It was another two hours until Danny woke. The first thing he saw was his mother’s face, smiling down at him. He looked around and saw his father too, at the other side of the bed. A woman was sitting near the door who also smiled. Danny thought he remembered seeing her before he fell asleep. He could hardly believe he was finally safe and he turned to his mother to ask, ‘Is Lewis all right?’

Danny’s mum didn’t appear to have an answer and he watched as she looked at the other woman who then moved over to the bed.

‘Hi, Danny, my name’s Suni and I’m a police officer. You asked about Lewis; can you tell me what you remember happening when you were running away from the farmhouse?’

‘We were running for the trees to escape from Pete and Neil. But Pete had a gun and he shot Lewis. Is he dead?’ Danny’s lip trembled and his eyes were brimming with tears.

Suni answered. ‘Yes, Danny, I’m afraid he is. He died almost immediately, so he wouldn’t have felt any pain. Was he helping you to escape?’

‘Yes, and his mother. Is she all right? Did Pete shoot her too?’

‘She’s safe at the police station, answering a few questions, she’ll be well looked after. Can you tell me more about Lewis and why he and his mother were there with you?’

‘Sally’s Pete’s girlfriend... and he made her stay with me to stop me from escaping and look after me. I don’t think she wanted to do it. Lewis told me she only agreed to do it because she was scared of him. Lewis didn’t want to be there either – he became my friend.’ Danny sniffed hard. ‘Lewis looked after his mother too; he was good at that.’

‘He sounds like an exceptional boy,’ Suni remarked and Danny nodded.

‘You don’t have to tell me any more if you’re tired. We can talk later.’

‘No, I want to tell you. Sally needs someone looking out for her now Lewis is... She needs someone. Will you tell the police not to put her in jail?’

‘When I go back to the station, I’ll find out what’s happened to her and tell them what you said. So was Sally helping you to escape as well?’

‘Yes, they both were, even though they knew Pete would be mad at them.’ Tears rolled freely down Danny’s face. Suni opened her laptop and brought up the Photofit image the paperboy had helped to produce.

She turned the laptop so he could get a good look at it. ‘Do you recognise this man?’

‘Yes, it’s Pete. I only saw him properly once, but that’s him.’