I just want to see you do it.’

‘No. I won’t.’

‘Yes you will. And do you want to know why? I’ll tell you, because I’m a nice bloke. You don’t do them, I will, and I’m going to torture every one of those little kitties every which slow way you could ever dream of—and you’re going to be here with me while I do it and see it all. Believe me, I’m an expert cat killer. Understand?’

Jake got it. ‘Please,’ he begged. ‘Give them to me. I’ll look after them. I…I’ll give them some milk. I will. Please, Mr Pearson, I can’t kill them. I’ve never killed anything.’

Darcy smiled down at him. ‘Aw, poor kid. Haven’t you? You don’t know what fun you’ve been missing. Who knows, Pongo, you might enjoy it,’ and he picked up a kitten. ‘Here little kitty, kitty, kitty. What’ll I do to you, eh?’ he said tenderly, holding the little thing up to his face and blowing a plume of smoke directly into its tiny eyes.

‘No.’

‘I think I’ll slowly break your…’

‘I’ll do it!’ said Jake, yelling. ‘I’ll kill them for you!’

‘No, I feel like doing it myself now,’ and Darcy twisted the neck of the small and struggling creature until it broke.

Jake howled at him. ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it! Let me do it. Please, I’ll kill them.’

‘Go on,’ Darcy said softly. ‘Do it, then. I knew you’d want to do it once you’d seen what fun it was.’

Jake breathed hard. He sweated, gritted his teeth, felt bile, phlegm in his throat. He picked up the first kitten, closed his eyes, breathed even harder. Quickly, very quickly, he took it by the back legs and with all his strength bashed its head onto the concrete floor. He repeated the action four more times. ‘They’re dead,’ he said dully. ‘Let me go.’

‘Bet you enjoyed it,’ said Darcy Pearson. ‘Here, mate.