Finn whipped his head round as though he’d heard something. Whatever it was, Adrian hadn’t noticed, but then he was feeling a little foggy. Finn had hit him several times now.

‘Stay there!’ Finn laughed as he stood up and disappeared to investigate the noise.

Adrian turned to Parker. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Trying to get free.’

‘And what happens then?’

‘We escape,’ Parker said.

‘Both of us?’ Adrian said.

‘I’m not going to hurt you, Detective Miles. I have no reason to.’

‘You might if you wanted to stay out of prison,’ Adrian said.

‘I’m not afraid of prison.’

Adrian believed him.

Finn came barrelling back in. ‘Where is it?’ He thrust the knife in Adrian’s direction, the tip of the blade narrowly missing his nose.

‘Where is what?’ Adrian said, genuinely confused about what Finn was talking about.

‘The knife! There’s another one missing from the block. Where is it?’

There was someone else here.

‘You must have checked me over. Check again, I don’t have it. Even if I did, I couldn’t use it.’

‘It was definitely there before. You’re fucking with me!’

Adrian had an idea. It was a long shot, but it had to be worth a try at this point.

‘Maybe it’s him, your handler. Maybe he’s come to clean up the mess. You told him where you are? If you aren’t around to grass on him then he gets away with it.’ As he said the words, it occurred to him that he might be right. Maybe it was him. Whoever he was.

‘No. He wouldn’t,’ Finn said, contemplating Adrian’s words. The boy was unstable; that much was evident. He was already paranoid, it wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge.

‘How do you know for sure he doesn’t have someone else already? You’re a liability, Finn, maybe he’s sent someone for you, just like he sent you for Caitlin and Russ. You know too much. He’s cleaning house.’

‘Shut up!’ Finn clasped his ears.

‘If you turn all the lights on, then he will have nowhere to hide.’

‘Stop talking!’

Adrian saw a shadow move from the corner of his eye. He had no idea who it was, but he had to assume whoever it was was on their side. If the person was with Finn, they would have made themselves known. Unless they were here to kill all of them and get rid of the evidence.

Adrian tried to look over to Parker to see if he had noticed; he didn’t want Finn to know that he and Parker were acquainted. Parker who hadn’t even broken a sweat throughout this whole encounter. He waited until Finn was looking away from him before turning his head. Parker didn’t seem to be aware, but Adrian was assuming that he could read Parker on some level, which of course was not true.

Adrian heard someone inhale sharply and the faintest whooshing sound. He heard a shriek and knew that it was Finn. Had they come for him? There was a gurgle and the familiar smell of blood. Then a thud and Finn’s muffled gurgles, which now came from the floor. He was clutching at his face, blood dribbling through his fingers.