There had been a minute or two after they’d huddled together in the boot when Meggy had dared hope that Fergus was just going to leave them there and disappear. When the car engine hadn’t started immediately, she’d imagined him falling over and hitting his head, or getting electrocuted in the kitchen. Sooner or later, someone would wonder why the car had been abandoned. She was listening for voices, ready to bang her bound feet on the boot. Then the engine had roared the end note of her hopefulness, and they’d pulled out of the driveway.

They’d stopped once since then, although he hadn’t opened the boot. It had been terrifying. More than when he’d first taken her. Even more than when he’d discovered her mid-escape, hanging above Elspeth’s broken body. Because now Meggy knew for sure he was intending to get rid of them. In the flat, they’d had a purpose. He’d wanted them to play house, acting all happy families. He hadn’t packed any of their stuff as they’d left. No spare clothes, toothbrushes, food, or drink. It was a one-way trip. All he’d had with him were a few papers, some candles, matches. And a shovel.

She’d tried and failed to think of good uses a shovel could be put to. She might only be twelve, but all those horror movies and true crime stream on-demand programmes hadn’t passed her by. Shovels meant a long trip into the countryside, where a hole would be dug and the end, she hoped, would be quick and painless. Meggy didn’t want to watch Elspeth die first. That meant she would have to die alone, unseen, her cries unheard.

She wanted to cry now, but she’d run out of tears. She hadn’t even known that was a thing. Meggy consoled herself with a daydream. Not of being safe in her mother’s arms. If her mother had stayed at home, chances were she’d never have ended up in Fergus fucking Ariss’ boot in the first place. Nor of her father, while she was sure he was terrified and beyond devastated right now. The fantasy that gave her the tiniest fragment of relief was more functional. In it, Fergus – exhausted from digging Elspeth’s and her grave – sat down to rest a moment.

Elspeth might have been genuinely unconscious, but Meggy had been faking it. Until now.