In the tiny hospital room, the family of three were mostly silent as they waited for the doctor. Martha made the odd comment, mostly irrelevancies, and Richard tried to capture Danny’s interest by talking about football and rugby. For much of the time their son kept his eyes closed, although not asleep. It alleviated some of the strain but Richard wondered if Danny had guessed something was wrong between his parents.

Eventually, when it was almost lunchtime, the doctor arrived. His bustling manner filled the room as he spoke encouragingly to Danny, applauding him for how well he was doing. He told Martha and Richard he was happy to discharge their son but suggested an early appointment with their GP to arrange counselling. Richard assured him they would do so and thanked him for his care.

Almost as soon as the doctor left, the ward sister appeared with a discharge letter which she gave to Martha, then they gathered together their few belongings and left the hospital.

Danny remained silent with only dutiful answers to his parents’ questions, and the journey home was pleasingly uneventful. Elaine met them, gushing over her grandson until Martha caught her eye and frowned. She got the message, let go of the boy and told them lunch was ready when they were.

Recovery for the Stone family was clearly going to take time. DI Radford was already pushing to question Danny but they’d persuaded him to wait another day to give Danny time to settle back home but the detective wouldn’t wait much longer.

Richard sincerely hoped Elaine would leave – her presence created an unnatural atmosphere and he was sure she was trying to get Martha alone to tell her what she thought of her husband.

Danny seemed unsure what to say and what his parents expected of him. He ate his lunch then asked if he could go upstairs to his room to sleep. It was almost a relief for them all; no one knew the protocol for such a situation and both parents were painfully aware that their lives, and Danny’s, had changed for ever. The future worried them all for varying reasons but they would take it a day at a time and count their blessings that Danny was home again.

56

DAY 7

Pete and Joanne knew they’d had a lucky escape. Having Pete’s car parked around the corner of the apartment rather than in front of it had enabled them to get away unseen. They only noticed the police car as they turned the corner, but it looked to be empty and could even have been there for a completely unrelated reason. Joanne was confident that the police couldn’t possibly know of her part in the kidnapping. No one knew except Pete, and they couldn’t have found him so soon.