‘She knew who you were,’ Pip said, her voice bruised and raw. ‘Andie. She knew you were the DT Killer. She saw you with Julia and she put it all together.’

Pip watched as new creases formed around Jason’s eyes, a twitch in his mouth.

‘Yeah, she knew you were a killer. Months before she died. In fact, that’s why she died. She was trying to get away from you.’ Pip took another gulp of unrestricted air. ‘Even before she found out who you were, I think she knew there was something wrong with you. That’s why she never brought anyone round the house. She’d been saving up money for a year, to escape, to live somewhere else far away from you. She was going to wait for Becca to finish school, and then she was going to come back for Becca, take her with her. And once they were somewhere you couldn’t find them, Andie was going to turn you in to the police. That was her plan. She hated you so much. So does Becca. I don’t think she knows who you really are, but she hates you too. I worked it out: that’s why she chose to go to prison. It was to stay away from you.’

Pip shot the words up at him, her voice hiding six bullets that would blow gaping holes in him. Narrowed her eyes to eviscerate him with her gaze. But he didn’t fall down. He stood there, a strange expression on his face, eyes darting side to side as he took in what she just said.

He sighed.

‘Well,’ he said, an affectation of sadness in his voice, ‘Andie shouldn’t have done that. Got herself involved in my business; it wasn’t her place. And now we both know why she died, then. Because she didn’t listen.’ He tapped the side of his head by one ear, too hard. ‘I spent her whole life trying to teach her, but she never listened. Just like Phillipa and Melissa and Bethany and Julia and Tara. Too loud, all of you. Speaking out of turn. That’s not how it’s supposed to be. You’re supposed to listen to me. That’s all. Listen and do what you’re told. How is that so hard?’

He fiddled agitatedly with the end of the duct tape.

‘Andie,’ he said her name out loud, mostly to himself. ‘And, you know, I even gave it all up for her. I had to, after she went missing. The police were too close, it was too much of a risk. I was done. I found someone who listened to me. I would have been done.’ He laughed, darkly, quietly, pointing at Pip with the roll of duct tape. ‘But then you came along, didn’t you? And you were just so loud. Too loud. Meddling in everyone’s business. In mine. I lost my second wife, the only woman who listened, because she listened to you instead. You were a test, just for me, and I knew I couldn’t fail it. My last one. Far too loud to let it be. Seen, not heard, didn’t your daddy ever teach you that?’ He gritted his teeth. ‘And here you are, trying to interfere again with your last words, telling me about Andie. It doesn’t hurt me, you know. You can’t hurt me. It only proves I was right. About her. Becca too. All of you. Something badly wrong with all of you. Dangerous.’

Pip couldn’t speak. She didn’t know how to, watching this man pacing up and down in front of her, raving. Spit flying from his mouth, veins branching out of his reddening neck.

‘Oh.’ He drew up suddenly, his eyes widening with delight, a wicked smile on his face. ‘But I have something that will hurt you. Ha!’ Jason clapped his hands loudly together, and Pip flinched at the sound, hitting her head against the metal shelf. ‘Yes, one final lesson before you go. And now you’ll understand, how perfect this all was, how fitting. How it was always supposed to end this way. And I’ll always get to remember the look on your face.’

Pip stared up at him, confused. What lesson? What was he talking about?

‘It was last year,’ Jason began, locking on to her eyes. ‘Near the end of October, I think. Becca wasn’t listening to me again. Wasn’t replying to me or answering my texts. So, I dropped round the house one afternoon, my house, though I was living with my other wife at the time, the one who listened. I brought a late lunch round for Becca and Dawn. And did they say thank you? Dawn did, Dawn has always been weak. But Becca was acting strange. Distant. I had words with her again, as we ate, about listening, but I could tell she was keeping something from me.’ He paused, licked his dry lips. ‘So, when I left, I didn’t really leave; I stayed in my car down the road and watched the house. And, what do you know, little more than ten minutes later, Becca walks out of the house, and she has a dog on a lead. Her little secret. I didn’t tell them they were allowed to get a dog. They never asked me. I didn’t live there, but they still had to listen to me. You can just imagine how furious that made me. So, I got out of the car, and I followed Becca into the woods as she walked this new dog.’

Pip’s heart jumped, a cliff-drop down her ribs, landing hard in the pit of her stomach. No no no. Not this. Please don’t go where she thought it was going.

Jason smirked, watching it play out on her face, enjoying every moment. ‘It was a golden retriever.’

‘No,’ Pip said quietly, the pain in her chest a physical ache.

‘So, I’m watching Becca walk this dog,’ he continued. ‘And she lets him off the lead, gives him a stroke and then tells him to “Go home,” which of course I thought was strange at the time. Proved to me even more that Becca did not deserve a dog, if she couldn’t handle the responsibility. And then she starts throwing sticks for him, and he kept bringing them back. Then she throws one as far as she possibly can through the trees, and as the dog is running after it, Becca runs away. Back towards home. The dog can’t find her. He’s confused. So, of course, now I know Becca isn’t ready for a dog, because she never asked me, because she doesn’t listen. So, I approach this dog. Very friendly little thing.’

‘No,’ Pip said again, louder this time, trying to pull at her restraints.

‘Becca wasn’t ready and she hadn’t listened to me. She had to learn her lesson,’ Jason smiled, feeding himself from the despair on Pip’s face. ‘So, I walk this friendly dog down to the river.’

‘No!’ Pip shouted.

‘Yes!’ he laughed, matching her. ‘I drowned your dog. Of course, I didn’t know it was your dog back then. I did it to punish my daughter. And then you release your podcast, which caused all sorts of trouble for me, but you talked about your dog – Barney, wasn’t it? You thought it was just an accident, and you didn’t blame Becca for what happened. Well,’ he clapped his hands again, ‘it wasn’t an accident. I killed your dog, Pip. See, destiny moves in mysterious ways, doesn’t it? Binding us together all the way back then. And now you’re here.’

Pip blinked, and all the colour leeched out of Jason, out of the room, replaced with red. Rage red. Violent red. Behind-her-eyes red. Blood-on-her-hands red. I’m-going-to-die red.

She screamed at him. A bottomless scream, raw and visceral. ‘Fuck you!’ she screamed, angry, desperate tears falling into her open mouth. ‘Fuck you! Fuck you!’

‘We’ve reached that point, have we?’ Jason said, a shift in the way he held his face, in the curve of his eyes.

‘Fuck you!’ Pip’s chest shuddered with the force of all her hate.

‘OK then.’

Jason walked towards her, a ripping sound as he pulled a long length of duct tape from the roll.