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Chapters (62)
  1. Title
  2. Copyright
  3. Contents
  4. About the Author
  5. About the Book
  6. Dedication
  7. Your Worst Nightmare
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. The Answer to All Your Prayers
  18. TEN
  19. ELEVEN
  20. TWELVE
  21. THIRTEEN
  22. FOURTEEN
  23. FIFTEEN
  24. SIXTEEN
  25. SEVENTEEN
  26. EIGHTEEN
  27. NINETEEN
  28. TWENTY
  29. TWENTY-ONE
  30. TWENTY-TWO
  31. TWENTY-THREE
  32. TWENTY-FOUR
  33. TWENTY-FIVE
  34. TWENTY-SIX
  35. TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. TWENTY-NINE
  38. THIRTY
  39. THIRTY-ONE
  40. Somebody Else’s Child
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. THIRTY-FIVE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. FORTY
  50. FORTY-ONE
  51. FORTY-TWO
  52. FORTY-THREE
  53. FORTY-FOUR
  54. FORTY-FIVE
  55. FORTY-SIX
  56. FORTY-SEVEN
  57. FORTY-EIGHT
  58. FORTY-NINE
  59. Sunlight on Water
  60. July
  61. September
  62. Acknowledgements

‘So,’ says Naylor, ‘good news and bad news. The very good news is, Rose did a first-class job in persuading Evan to finally speak to us.’ A murmur goes round the room. ‘Obviously he’s still in a fragile state, but to have anything at all from him is a major step forward. The less good news is that what he could give us was very limited. From the moment of the snatch he was given drugs – given how he says they made him feel, we’re guessing Diazepam or something of that nature to gain compliance – but that’s affected his memory and his perception of his surroundings. So what there is is minimal.’

She uncaps a red whiteboard pen.

‘I’m afraid I won’t need much room to write down what we’ve got. He was kept mainly in one room, with very restricted access to a bathroom. All he knows about where he was is that it was on a high floor of some building, he thinks a block of flats. A room with a view, as it turns out, because on the few occasions he could look out, he could see a river with two bridges which we’re hoping might narrow it down.’

‘So you’ve no idea even what town he was in?’ asks Hagen.

‘Not so far, no,’ says Naylor. ‘So that’ll be Job One for someone – Brad, I’m looking at you – to come up with a list of towns that might fit the bill and print off some pictures of the bridges, see if he can identify which ones match his view.’

‘Does he know how far he was driven from where he was snatched?’ asks Campbell.

‘Not really,’ says Naylor. ‘A long way, he says, but anywhere would feel a long way in the boot of a car.’

‘Colour of car?’

‘Maybe light blue or silver.’

‘Make?’

‘No idea.’

‘Direction of travel? North, south?’

‘Doesn’t know, except there was a long stretch of motorway.’

‘What about his abusers?’

‘Several men were regular visitors. We had him look at some photos but we got no hits. All white, one with red hair. He describes them all as old, but to a boy his age that could mean anything over twenty-five.’

‘So the redhead could be the one who was at the petrol station?’

‘Very likely.’

‘Names?’

‘He says they used what sounded like code names, not their real names.’

‘So what you’re saying is, all we’ve got is a flat overlooking a river?’

‘And two bridges.’

‘That’s it?’

‘That’s it for now. But we’re hoping now he’s not actively repressing it, there’ll be plenty more coming back to him.’

THIRTY-EIGHT

THIRTY-EIGHT

12 December