‘Sadly it appears to be the latter. Thanks, Dee.’ Radford then rang Graham Foster to see how things were going but there was no news – the woodland was dense and apart from a track leading into it, there were no clear pathways which the boy might have followed.

Radford knew he should ring the Stones, or perhaps Suni, to give them the news so far, which wasn’t much as Danny was still missing but it would give them some hope that their son might still be found, safe and well. He took out his phone.

44

DAY 6

Danny lost count of the number of times he slipped in the mud. The wet earth seemed to seep through his clothing until he could barely feel his fingers and toes. Branches had scratched his face and blood ran down his cheek into his mouth, tasting bitter and metallic. He had no idea how long he’d been running either, driven on by fear for his life. If Pete had killed one boy he wouldn’t hesitate to kill another.

Danny was thirsty but too afraid to stop. He’d lost all sense of direction and if he was going round in circles there was a chance he’d find himself back at the farmhouse, so every few minutes he stopped and listened. Mostly he heard only birds, and water dripping from the canopy of wet trees – the heavy rain had given way to a light drizzle.

Danny tried to focus on how good it would be to get home – to sleep in his own warm bed and be with his parents again. Yet thoughts of Lewis intruded into his mind and he sniffed back the sobs which accompanied them. Although almost certain that Neil was no longer following him, whatever comfort it brought was ousted by the thought that he might be heading back to the farmhouse and to his captors again. Danny was scared.

Danny stopped again to catch his breath and to listen. This time he thought he could hear traffic in the distance, but was it just his mind playing tricks on him, making him hear what he wanted to hear? No, there was definitely something, and then the loud sound of a lorry’s horn confirmed he was near a road.

Tentatively he made his way through the trees in the direction of the sounds which grew louder. A couple of minutes later the trees thinned out and a grassy bank rose up to the road, a steep incline with metal fencing at the top.

Pausing a moment to breathe and calm his pounding heart, Danny surveyed the obstacle. He would usually tackle it without trouble but he was exhausted and weak from hunger and thirst. Danny purposefully thought of home and what he would most like to eat when he got there and then determinedly propelled his body forward to assault the bank.