A man with graying hair and a scruffy beard sticks his head out the top of the boat. The injured man can see him, lit from below by the light coming from the boat’s cabin. He knows that the man is called Sam. He first became aware of Sam almost a year ago, when the cameras he’d installed in the empty flat opposite his window were triggered by the girl moving in. He’d had a plan in place for this eventuality—that was why he’d set up the cameras in the first place. The idea was that when someone moved in, he would contain the problem by first observing and then eliminating the tenant—he’d even stockpiled several sacks of salt to deal with the body, as it had worked so well the other time. But through the listening devices he’d heard her playing, and it was like a siren song, urging him to change his plan, attempt something new for once, despite the risks. He realizes now that this was the decision that changed everything, the point where things had started to get complicated for the injured man. He should have gone ahead and done what he’d always intended. The injured man doesn’t like things to be untidy. And things, as they stand, are very untidy indeed.

To befriend Ruby had seemed like the perfect solution at first, and for a while he’d thought that the two women could remain under control indefinitely. Ruby kept Constance and Leonie entertained. She was lonely—he knew from her phone history that she had no friends nearby or family to interfere. And she had seemed so trusting, so pliable. Even when she rejected his advances, he saw it as a victory, understood it was because of the story he’d told her about Constance still being in love with him.

He should have anticipated that it couldn’t stay that way forever, though. The child had started walking, and Constance had begun whining about letting it go outside. Ruby appeared to feel strongly for the child in a way she didn’t feel for him. Those kinds of feelings made people unreliable. There was a point when he realized the whole setup could easily spiral out of his control, and for that reason it had to be scrapped. He had it all planned out, would pick them off one by one, Constance first, telling Ruby she was going for treatment. He’d just finished getting everything ready when they betrayed him. Thinking of the things he has prepared, the man is annoyed that he has wasted his time, that his efforts will amount to nothing. A few miles away from the apartment in an abandoned warehouse, behind a secure door, there are three bathtubs standing ready, the salt sacks leaning against the wall, next to the shovel.