‘No. Not Nishizaki. Listen to me, Wada. We don’t have long. I’ll deal with the cars and the truck. You start walking as soon as you think you can make it to the gate. I’ll catch up. Don’t try to run away. You wouldn’t make it far and having to waste time catching up with you would seriously piss me off. OK?’

She nodded. ‘OK.’

‘Good. Go when you’re ready.’

He let go of her then and strode purposefully towards the barn, her bag still slung over his shoulder.

She took a few gingerly steps, which went steadily enough, then started walking. She didn’t look back.

It must have taken her five or six minutes to cover the distance to Espersen’s SUV, pulled up in the gateway and facing away from the house. She was feeling less shaky by then, which left her with more attention to spare for the spattered patches of Zayala’s blood on her clothes. There was quite a lot on her hands as well and, to her horror, in her hair.

She heard a couple of muffled detonations behind her as she neared the car, deeper sounds than the continuing snap and crackle of the fire. Then she looked back and saw Espersen loping towards her along the track.

He passed her without a word, releasing the door locks on the car as he went. He opened the tailgate, tossed the bag inside and removed a sheet, which he spread over the passenger seat.

‘You can get in now,’ he said, gesturing to the covered seat.

She hesitated. ‘Who sent you here?’

‘I work on contract for Quartizon.’

‘Driscoll, then.’

‘Ohara followed you here, yes? And you managed to kill him. What brought Zayala here?’

‘I made a phone call this morning.’

‘You made more than a phone call. You made a big mistake. Whose phone did you use?’

‘Ohara’s. Mine did not work.’

‘And Caldwell didn’t have one. Just in case he was stupid enough to use it. Zayala was monitoring Ohara’s phone. Standard practice. Once it was activated, it became a homing beacon. Luckily for you, I was monitoring it as well.’

‘Are you taking me to Driscoll?’

‘Yes. You may have to explain to him why his friend Martin Caldwell died here today. But the alternative’s worse. After we’ve left, I’ll make an anonymous call to the emergency services reporting the fire. When they sift through the wreckage, they’ll find four bodies. Eventually, they’ll work out none of them actually died in the fire, so they’ll start looking for the person who murdered them. And the only way you don’t end up being that person is to come with me. Right now.’