So, though it hurt me to admit it, I agreed with Tobey that it was best to defy the kidnappers’ instructions and hope that still left us some wiggle room. A dodgy strategy, but, apart from going to the police, what other choice did we have? I must admit, my every instinct was still to get them involved, but Tobey reckoned he had too many enemies – political and otherwise – for the situation not to be exploited if it should become public knowledge.

So we were playing the game by his rules.

For now.

Why couldn’t I shake the feeling that I was betraying Troy, as if somehow I was putting Tobey’s career ahead of my brother’s life? If anything happened to Troy, I’d never forgive myself.

Or Tobey.

We’d either bought Troy and Libby more time or we’d signed their death warrants, and dread of the latter was relentlessly choking me. I dug out my phone and made a call.

‘Hi, Callie.’ Tobey answered within two rings.

‘Hello, Tobey. Have you heard anything?’

‘Not yet, but we will,’ he replied. ‘It’s good to hear your voice. Are you OK?’

‘I’m holding on,’ I said. ‘Are you busy? What are you doing at the moment?’

‘I’m thinking of going for a morning run while I wait for Jon to get back to me,’ Tobey replied.

‘Jon? My Jon? He’s doing stuff for you?’

A moment’s pause. ‘Yes, your Jon. Aren’t you the one who sent him to me earlier this morning to help out?’

What? ‘Is that what he told you?’ I asked sharply.

‘Among other things. He knew all about our bust-up in the court building.’

My face began to burn. ‘I didn’t tell him everything—’

‘Just enough.’ The reproach as Tobey cut me off was obvious.

‘Jon is my friend, Tobey. And, apart from my mum, he’s the only person who knows what we’re going through. He’s been totally supportive.’ I bristled, on the defensive and not keen on how that felt. Jon had provided some much-needed perspective, plus he’d been a shoulder to cry on. I really wasn’t wild he’d been to Tobey but I’d deal with that later. Right now, we all needed as much help as we could get.

‘Anyway, Jon is running a couple of errands for me. I hope you don’t mind?’ said Tobey.

‘Of course not. Are you going to tell me what exactly?’

‘I will if it pans out. Trust me.’

Silence. Tobey obviously wasn’t going to divulge any more so, with an inner sigh, I headed back to neutral territory.

‘So you’re going for a jog?’ I asked at last.

‘I run. I never jog,’ said Tobey with feeling.

‘And you can run at a time like this?’