‘No.’ Jez, his best mate in all the world, was an abductor, a murderer of women, and had even tried to kill him. He let out a sob but sucked it back down. ‘I need to call Bethany. Can I use the phone?’

The old woman considered him doubtfully. ‘Why don’t I fix you something to warm you up – a nice cup of tea?’

‘Yeah.’ He just wanted to get off the street. ‘That would be good.’

She stepped back and Abs went inside, conscious of his damp clothes.

‘Come into the kitchen,’ she told him.

He looked warily at the closed door of the library as they walked past. ‘He’s not here, right? Jez, I mean. He’s not come home?’

‘No, sir, I would have heard him.’ In the kitchen, she poured water from the boiling tap into a cup. ‘What’s happened?’

‘You shouldn’t be here in case he comes back. Jez is… he needs help, I think he’s… he’s killed people… girls.’ Emotion surged in him; he knew he must sound like a nutcase. ‘You don’t believe me.’

She stirred the tea for a few moments and then looked at him. ‘I can see you’re scared.’

‘I should phone Bethany,’ he said impatiently as she placed the cup in front of him.

‘Drink. You need to warm up, and then I’ll find the phone.’ He knew she wasn’t going to budge until he’d drunk some of the tea, so he blew on it and took a sip. It tasted horrible, but she was right about one thing, the warmth was a welcome relief.

‘Right, then,’ she said. ‘I’ll go and find the phone.’

When she left the room, Abs took small, nervous sips of the tea and felt himself relax for the first time in hours. He heard the woman moving about upstairs. Maybe it was the quiet, and the fact that he was pretty sure he had helped the girl get to safety – he had done a good thing, finally – but he felt a kind of serenity. In fact, all the stress and anxiety, the discomfort of his wet clothes, his life-and-death fight with Jez, it all slipped away, just as the cup was slipping through his fingers. To his astonishment, the china smashed on the floor between his legs. And then the door opened and the housekeeper came back inside. She frowned at the smashed cup.

‘Oh dear, I’m going to have to clear that up now.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Abs slurred. ‘I don’t know how it…’ He rubbed his head, trying to clear his groggy mind. ‘The phone, did you—’

‘This phone?’ She took it from the pocket of her apron. ‘I appear to have had it on me the whole time.’