Boyle pulled off the dual carriageway a mile from his home and although it felt like he had slowed considerably, he was still travelling at seventy miles per hour through the light traffic.  Behind him the unmarked car was closing, but he had enough of a lead as he turned into the estate.  He told Martin to turn the music off and took the first left, then a right and a left again, and with the windows open he could hear the sirens disappearing in the opposite direction. He still wasn’t out the woods, though.  He was well known among the local constabulary and there was a chance that they might have recognised him.  They would also have the chopper up searching for the car, he was sure of that.  He had to get home as soon as possible so that his family could swear that he had been in the house all along.

He took the next right into a cul-de-sac, stopped the car and was out and running in no time.  His passengers were moments behind him and all three headed for an alley which led to Alba Street and Boyle’s house.  Had any of them looked back they would have seen the Subaru rolling gently down the slight incline of the street.  Slowly at first, but the momentum soon built up and it gathered pace all the time…

* * *

Dina Gray stood outside her sister’s door, saying her goodbyes after discussing the upcoming birthday party. Daniel made his way up the garden steps and out into the street, where he looked over the low wall into Sarah’s garden and started singing “ten green bottles”.

Dina looked up at her son, marvelling at how quickly he had picked up that song.  He'd only heard it for the first time at the beginning of the week, and here he was counting down from ten to zero.  It was hard to believe that he would be three years old at the weekend: it seemed like just yesterday when he was learning to crawl.  Now he could count, he knew the alphabet, he could read a dozen words and loved to sing.  She knew he would have lots of fun in the soft play area of the local activity centre next weekend and she was also looking forward to it immensely.

“I really envy you,” Sarah said.  “I wish I could get my lazy sod of a husband off the beer long enough to get it up, then I might stand a chance of having another little darling like him.”

Sharon's own kids were all grown up, and she felt broody every time Daniel popped round, but that didn't stop her volunteering to babysit at every opportunity.