‘You help her if you want to get caught. I’m off.’

‘And what about my share of the money? You haven’t paid me yet!’ Neil at least wanted his money – he deserved it even more now. Pete opened the boot again, reached into one of the bags and grabbed a handful of notes which he threw at Neil. They scattered in the breeze, landing all over in the barn. Pete then jumped into the car, started the engine and sped off while Neil grovelled on the floor to retrieve the money.

‘Hey, don’t leave me here!’ Neil shouted but the car didn’t stop. Pete drove away from the house at speed. Neil looked at the money scattered on the muddy ground and was filled with shame. In that moment he could almost see himself as others might see him – scrabbling around in the dirt for blood money. A feeling of self-loathing and disgust washed over him and he threw the notes he’d already gathered down on the floor, turned his back on it and headed towards Sally.

Neil felt sick as he looked with horror at the ghastly scene. Lewis’s body was limp in his mother’s arms with blood oozing from his chest, pooling around Sally’s knees. The boy was pale, lifeless, his eyes were open but unseeing. There was nothing to be done.

Whispering meaningless words, Neil managed to pull a distraught Sally away from Lewis’s body and take her to sit in the van where he wrapped his jacket around her heaving shoulders. She was clearly in a state of shock, and he couldn’t leave her alone, even if it meant being caught by the police.

The option to take the van and leave as Pete had done was still open to him but Neil was a father himself and Pete’s callous actions sickened him to his very core so he made the conscious decision to stay and face the consequences.

A helicopter buzzed overhead, circling the sky above the farmhouse. Neil knew it was the police. Strangely he felt relief to know they were coming and it was all over. The cars would be there soon and an ambulance to take the boy’s body away. He gently explained to Sally that the police would be arriving at any minute and they’d almost certainly be arrested.

Sally turned to Neil. ‘But it was Pete! It’s him they want.’ She’d stopped sobbing, empty of tears and rocked back and forth, hugging herself and staring through the van’s windscreen in the direction of her son’s lifeless body.

Neil thought of his wife and his son. He’d been so stupid and his wife would probably not want anything more to do with him. Fleeing was tempting, but he felt compelled to do the right thing, so he sat beside Sally and waited.