‘You can’t take it apart, it’s set into a cabinet that’s all sealed up. I tried getting the door off, but there are no tools or metal cutlery in here. Every screw is turned so tight you can’t shift it. I broke all of my nails and snapped every plastic knife trying. Even if we did get the microwave apart, we’d never put it back together, and he’d know what we’d done as soon as he came into the kitchen. Plus, we need the microwave. There’s not much here we can use to look after ourselves. If we don’t get out, then losing the microwave will be a disaster.’

‘We can heat up some water until it’s boiling hot, hide when he comes in, then throw it in his face. If it burns his eyes, we’ll easily be able to get away. Seriously, it’ll work, we can hold a pan each, wait for him—’

‘That’s what the two peepholes in the front door are for,’ Elspeth said quietly. ‘He has rules so you can’t duck down and wait for him. He can see everything. He knocks to announce that he’s coming in. He makes me stand in the bedroom at the far end of the corridor with my back against the wall and my hands on my head before he enters. We attack him and I doubt we’d survive.’

‘Whatever,’ Meggy huffed. ‘You get breakfast. I’m not hungry. We might not have much time left, so I’m going to carry on.’

‘But we both need the light. You have to come into the kitchen.’

‘Nope,’ Meggy grinned. ‘I just realised there’s one in the microwave. Leave the door open when you’re not using it.’

‘Clever girl.’

Meggy grinned. Those words weren’t much. But they were everything.

She left Elspeth making coffee and made her way into the sitting room. The light coming from the microwave was minimal but it cast the slightest bloom on the hallway walls. Lamp plugged in, she gave the furniture a further inspection. Old and stuffed, with heavy wooden frames.

She dug her hands into the back of the cushion. A cloud of dust erupted, but the cushion itself didn’t budge, and the rough stitchwork scratched her fingertips. Everything was sewn together. She tried the back of the sofa, then the sides, up and down each edge of the wood frame and the base. Nothing shifted. It was sewn, glued and screwed together so hard it would take a bomb to get it apart. Same with the armchair.