Sadie took a few deep breaths, trying to prevent herself from toppling into panic. Why would they bring her all this way just to kill her? No, it didn’t make any sense. They could have stopped anywhere and put a bullet through her brain. But what were they planning, then? She thought of Wayne Gissing’s angry eyes and her blood ran cold. He was going to make her suffer.

By the time the van pulled in and the engine was turned off, Sadie had sunk into a deep pit of fear. She heard the front doors opening and closing, the sound of footsteps and then voices.

‘Nip inside, Kel, and make sure the coast is clear.’

‘There’s no need. The lights are off. She’s in bed.’

Wayne Gissing’s voice took on a harder edge. ‘What are you, fuckin’ psychic? She could be sitting in the kitchen for all you know.’

‘She’ll be dead to the world. She was out with Colleen tonight.’

‘Just do it, okay? Just fuckin’ do it.’

Sadie heard a sigh and then more footsteps, the click of heels on a hard surface. There was a short silence before a voice she recognised as Sharon’s chipped in.

‘There’s no need to bite her head off. Petra probably has crashed. She’ll be dead to the world; you know what she’s like when she’s been on the gin.’

‘It doesn’t hurt to check.’

‘And what about her? How are we going to get her inside?’

Sadie flinched, bracing herself for what was going to happen next. She didn’t have long to wait. The door slid open and Wayne clambered in, bringing with him a cool breeze and a thin orangey light from the streetlamps. He winced as he dragged his leg over the edge of the van, the discomfort no doubt reminding him of the bullet she’d put through his shin.

He crouched down and started untying the rope around her ankles. ‘We’ll keep this simple, right? You try anything, make a move, and you’re dead. Get it?’

Sadie nodded, making a grunt of acknowledgement through her taped lips.

‘And not a fuckin’ sound. If I so much as hear you fuckin’ breathe, you’ll be sorry.’

Sadie gave another nod.

When the rope was off her ankles, Wayne looked over his shoulder and said to Sharon, ‘Is it all clear? Is the door open?’

‘Yeah, all clear,’ she replied softly, poking her head inside the van. ‘You ready?’

Wayne dragged Sadie over to edge of the van. Her feet had pins and needles and her legs, full of cramps, felt they might collapse at any moment. He put his head out and glanced up and down the street. ‘Check the other houses,’ he ordered Sharon.

‘There’s no one watching. Come on, quick.’

Wayne got out of the van, roughly yanking Sadie after him. With her hands still tied behind her back, her balance was off and she almost stumbled. Wayne grabbed hold of her arms, keeping her upright. Even as her feet touched the pavement, he was pushing her forward, propelling her through a gate and along a short driveway. It was all over in a matter of seconds. She had no time to look around, to take in any of her surroundings, before she was inside the house.

With Wayne on one side and Sharon on the other, she was frogmarched through a hall and living room to a kitchen at the back. The bright overhead light made her wince and she half closed her eyes against the glare. Almost immediately she was plunged into gloom again as her abductors pushed her through another door to the rear and down a flight of old stone steps to the cellar.

Kelly Gissing was waiting at the bottom, her face like thunder, her teeth bared. She glared at Sadie, her eyes flashing with anger. ‘This is for Eddie,’ she hissed. And before Sadie could even think about trying to move out of the way, the girl slapped her hard across the face. The blow sent a shot of pain through Sadie’s cheek and sent her reeling back against Wayne.

‘Take it easy, Kel,’ he laughed. ‘You don’t want to kill the bitch.’ He left a short pause before adding, ‘Not right now, anyhow.’

Sadie, still in shock from the blow, barely had time to think before Wayne was shoving her forward again. She felt something hard and gritty under her feet. She had only a few fleeting impressions – blackened brick walls, the smell of damp, shelves full of old paint pots – before she was thrust through another door leading into a smaller windowless space. Here there was only a meagre light casting shadows into the corners of the room.

‘Welcome to your new home,’ Wayne said.

Sadie turned and stared at him.

He stared back, grinning from ear to ear. ‘Enjoy your stay.’ Suddenly he reached out and twisted a handful of her hair around his left hand. He pulled hard on the roots, pushed his face into hers and said, ‘This might hurt a bit.’

Sadie let out a gasp of pain as he ripped the tape from her mouth. ‘Jesus!’

‘Best not to speak, babe,’ he said. ‘You might say something to annoy me.’

Kelly glared at Sadie and then looked at Wayne. ‘You should finish her off. You know what she did to Eddie. She’s a murdering cow.’

‘I didn’t kill him,’ Sadie protested. ‘I swear I didn’t.’

Wayne suddenly spun her round so she had her back to him and she heard the flick as the blade of his knife shot out. ‘What did I say to you?’ For a second, convinced that he was about to kill her, her heart stopped. She closed her eyes and prayed. Please God. Please God. And then, miraculously, she got a reprieve. Instead of slicing her throat, Wayne cut through the ties on her wrists. She heard the rope fall to the ground and felt the blood rush into her hands again.

‘Over there,’ he ordered, gesturing towards the single mattress on the floor. ‘Sit down and shut the fuck up!’

Sadie quickly did as she was told.

‘Come on,’ Sharon said. ‘Let’s get out of here before your bloody mother wakes up.’

Wayne continued to glare down at Sadie, his look cold and sadistic as if he was weighing up the best possible method of inflicting pain. ‘Don’t get lonely,’ he said mockingly. ‘I’ll be back.’

‘Wayne!’ Sharon urged.

Finally, he shifted his gaze and walked away. Sadie stayed very still as the three of them left. She watched the door close and heard a key turn in the lock. After that there was an odd scraping sound that she couldn’t make any sense of. She rubbed her hands together trying to get the circulation back and let out her breath in a long slow sigh of relief. She wasn’t exactly happy to find herself locked up, but at least she was still alive.

Left alone, she raised a tentative hand to touch the place on her cheek where Kelly had slapped her. It was sore and throbbing. She gazed around her prison. The cell was about fourteen foot square with a single bare bulb attached to the wall. The flex ran back through a badly drilled hole into the larger room beyond, which meant that she couldn’t turn the light off. Not that she wanted to; she had no desire to be plunged into darkness.

Other than the bed, there was no furniture at all. The single mattress was thin and worn and smelled of mildew. It was covered by a green blanket and an old eiderdown patterned with roses. The walls had grey silvery cobwebs clinging to the brick. On the bare stone floor were three bottles of water, a roll of loo paper and a plastic bucket. There was no food.

Although there was little to see, Sadie continued to focus on the room. She was trying to push away a niggling question at the back of her mind. But try as she might she couldn’t keep it at bay. Why hadn’t they put a blindfold on her as they’d led her from the van and through the house? The only logical answer made her guts spasm with fear: they didn’t have to worry about what she might have seen because she wasn’t getting out of here alive.

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