Xavier breathed out heavily and shook his head. ‘But when you got here, she was here to help you figure out what was going on. If the two of you hadn’t been here when I arrived, then I’d be going crazy right now. She was alone when he brought her here. No one to talk to. Just Fergus and some batshit fake wedding. Can you imagine how she must have felt?’

Meggy took a seat next to Xavier.

‘I think … I think he did other bad things to her,’ she said quietly.

Xavier reached out and put one hand over the top of Meggy’s. ‘There are three of us now. Perhaps we can stop him from doing that to her again if we all work together.’

‘Your cheekbone’s swelling up,’ Meggy said. ‘You should put the cloth on it.’ She didn’t pull her hand away from beneath his.

‘I’ll be fine,’ Xavier said. ‘How did you find the body under the floorboards?’

‘We were trying to escape,’ Elspeth said, reappearing.

Meggy ran to her and threw her arms around her. ‘I’m sorry I was a bitch. My step-mum’s a bitch. I told myself I’d never be like her, and I was, and I know you’re only trying to protect me, but I got so cross and I—’

‘Shh,’ Elspeth soothed, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head. ‘It’s okay. You didn’t upset me. I was cross with myself. Don’t cry, Meggy.’ She continued to hold her.

‘Look, if he’s taken that many people, that many victims, then the police are bound to be on to him. He must have slipped up by now. There’ll be a trail of some sort. No one can kill that often and get away with it.’

‘They’re all at different stages of …’ Elspeth shrugged. ‘It looks to me as if they were taken at different times. Some of the bones are dusty and literally snapping in half, then there’s the body that can’t be all that old. What if he’s taken these people over years? Various ages, genders, from different places.’

‘So there’s no pattern. Nothing to link the disappearances.’

‘Yeah,’ Elspeth sighed.

‘Can you show me everything you found?’ Xavier asked.

Elspeth nodded. ‘All the bones we’ve found are scattered under the floorboards in here. We haven’t checked any of the other rooms. This was the only place where we managed to take the carpet up. After that we were too scared of him coming back and figuring out what we’d done, so we put the boards back and replaced the carpet. There’s some damage. One of the floorboards is badly broken, so we shifted the sofa over the top of it.’

‘You’ve been really brave,’ Xavier said. ‘Do you believe he’s gone for the night?’