Radford answered, ‘They’ve got no reason to do so. My guess would be that they’ll abandon him somewhere and get themselves as far away as possible.’

‘But why didn’t they ring me as they said?’

‘Men like that aren’t going to worry about keeping their word. They’ll possibly leave Danny somewhere he can get help and as we don’t know where they’ve been keeping him, it could take a while to reach him. We’re searching all the CCTV cameras on that stretch of road, looking for the van, and when we find it, hopefully we can follow its route to their destination,’ Radford explained.

Richard knew the detective wasn’t as confident as he sounded. He excused himself and went upstairs for a shower and to change into clean clothes; if they did locate Danny he wanted to be ready to go to him immediately.

As he peeled off his clothes in the bathroom, Richard examined the extent of his injuries. His ribs were bruised, the pain a sure sign that at least one of them was broken. His abdomen felt tender. Even the effort of taking off his clothes brought pain and although the hot water felt good, his legs would hardly support him and he could only manage a quick shower.

Martha lay on their bed, her eyes open, staring at the ceiling. When Richard finished dressing he sat beside her and took her hand. There was no response and he could think of nothing to say to ease their seemingly hopeless situation – he simply held her hand in silence.

After around ten minutes, Elaine knocked on their bedroom door and entered.

‘They’ve found the van, or at least they know which direction it took.’ Elaine’s eyes were bright, full of hope. Richard stood to follow her downstairs. He turned to look at his wife who didn’t seem to have heard her mother’s words and lay silently staring into space. Richard left her. If nothing came of this she would only feel worse.

Downstairs, Alex Radford was on the telephone. Foster explained what was happening.

‘We managed to pick up the van as it left the service station and it’s been tracked for about twelve miles until it turned off the motorway onto a minor road. There are no cameras there but DI Radford is trying to get permission to mobilise a helicopter search. The van’s plates were covered so we can’t track ownership, but it must be them. Who else would be driving with covered plates?’ Graham stopped speaking and they both looked at Radford who was talking quite loudly into his phone.

‘I want them to sweep the area looking for a white transit van, probably parked up in a secluded area by now.’