After several more minutes, Danny felt it was safe to stop and rest. He sat down under a large horse chestnut tree, oblivious to the cold and wet seeping through his clothes. As his breathing slowed, he listened for any noise which would tell him if his pursuer was nearby, but there was nothing other than the sounds of the birds, and his rasping breath. The wet earthy smell was almost a comfort after the days he’d spent inside, and tiredness crept over Danny.

As his heart rate slowed, he wished he could curl up and sleep. He was tempted to close his eyes but knew the image of Lewis’s still body would haunt him. As he thought of Lewis, he could almost hear his friend’s voice urging him to keep moving. Danny stood, gulped the damp air into his lungs and walked.

42

DAY 6

Neil gave up searching for the boy. The path petered out and the kid could have gone in any direction. If Neil ventured much further he’d be in danger of getting lost himself. He began retracing his steps and eventually came out of the wood in almost the same spot he’d entered. Sally was still there, kneeling over her son, sobbing bitterly. She hadn’t seen him, so Neil moved as quietly as he could back towards the house in search of Pete.

A noise in the barn told him his partner was in there so he approached with caution and more than a little fear. If Pete was desperate, he might turn on him – and he still had the gun. Neil was unsure how this mess would play out. He was trembling from the shock of the events he’d witnessed – this was not the way their plan was supposed to unfold.

When Pete initially approached Neil, the plan seemed so simple, a straightforward easy way to make a little extra cash which in all honesty he desperately needed. But it had gone horrifyingly wrong and he was involved in a murder – the victim being an innocent boy. Pete had promised that the boy they were going to snatch would be well treated and he’d even arranged for his girlfriend and her son to look after him for the duration. Neil thought it sounded like an adventure, one which would pay good money and hurt no one – how stupid he’d been to agree to any of it.

Neil found Pete dragging a tarpaulin from a car. The bags of money from the van were at his feet and Pete began throwing them in the boot.

‘What are you doing? We can’t just leave Sally here. I thought she was your girlfriend?’

Pete turned and snapped, ‘Where’s the boy?’

‘He got away. It’s impossible to track him in the wood.’

Pete slammed the car boot closed, muttering obscenities.

‘But what about Sal?’ Neil asked. ‘Her boy’s dead!’