‘I need you to call an ambulance for Lottie, please. She’s the one who needs help. I can wait.’

Kesey looked around the attic prison, the cage, the little girl curled up inside, Megan naked and bound. She hid her shock as best she could, sucking in the fetid air. ‘My phone needs charging, it’s going to take me a bit of time to find another. I’m sure I saw one downstairs. It may take me a few minutes. Does that make sense?’

‘Yes, I understand.’

‘Right, I’m going to untie you now, and then you can look after Lottie while I call for the help we need. Okay?’

Megan nodded, raising her knees to her chest to hide her nakedness. ‘You need to tie something around your arm, a tourniquet, you’re losing a lot of blood.’

‘I’ll get around to it.’

‘There’s only the three of us. If you pass out before I’m free, there’s nothing I can do. We’ll all die unless someone finds us.’

Kesey was feeling increasingly faint as she picked up one of Heath’s discarded black stockings. She tied it tightly above her wound, using both her free hand and her teeth, and then moved on to untie Megan’s ropes. Kesey struggled: her wounded arm was next to useless. But she persevered and finally succeeded, close to exhaustion.

‘There you go, that’s the last one.’

Megan rushed forwards, opening the cage door and lifting Lottie out, the tube still taped in her mouth, a gag of sorts. Megan unwrapped the tape from her daughter’s head and then removed the tube, taking care not to hurt her in any way. As Kesey approached the open hatch with a rope in hand, Lottie opened her eyes, looking up at her mother’s familiar face and smiling. Megan lifted her daughter and hugged her to her bare chest, kissing her cheek gently.

‘She’s going to be okay, Laura. Thank you for everything. You’ve saved my little girl’s life.’

Kesey looked back and beamed. ‘You stay where you are. I’ll phone for an ambulance and be back with some clothes. Heath will be taken to the police station before you both come down. You won’t have to see him. He’s going to be locked up for a very long time.’

‘I hope you don’t mind me asking. What’s the rope for?’

‘The bastard’s hands are secure. This is for his feet.’

49

Both Megan and Dale were sitting at Lottie’s bedside in the children’s ward at West Wales General Hospital when Kesey entered the room, a box of jelly babies in one hand and a CBeebies comic in the other. She nodded in greeting to both parents and stood at the end of the bed. ‘How’s my favourite little girl?’

Lottie sat up, resting on her pillows, looking first at the sweets, then the comic, and then at Megan. ‘Can I have them, Mummy?’

‘Of course you can. Aunty Laura bought them for you.’

Kesey unwrapped the sweets before handing the box to Lottie with the lid open.