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Poe said nothing. He tried to hold Cobb’s gaze, but Cornelius Green’s éminence grise had his eyes fixed on the grubby carpet.

‘It was called the mercy chair,’ Cobb continued. ‘Cornelius had it shipped from the States. He said it had once been used to execute criminals on death row and I believed him. It still had the leg and arm restraints, and you could see where the head clamps had been fitted.’

The time has come for me to sit on the mercy chair. That’s what Nathan Rose’s suicide note had said. Despite the muggy heat, Poe suddenly felt cold. ‘It was used to restrain the boys?’ he asked, already knowing the answer would be yes.

Cobb nodded but didn’t make eye contact. ‘Although each course was tailored to the individual boy,’ he said, ‘they had two common phases. The first, the intensive Bible study at the beginning, I’ve already told you about. Cornelius and I decided how to proceed based on how each boy responded to phase one. If he needed more time to pray, he was allowed it. If we felt more Bible lessons would be beneficial, then we catered to this too.’

‘What was the second common element, Mr Cobb?’ Poe asked. ‘How did the course end?’

Cobb started to tremble. A single tear fell to the carpet. Poe watched it sink into the thin weave. It left a small dark mark, one among many.

‘In the chair,’ Cobb whispered. ‘It ended in the mercy chair.’ He seemed to have aged a decade in a few minutes. ‘I still hear them beg, Sergeant Poe. I still hear their cries and their screams and their threats. I remember their struggles against the restraints as if it was yesterday. The panic in their eyes when they realised it wasn’t an elaborate bluff. That it was really going to happen.’

Poe leaned forwards. ‘What did you do?’ he urged.

For the first time since he’d started talking, Cobb looked Poe in the eye. His stare was unwavering, manic even. ‘We tortured them,’ he said.