And now I remember something else, something that bobs up to the surface of my memory. At that first meeting, when I gave him the details of Kate’s disappearance he said something about her being recently divorced. At the time I was too tired and emotional to notice but I never told him that. So how did he know? Unless Kate told him.
‘It was you!’ I say. ‘You took her statement.’
He glances quickly over his shoulder at the door. There it is again, that panic flitting across his face. Shit. It hits me then that I’m alone in here with him. Where’s Reza? I tug at my wrists but I’m cuffed to the chair. Another bomb goes off in my chest.
‘Why didn’t you tell anyone?’ I ask. ‘When I reported her missing? Why did you not say anything?’
The whole time he’s been pretending to search for her, and he knew all along that she’d been to the police station to report her bag missing. It doesn’t make sense. Why did he not say anything? The realisation sinks in. There’s only one reason he wouldn’t have said anything. ‘Oh my God,’ I whisper, staring at him in shock as the pieces slot into place. ‘It was you!’ I cry. ‘You killed her!’
He shakes his head. ‘No!’ he hisses, his eyes leaping furtively to the door.
‘Yes,’ I say, because guilt is written all over his face. ‘It was you.’
‘No! Stop it!’ He leaps to his feet, his head whipping to the door again before he turns back to me, speaking in a hushed shout. ‘Be quiet! You don’t know what you’re saying!’
‘What happened?’ I ask. ‘Tell me what happened!’ I need to know.
He looks like he might lunge across the table at me. I shrink back away from him but I’ve got nowhere to go because I’m cuffed to the chair. ‘Be quiet!’ he spits furiously.
I obey, staring at him in frozen disbelief. This is the man who killed Kate. ‘They’re going to find out,’ I tell him. ‘You may as well come clean. Tell me what happened. Admit it.’
His face reddens, his mouth twisting into a grimace. He runs a hand through his dark hair in a panic. ‘It was a mistake, that’s all.’
His admission hits me like a slap. ‘What was a mistake?’ I stammer.
He blinks at me as though shocked to have said it out loud.
‘Nothing,’ he says. ‘Nothing! I didn’t hurt her. I swear!’
‘Then what did you mean? What was a mistake?’ I push, my voice rising, hoping that someone outside the room might hear. Where the hell is Reza?
‘Shhhh!’ Nunes says, trying to get me to hush.
I look up at the ceilings. There aren’t any cameras installed. When I look back at Nunes, sweating profusely and agitated, he reminds me of a wounded animal caught in a trap. With chilling horror, I realise the danger I’m in. I need to keep him calm until Reza returns.
‘Tell me what you meant,’ I say quietly. ‘What mistake?’
‘Offering to drive her home,’ Nunes says.
He drove her home! He’s admitted it!
‘And then what happened?’ I press. How did he end up killing her? I need to know. ‘I’m sure it was an accident,’ I say gently, hoping he’ll open up to me if he thinks I’m on his side.
His brow furrows and he seems lost in thought, probably replaying the events in his head.
‘I’m sure you didn’t mean to kill her,’ I say, though I feel no such certainty.
His eyes jerk to me, flashing with fury. ‘I didn’t kill her! Stop saying that!’ He leans over the table, his face inches from my own. The fury emanating off him is so immense that my insides quiver with fear. He looks like he’s about to hit me. Is that how he looked at Kate? What if he tries to hurt me?!
I open my mouth and scream at the top of my lungs. ‘Help!’
But before I can even get the first syllable out his hand slams into my throat like a guillotine blade. The force of the blow sends me flying sideways but because the chair is screwed to the ground and I’m attached to the chair I go nowhere, only jerk violently, my head snapping back with force. I try to suck in air but my windpipe has been crushed and it’s like trying to breathe through a flattened straw.
My vision darkens and I can hear a horrible gasping, choking sound that I realise is coming from