Elspeth sighed. ‘The body – the woman – is wearing the same dress he left for me when he brought me here. This pink thing.’ She tugged at what she was wearing, her mouth a grimace of distaste that had nothing to do with the cut of the cloth. ‘We don’t know whose bones they are. They might not be anything to do with him. They could even just be members of his family who he didn’t want cremated …’ Elspeth said.

‘Who keeps members of their family turning to dust under their floorboards, dressed in these same clothes as people they kidnapped?’ Meggy shouted. ‘Why do you say such stupid things? I don’t want to pretend any more. He cut off your finger, and he’s going to kill us. Say it!’

‘He cut off your finger? Jesus …’ Xavier said faintly.

‘Please, stop,’ Elspeth said.

‘No. I won’t stop. Say it, Elspeth. He’s going to kill us, and you need to say it!’

‘I don’t need to say it!’ She waved the bandaged stump of her finger in the air. ‘This hurts like hell. I can barely think about anything else. Except this …’ she pointed at the bloodied, crusted bandage with her other hand, ‘… is the least of our problems right now. How dare you think I need reminding of just how much shit we’re in!’

Elspeth pushed past her and stormed into her bedroom, slamming the door as she went. Meggy stared at Xavier, who was studying the illustrations of windows and the bookcase on the walls.

‘Sometimes he forgets us for a day,’ Meggy said. ‘He doesn’t turn on the lights or bring food. Then he comes and it’s like he didn’t even realise the time had gone. He asks weird questions. One time he kept asking if we could see him. I reckon he had other people up here and forgot them. I bet they died waiting for him to bring food, so he shoved their bodies under the floorboards and just got himself new people instead.’

‘How did he cut Elspeth’s finger off, Meggy?’

She shook her head. ‘I don’t want to talk about it, but he keeps a knife in his pocket. He’ll use it if we make him angry.’

‘I won’t let anything bad happen to you,’ Xavier said. ‘But I need you to be kinder to Elspeth. She’s been here weeks, and it must feel like a year.’

Meggy reddened and looked at the closed bedroom door, just visible across the corridor.

‘I hate it when she plays along with him,’ she muttered. ‘Calling me his daughter, and agreeing that she’s his wife. He made her marry him. Got her a dress and everything. She even has to wear a ring he got her.’