Then she was mercifully, unexpectedly free of him. She rolled on to her side and struggled to her knees, the world a dizzying kaleidoscope around her. She felt herself being jerked backwards and upwards. Her feet scrabbled for purchase on the floor, but before she could support herself, he slammed her into the wall with a sickening crunch. She felt her nose crumple as it hit, tasted the sharp coppery bite of blood at the back of her throat. Her knees failed her, and she collapsed to the floor again.

‘I don’t care if you fuck every man in Berlin,’ he growled. ‘What I care about is that you had my Katerina killed so you could play out your shitty little game.’

Carol rolled groggily into a sitting position. He knew what he was doing, fucking her head up like this. She could barely string two thoughts together, so stunned was she. What she did know, however, was that his words made no sense. ‘No,’ she groaned. ‘That’s not true. We just … took advantage.’

He leaned forward and grabbed a handful of her shirt front, pulling her up again. ‘You think I’m stupid? You still think there’s any point in lying to me?’

‘I’m not… lying,’ Carol managed to squeeze out through bruised lips. ‘We didn’t kill Katerina.’

‘Don’t fucking lie to me,’ he screamed, flecks of spittle flying from his mouth and spattering her face. ‘The motorbike that caused the accident is registered to your fucking National Crime Squad. You killed Katerina. And then you killed Colin Osborne so there would be two nice little vacancies for you to fill.’

‘I had nothing to do with Katerina’s death,’ she protested weakly. ‘I’d never heard your name till a couple of weeks ago.’ Now he was dragging her across the room. Dazed, Carol couldn’t work out what was going on. He was clearly going to kill her, so why not just get on with it?

When she registered that he was hauling her into the bedroom, her befuddled brain found the answer to that question. The panic that hit her then cut straight through her confused state. Oh, no, she thought. There is no way this is going to happen to me. Carol let her body flop, turning herself into a dead weight in a bid to slow him down. But he was in the grip of a rage of primeval proportions, a berserker fury that gave him a strength beyond his normal means.