for the right moment,’ Wolf went on. ‘I thought maybe the kids would only stay a few hours, but they didn’t. When evening came and the guy left the house and drove off, I followed him. I’d no idea where he was going, just thought that maybe I’d get a chance to finish the job I’d started. Sometimes you have to go off-script. Improvise a little. I’ve always been good at that.’

‘Go on,’ Ben said.