I lock him in the car before rooting around my bag for my mobile. Snatches of past conversations with the police when Tyler and Ryan went missing spin a halo around my head.

‘We don’t have any leads right now’… ‘don’t believe there is an immediate threat to Connor’… ‘doing all we can’.

But their best hasn’t been good enough. I think of Melissa’s distress. They haven’t found the boys and I don’t know if they will. The first twenty-four hours are vital – I’ve watched enough crime series to know that. After that, the chances of locating a missing person are drastically reduced. Something flutters furiously in my chest. Melissa has left Ryan’s disappearance entirely to the police.

I will not do the same with Connor.

I do need to tell them though, but before that I want to tell my husband. My hands are shaking as I unlock my handset, press the photo of Aidan. It rings and rings but he doesn’t pick it up.

It’s odd. Generally, his mobile is always with him, never on silent. It’s the only way either of us can bear to leave Kieron, knowing that we are contactable at all times. I know he’s at a conference, but that wouldn’t stop him answering. He’d reassured me again as he left: ‘I’m always at the end of a phone.’

I cut the call and try him again.

Still nothing.

Where is he?

Chapter Forty-Four

Connor

Connor remembers hearing somewhere that most murders are committed by someone the victim knows.

Murder.

It won’t come to that, of course it won’t but…

What’s in store for him? He hardly dare speculate. His whole body is twitching, jerking, terror lifting and dropping his cells. What has happened to Tyler and Ryan? Were they shoved into this space, taken and…

He can’t breathe. There’s a rumble of thunder. He claws at the immovable surface above him, behind him, in front of him. Fingernails tearing.

Staying calm seems impossible, but Connor knows that he must.

Breathe.

He clenches his jaw to stop his teeth from chattering.

Think.

Journeys are never uninterrupted: roadworks, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings. They are gathering speed now, but Connor thinks if he can attract attention when the car slows, stops, all of this will be over. Doubt creeps in, the engine is loud, the roar of traffic deafening, but he pushes them away. It is not a smooth ride. Each time there’s a pothole, a speed bump, Connor is thrown around the boot like one of Kieron’s WWE wrestling figures.

Kieron.

He has to stay strong for his brother. Renewed, Connor fumbles around his too-small prison. He’d seen a movie once where a billionaire was kidnapped and thrown into the boot of his car. There had been a release catch and the man was able to escape. Hopeful, Connor checks once.

Twice.