‘I was fourteen. I’m not sure I was supposed to, but I could almost sense Mum’s relief. But I was confused. For a long time. Can you imagine the fights we’ve had over the years? But I know now that it wasn’t me fighting with her. Not really. It was me fighting with myself. I’ve been in denial for too long. I am just like her. I was born this way, and there’s nothing I can do about it.’

‘That’s not true, Ethan. It’s simply not true. There’s always a choice. Always another way. And your dad? He’s not a killer. You’re as much him as you are her.’

Ethan’s face took on a hard edge at the mention of his dad. What did that look mean?

Dani looked over at Jason. He’d been so quiet through the conversation. Too quiet. Dani soon saw why. She knew exactly how to break through plastic cable ties. The most obvious way was to cut through them. But really you didn’t need a saw or a knife or anything as heavy duty as that. A bog standard shoelace would do the trick if you created enough tension. It was one of the many survival techniques Dani had picked up over the years, which she’d become even more interested in following her near-death experience at the hands of her own brother.

It seemed Jason knew a thing or two as well. While Dani was talking, he was discreetly working on the cable tie between his wrists. Dani had to keep Ethan distracted.

‘But how does she do it?’ she asked.

‘Do what?’

Dani looked over at the glass jar on the workbench, which was on the other side of the room to where Jason was.

‘You’re not going to get rid of a body with that, are you?’ Dani said. ‘You couldn’t even fit an arm in there. So where’s the rest?’

‘Well that’s the thing,’ Ethan said. ‘This is what you get to see. A glimpse of your fate. It’s for aesthetic purposes more than anything.’

‘And for your twisted pleasure.’

‘Something like that. I hate to break it to you, but you won’t leave this room alive. Though you will leave it resembling a human being.’

‘So this is just where you imprison your poor victims. Why? Just to humiliate them?’

Ethan said nothing to that.

‘You take the bodies out of here and dispose of them somewhere else?’ Dani said, thinking furiously. ‘Surely that just increases the chances of you making mistakes? You’re leaving evidence here, there and everywhere, Ethan. You’re taking unnecessary risks. You must know you’re going to get caught eventually?’

‘Really? Then why has no one figured it out yet, then? I’d say, as a plan, it’s pretty well oiled.’