Was he upset because they had gone back to the farm? How did he even know about that? Had he followed them? It just didn’t make sense. It didn’t give him a reason to attack her, and it didn’t explain why he had gone after Jill or Lauren.

Oh God. Jill and Lauren. They were both dead, and now he was going to kill her too.

She yanked hard on the rope, pulling herself closer to the headboard so her fingers could reach the knots. She had to get free.

Twisting her face into her arm, she tried to clear her eyes so she could focus. Her head was thumping, her nose throbbing from where he had punched her, and her gut painfully sore. She tried to swallow, her mouth dry and what little saliva she had was tinged with the taste of blood.

Her hands shook as she worked at the knots and she ordered herself to focus. It was going to get a whole lot worse if she didn’t get free. Her fingers were trembling badly and she kept losing her grip.

‘Would this help?’

Hannah jumped at the voice. She hadn’t heard Bill come back into the room.

She stilled when she saw the knife he was holding out to her. It was one from the drawer in the kitchen and she knew how sharp it was.

‘Please, no.’ She tried to scoot across the bed as he approached, a sob escaping. She knew he was enjoying her fear and she shouldn’t give it to him, but she couldn’t help it. She was so frightened.

Maybe he just had the knife to scare her. If that was the case, it was working.

She watched him carefully as he put the blade down on the bedside table. What was he going to do to her?

Reasoning with him didn’t seem to work, but if she could get him talking somehow, keep his attention from using the knife, she might be able to buy herself some time. She scrambled her brain for something to say.

‘Why Jill and Lauren? What did they do to you?’

Perhaps not the best question to ask, given that they were both dead, but she had panicked and was still struggling to think clearly.

It was a valid question, though. Yes, both girls had been part of the Hixton Five and they had spoken with the police, but they had never suffered like the rest of them.

She saw the frown pass over his face. ‘I know what you’re doing.’

‘I’m not trying to do anything, I swear.’