It was difficult to tell who was more surprised: Kate as she stared up at the face buried deep beneath the fur-lined hood, or the woman wearing it, who didn’t seem to have anticipated Kate being awake.

Kate was the first to react as she took in Nicola Isbitt’s soft, feminine features and the long-handled tyre iron being held menacingly above her head. Struggling against the harness that kept her pinned to the car seat and unable to turn, the weapon came crashing down towards her. She screamed as she frantically tried to cover her face and the tyre iron smashed onto her hands.

‘Don’t struggle, bitch,’ Nicola sneered.

Kate forced eye contact. ‘Please, you don’t have to do this. You’re making a huge mistake.’

Nicola hoisted the tyre iron back into the air, this time bringing it down into Kate’s abdomen. Kate winced in pain, the wind knocked from her, unable to raise her legs to protect herself.

‘You’re the one who made a mistake by contacting my husband.’

‘Nicki, it’s me, DI Matthews. Remember? We spoke yesterday.’

The mention of her name only seemed to anger Nicola further, and her fingers made to gouge at Kate’s eyes. ‘You knew he was married, and you still went after him. What is it with women like you? He’s mine.’

‘Please, you have to listen to me. I wasn’t after your husband.’

‘You must think I’m stupid. I saw the message you sent him.’

‘Message? What message? I didn’t send…’ but her words trailed off as she realised Nicola must have mistaken her for the woman Isbitt was supposed to meet.

‘I bet you had a real good laugh at me, didn’t you? When did you decide to try and lure him away? Was it while you were talking to me, or when you got him back to the station? You thought you could see him behind my back?’

‘Don’t do something you’ll regret, Nicki. It isn’t too late.’

She howled with laughter. ‘There’s nothing you can say to save yourself now.’

The pounding stopped as quickly as it had started, but the crunching of gravel told Kate that the attack was far from over. Kate’s head snapped up as the other rear door flew open; a bitter chill whooshed through the car, making the hairs on her arms stand up.

Nicola must have seen the strapping on her ankle as she brought the tyre iron crashing onto it. Kate lashed out wildly as it erupted in scorching pain. But it was hopeless.

‘You killed Helen Jackson and Mary Eden,’ Kate desperately screeched.

The mention of their names was the distraction she’d needed. Nicola pulled the hood back slightly so her mouth could be seen through the fur edging. ‘He thought I didn’t know what he was doing. He thought I wouldn’t discover that he had a second email account. Every time he left the house I knew where he was going.’

‘Neither of them were having an affair with your husband—’

‘Bullshit! I saw the exchanges between them. They wanted him, and he wanted them. And all behind my back.’

Kate couldn’t see Nicola’s eyes clearly, but she could hear the emotion in her voice. Insane as she was, Kate could recognise the betrayal, the hurt, the anger.

‘I understand what you’re going through; my husband cheated on me too.’

‘Liar!’

Kate raised her head as much as the restraint would allow. ‘Look into my eyes. Tell me if I’m lying. My husband cheated on me while I was caring for our baby daughter. I know what it is to be betrayed. But this is not the answer.’

‘You’re trying to stall.’ Nicola raised the tyre iron high again, Kate bracing herself for another strike, but then it clattered against the gravel and Nicola was gone.

Kate blinked against the darkness, listening for the sound of footsteps crunching, but there was only deathly silence and the all-enveloping black beyond the car’s door. Gripping the belt strap between her teeth, she tugged at it, but it was fastened beneath her, and with her wrists still tied, she had no way of releasing the catch.

Instinct told her that Nicola hadn’t abandoned her plans, but Kate had no way of knowing what she intended next. Her panicked mind raced through terrifying possibilities.

Opening her mouth, Kate was about to call out Nicola’s name, when a distinct scraping sound shattered the silence. Something solid and sturdy was being dragged against a plastic surface. The scraping temporarily stopped and was followed by a wheeze and a solid thud as something heavy hit the ground, instantly cracking the stones it came into contact with. After a second wheeze, the object was scraped through the gravel, scattering the shingle. Whatever Nicola had pulled from the boot, it was getting closer to the door by Kate’s feet.

Nicola’s hooded profile appeared at the edge of the doorway again, but her eyes and mouth were no longer visible, lost behind a thick plastic visor. Then Kate saw the shiny end of the blowtorch and the rubber pipe leading down to the large methylacetylene canister.

Kate’s eyes widened in sheer terror as Nicola’s plan became all too clear. ‘Please, you can’t do this. I am a police inspector, and I demand you lower that equipment and release me.’

The mask tilted to the side, before gently shaking left and right.

‘Please, I’m begging you, I have a daughter… it isn’t too late for you. Let me live, and I swear I’ll help you. Murder is not the answer now, no matter what you did to those women. You have to listen to me.’

Nicola looked at the canister by her feet, and reached down, slowly turning the valve. The hiss of the gas escaping through the end of the torch sent a shiver from Kate’s head to her feet. Nicola reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small, shiny cigarette lighter. When she spoke her voice echoed off the visor. ‘I bought this lighter for him on our first wedding anniversary. I had it inscribed. Do you know what it says? “To the man who brightens my every day, love always, Nicki.” I found it last week in a drawer in our kitchen. It was still full of gas. He’s never used it. It means nothing to him. Well, now I’ve found the right use for it. You’re going to suffer for trying to steal him from me, and then I’ll watch you gasping for air in your final seconds.’

Opening the end of the lighter, she sparked it and held the small orange flame to the end of the blowtorch. The hiss transformed into a roar as the methylacetylene ignited with a blue-orange flame.

‘Jesus Christ! Nicki, please, you don’t have to do this,’ Kate shouted.

‘Oh, but I do. How else will you learn not to chase married men?’

‘But what about Amy Spencer? She never knew your husband. Why did you kill her?’

The blowtorch dropped slightly as a moment of doubt flickered in Nicola’s mind. ‘Stop it. Stop all this talking.’

‘What about Willow Daniels? Or Roxie O’Brien? What about Steph Graham? Did they all deserve to die as well?’

‘I don’t know those names.’ Nicki reached down to adjust the gas valve once more. The blowtorch dropped ever closer to Kate’s prone legs.

Kate’s tied hands clutched at air as she tried to raise her body and grab the torch handle, but she couldn’t get close enough. If only she could open the harness. Shifting her body away from the seat as best she could, her hands scrabbled with the fastener, until her finger managed to depress the button, and suddenly her shoulders were free. Lunging forward with all her might, she grabbed at the torch handle, desperate to keep the hissing flame from her tired body. But Nicola was stronger than her slight frame suggested, and cackled at the challenge, forcing Kate’s shoulders back towards the seat.

Kate wasn’t ready to give up. With all her might, she pushed back, gritting her teeth, ready for one last push, but as Nicola lost her footing, the blue-orange flame caught the fibres of her fur hood. The smell of burning plastic filled Kate’s nostrils, and suddenly Nicola’s entire hood was ablaze. The torch clattered to the stony ground as Nicola lost her grip on the handle, stumbling backwards, fighting to pull the hood from her burning head. But as she batted at it, the flames quickly spread down the coat, engulfing her in a giant ball of flame.

Kate groaned as she did whatever she could to pull her legs further up into the car and away from the fire. Nicola spun around in panic, like a Catherine wheel. Kate buried her face behind her bound hands as the fiery spinning top continued to flail in the darkness outside.

Kate couldn’t hide her relief that the orange glow was getting further away from the car, but she couldn’t ignore her duty – she grasped the belt in her teeth again, but it still wouldn’t budge.

‘Roll – roll, for God’s sake!’ she bellowed out through the door.

But either Nicola couldn’t hear Kate’s instructions or didn’t believe her, and she continued battling to unfasten the melting zip.

Kate pushed her blistered palms together and growled as she prised her fingertips apart, trying to snap the cable tie with the strength of her metacarpal bones. ‘Hang on,’ she yelled towards the orange mass, which continued to burn brightly, even though Nicola had now fallen to her knees.

Keeping her palms together, Kate brought her fingers together as if in prayer, and separated her elbows as far as she could. Then, bending her knees, so they rested in the gap between her wrists and her chest, she counted to three, and with all her might pulled her arms quickly towards her chest.

She screamed, as much in agony as satisfaction, as the plastic tie snapped. Seconds later, she had removed the seat belt and was diving out of the car door, barely able to crawl along the sharp stones towards the dying orange flames. The warmth contrasted sharply with the cold night air, which fanned the shrinking flames, but it was clear already that the mass beneath the orange glow was no longer moving.