‘Stop calling me that.’ She opened the front door again and gestured angrily. ‘You have to go. I have many things to do before my employers get back.’

Sasha had had enough of this dance, and reached into her bag for her phone. She was going to call for backup immediately. ‘I’m going to have to ask you to accompany me—’

And then she heard someone cry out. A man’s voice, nearby.

‘What was that?’

‘I didn’t hear anything.’ Rachel blinked. ‘Go, please.’

‘It came from inside the house.’

‘No, no, no, you’re mistaken.’ The housekeeper shuffled from foot to foot. ‘I’m afraid you have to go now, I’m very busy.’

Sasha stepped towards the kitchen, but Rachel jumped into her path.

‘You have to go,’ Rachel said fiercely.

‘Out of the way, please.’ Sasha pushed past her, moving quickly down the corridor. ‘Hello, is someone there?’

She opened the door to the library – the room was empty – and heard the distressed voice again, closer this time. She walked into a dining room, then, pushing open a pair of internal doors, she saw Abs slumped in a chair in the middle of a large kitchen. Jez Weston was standing over him with what looked like a kebab skewer in his hand. Sasha realized she had no baton on her.

‘Jez.’ She held out a calming hand. ‘Do you mind putting that down?’ He looked at the stiletto as if he didn’t even know he had been holding it to Abs’s throat, and let it drop to the floor. ‘Now step away from him, Jez. Over there by the wall, please.’

When he obediently stepped back, Sasha walked to Abs, kicking the skewer out of reach under a cabinet, and crouched in front of him. He was sweating, breathing hard, and there were scorch marks on his neck.

She dropped her bag to the floor and, fumbling for her phone, said, ‘We’re going to get you to a hospital.’

There were a number of missed calls on the screen from work. From Ajay, Lolly and Craig, among others.

‘Mummy said not to let him go.’ Stepping forward, Jez’s wet eyes were wide and dilated and he spoke in an oddly stilted way, as if he were a child; a little boy. He was in shock, probably, but it was creeping her out. ‘I helped her kill the bad man, Alan. She let me stick a knife in him, she showed me how to do it, in and out, in and out, it made a sucking noise, like this.’ He made a slurping noise. ‘Because I’ve always been a good boy.’

‘Yeah.’ Abs nodded at Sasha. ‘He’s totally lost it.’

‘I’m going to have to ask you to go and stand on the other side of the room, Jez,’ she said gently. ‘Will you do that for me?’