Nina closed her eyes momentarily, overwhelmed by the mental picture of what had happened in the attic at the hands of these men.

‘And is money and seeing them squirm enough for you?’ she whispered.

He laughed again, he actually laughed at that, and Nina began to sob, she couldn’t help it. His laughter stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

‘Enough? Oh no – but you see I’m going to give their names to the papers. And my dad’s name too, and your dad’s, even though he’s out of it now. That way, the ones I haven’t found’ll still be terrified, like I – like we were, Nina. And it’s not just those creeps from your dad’s attic room I found. There are others, too, and some of them did a lot worse things to other kids, pretty little girls and nice little boys like you and I were. I confronted them too and got to see them squirm as well. I’m going to take all their money and then one day, when I’ve found a nice round number, maybe a hundred, maybe two, I’ll give every single name to the papers. Oh yes, that’ll be enough. One day. But for now you’ve buggered it all up.’

Nina stared bleakly. She was a victim of these crimes too. Was she to have no say in what they did with their abusers? Apparently not. But in an odd way she could even sympathise with Paul here.

‘If you give the police the names you have up to now they’ll be able to find the others.’

‘You might be right about that, little cousin. But that’s not what I want. I want to stand in front of these kiddy-fuckers first and watch the terror in their eyes. And I should be out looking for them before it’s too bloody late, not sitting in a disgusting kitchen talking to you.’

He stood up and rummaged in a cupboard under the sink, pulling out an old piece of rope. Panicking, Nina leapt to her feet and tried to run but he grabbed her arm and forced her to sit again. With all her strength she pushed against him, but he slapped her face with the rope and began to wind it round her middle, tying her to the chair.

‘Sit – still,’ he said, his voice hissing in her ear.

Nina flinched. She should do as she was told for the moment. She had to stay unharmed; if he injured her she might never be able to get out of here. Trembling, she sat enduring his touch as he went on to tie both her wrists to the struts where the back of the chair met the seat, and her ankles to the chair legs. Whistling between his teeth, he produced a rag, an old tea towel by the looks of it, and used it to gag her. By the smell it had been in contact with motor oil at some point and Nina spat and jerked her head away, but he was stronger. Saliva filled her mouth and the fumes from the rag made her eyes water; dear God, nothing in her life had ever been as disgusting as this.

When she was immobilised to his satisfaction he blinked down at her, and for a second she saw regret in his eyes.

‘What I have to do is keep the police occupied with you,’ he said. ‘If they’re looking for you they won’t be worrying about what my dad supposedly did, or even about sending bags of cash to the park tonight. Meantime, I’ll get on with looking for my last important two. I have to get them, Nina.’

Whistling again, he began to search through the cupboards. Nina was finding it impossible to breath calmly. The gag tasted gross, and it was cutting into the flesh at the corners of her lips. God knows what bacteria were swimming round in her mouth. Paul must be mad. Psychotic, whatever. His search for paedophiles had a terrible kind of logic, but why was he doing this to her? Why send the blackmail letters, why the phone calls? Maybe he’d thought she’d go running away home, leaving him to continue his ‘work’ in peace. But now? Holding her in a squalid kitchen was doing nothing to further his cause.

Nina writhed against her bonds; they were much too tight. She could feel blood pulsating in her wrists; it was agony... Hell, how long was he planning to keep her here? She stared at the floor, willing herself to stay calm. Naomi, baby, don’t worry, it’s going to be okay. But was it?

Paul was watching her, his expression mocking. ‘You had it all, you know. Your mam got you out, you had a good life. A proper home – a baby. And I know you might need a little persuasion to stay here and help me with this, so I’m going to fetch your baby,’ he said, his new high-pitched voice echoing round the bare kitchen. ‘Little Naomi, she’s always been able to wrap you round her little finger, hasn’t she? First I’ll go to the police and tell them we were both abducted but I managed to escape. You, unfortunately, weren’t so clever, and how would I know where they’ve taken you?’

Nina struggled to keep panic at bay. He mustn’t, he must not bring Naomi here. She moaned into the gag. What could she do now, what could she do to stop him?

Paul smiled, and Nina had to look away because oh, it was like something in a horror movie. His eyes were shining and his face didn’t belong to the man she had met just a few days ago.

‘First the police and then the hospital. The abductor had a knife, you see. A little realism’ll make sure they believe me. I need hospital treatment and that’s when I’ll go off by myself leaving them all looking for you on the Luton bypass, because that’s where we were heading when I managed to escape, isn’t it? And then I’ll go and comfort my poor little cousin Naomi, she must be so frightened without Mummy. You can stay here together. Searching for you will keep all those policemen so busy they won’t worry about what I’m doing, looking up those last two scumbags.’

He took a kitchen knife from a drawer and held it up to the light, watching it glint before stabbing it twice, viciously, into his lower arm. Nina gasped, the shock and the gag combined almost preventing her from breathing. Paul was mad. He would do anything. And shit, fuck…

Blackness swirled in front of Nina’s eyes. He was going to bring Naomi back here and she couldn’t stop him. So no way could she leave this house even if she did manage to get free. She’d have to wait in this awful place for Naomi… Dear God, what would this do to her little girl?

Paul wound a towel round his bloody arm. ‘You know, after what happened to me when I was a kid, nothing much hurts anymore.’ He bent over her and jerked the bonds on her wrists tighter still. White hot pain seared up Nina’s arms, and tears ran down both cheeks and soaked into the gag.

The front door slammed behind Paul, and she heard a key in the lock.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The car engine spluttered into life, then roared as Paul drove off. Nina slumped in her chair, but straightened immediately as the movement caused the rope to dig even more cruelly into her ribcage. Silence fell heavily in the dimness of the kitchen, and Nina closed her eyes, fighting dizziness.

Sweat broke out on her brow as she thought about Naomi. Her little girl was in danger. It was imperative to think carefully, plan what to do. But what could she do, tied to a kitchen chair in a house ‘somewhere near Bedford’? The horror of the situation threatened to overcome her, and she forced herself to breathe normally. Passing out here would help no one.

Come on, Nina. For a second she heard Claire’s voice in her ear, and it calmed her. And she needed to be calm, because nobody was going to come to this house to look for her. She would have to get free herself and phone David. Her mobile was still in her bag in Paul’s car, the first car, but even a house as squalid as this one might have a landline.

But supposing it didn’t?

Panic gained upper hand again, and for a few minutes Nina fought against the rope binding her to the chair, swearing frantically in her head as her efforts caused nothing but pain. The binds were unmoving and eventually she gave up and sat panting into the foul-tasting gag. Dear God – she could choke and die on her own saliva here. Why, why had she followed Paul so blindly when he’d yelled that a bomb was hidden in the house – idiot that she was, she had put her life and Naomi’s into the hands of a madman.