Danny was hungry – he’d only had a sandwich at lunchtime, but he also felt sick, probably from fear. Suddenly an angry voice called from downstairs. Lewis turned sharply and quickly left the room, sliding the two bolts into place before going down.

Danny saw no one else all evening. Although aware of voices and movement downstairs, the door to his bedroom remained firmly closed. Lewis brought no food or drink as he’d hinted and Danny’s stomach ached with hunger. Thinking over his predicament, he decided that not knowing who his captors were or seeing their faces was far worse than if he’d seen them.

Finally, Danny fell asleep wrapped up as best as he could in his clothes and the two dirty blankets which smelled of mould. Danny’s sleep was fitful, filled with fearful dreams as he tossed and turned in the shadowy darkness of his prison.

4

DAY 2

Martha leaned on the kitchen table, her elbows on the wooden surface and her head resting despondently in her hands. The house was quiet with the only noise coming from the bathroom above, where her husband, Richard, was taking a shower.

Neither had slept the previous night. Danny was missing – their son, their only child was out there somewhere, afraid, possibly alone, maybe hurt. During the endless hours of night, Martha tortured herself with every possible scenario playing on a loop through her mind, over and over again. But outside, the blanket of darkness was lifting and the wet streets would soon be filled with early morning commuters. For once she would not be one of them.

Please God, let this not be happening; let me wake up and find my world is back on its axis.

The indignity of the previous evening still burned in her mind, even though Martha understood that the police must follow precise procedures. Within half an hour of reporting their son missing the house swarmed with police officers who searched every inch of their home. It was a large house for three people and the police were thorough, checking every cupboard, wardrobe and any space big enough to hold a child – or, Martha thought, the body of a child. Inside her head Martha was screaming at this waste of valuable time and she could see the tension in Richard’s face, clearly offended that the police could suspect them of harming their child, yet they were both sadly aware that it does happen.