He didn’t know if Jez was just playing around, or if he really meant to kill him. Standing against the wall, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark and for the features of the room to solidify, he strained to hear movement.

‘Jez, mate,’ he shouted. ‘The girl’s gone now and there’s nothing you can do about it. She’s gonna go to the police, so you might as well talk to me.’

But he didn’t get an answer.

‘He’s lost it,’ Abs muttered to himself. Shuffling along the wall, he came to another doorway and saw an obstruction in the gloom, the dark green baize of the full-length snooker table. He needed a weapon – something to defend himself with – and he went to the end pocket and took out one of the balls, which was smooth and heavy in his hand. But it was no good without something to swing it with and he dropped it back in the pocket, where it clunked loudly against the others. He felt his way to the rack of cues on the wall and took one out; twisted the thin metal band in the middle to unscrew the bottom half. He’d use it to whack Jez with if he had to.

A noise came from close by, a scraping sound, and it terrified him.

‘Jez,’ he called. ‘Is that you?’

Sod finding the phone, he needed to get outside where he could actually see something. He’d run up the drive to the road, wait for a car to come along, then go straight to a police station and tell them everything. About Rhiannon’s death and his part in the cover-up, and about Jez, who was – the truth made him want to weep again – a total maniac.

So Abs made his way back towards the dim doorway. But suddenly he was slammed into the side of the snooker table. Hands clawed at his neck, fingers tightened around his windpipe and he began to choke. He heard Jez’s frantic sobs, and in his terror and surprise, Abs smashed the end of the cue as hard as he could into his ribs. He heard Jez crash into a table and chairs.

Abs wanted to fall to his knees to get his breath back, but he didn’t have the luxury of time, and he jumped off the table and staggered to the door. He didn’t know if Jez was following him or not, didn’t care, just ran as fast as he could. A blue light undulated faintly at the end of a narrow hallway and Abs knew he was heading towards the indoor swimming pool. There were patio doors along the length of the room, and he could let himself out. He ran along the edge of the pool, the surface of the water lapping gently at his feet, its reflection a shimmer on the wall. The smell of chlorine was overpowering.