Rosa nods. Of course she understands, despite her tender age.

‘That’s great,’ Enrique says. ‘Now we will all watch while you take off your clothes.’

Rosa woke up with a start, her face covered in sweat, her heart pounding in her chest.

She hadn’t had that particular dream for a while. But it was always there, lurking inside her mind, a reminder of one of the defining events in her young life. It was when Enrique started sharing her with his friends in return for money, none of which he gave to her.

It happened many times after that. Sometimes it seemed as if she could still feel the pain they inflicted with their hands and teeth and hard cocks.

She got out of bed as quietly as possible so as not to wake Alice, then padded naked into the bathroom and splashed cold water onto her face.

Some of her nightmares were more vivid than others. And a few, like the one she’d just had, were so real that it was like reliving the experience.

After a couple of minutes she climbed back into bed. Alice was still out cold, and her chest was rising and falling with every breath.

Rosa stretched out and closed her eyes, but this time sleep did not come easily. Her mind was suddenly too active and she couldn’t stop her thoughts from shifting to her assignment. And the next target.

She had worked everything out earlier in the hotel. The approach. The escape. The method of execution.

The person she had chosen appeared third on the list that Roy Slack had given to her. The photo she had seen was burned onto her retinas.

The victim’s name was Laura Jefferson, and she was a detective inspector on the organised crime task force. She had a boyfriend named Aidan and a mother named Ruth, and they were also on the list.

Laura Jefferson was a very attractive woman. She had kind eyes and a sensuous mouth.

It seemed a shame to Rosa that by this time tomorrow she’d be dead.

33

Laura

A clap of thunder woke me on Friday morning. When I rolled onto my side I discovered that I was alone in the bed.

The LED light on the digital clock told me it was 6am It meant that I’d managed about three hours of fragmented sleep.

Aidan had been awake when I’d arrived home at just after one. We had talked for a while as my mother snored in the next room.

He told me how worried she was and how he had managed to persuade her to take the day off and drive to Ringwood in the New Forest where she could spend the weekend with her best friend, Sylvia Jones.

I’d said it was a great idea even though the thought of her having to flee her home because she was scared made me shiver.