Richard ran his fingers through his hair. ‘It’s not so simple, Martha.’

‘Then you’d better start working on it. Mortgage the house or something if you have to but surely we can get the money together?’

‘I’ll go up to the study and make a few phone calls.’ Richard left the room. Alex Radford and Graham Foster left the house shortly afterwards, assuring Martha they’d keep them updated on how the investigation was going.

‘Shall I make coffee?’ Suni asked.

‘Not for me. I’m going upstairs.’ Martha wanted to speak to her husband, without Suni listening to their conversation, and headed for his study.

Martha’s eyes narrowed as she confronted her husband. ‘Why did you say we couldn’t get the money? We should be able to raise three hundred thousand pounds easily.’

‘I don’t want them to know all our business and we don’t exactly have that much sitting in an account doing nothing. I’ve invested some of our savings recently and can’t readily get the money back.’

‘What investments? This is the first I’ve heard of them – how much have you tied up?’

‘I don’t know offhand.’

‘Where’s it invested?’

‘A company which Jamie recommended to me.’

‘Jamie, from chambers? Since when did you start taking financial advice from your clerk?’

‘It was a few months back, an opportunity to invest came his way and he mentioned it to me as well.’ Martha could tell Richard was being evasive.

‘Okay, make your calls but we need to get this together fast. I can’t bear the thought of Danny being in the hands of kidnappers any longer than necessary.’

Martha trudged back downstairs feeling very alone. Arguing with Richard was the last thing she wanted to do, but she couldn’t understand his attitude to the money. A call to the bank was all that was necessary. In the circumstances she was confident they’d waive any notice which usually applied.

Suni was reading something on her phone. ‘It’s from the PC who’s chasing up the rucksack. He’s spoken to the lady who found it but she saw nothing. It was half-covered by a shrub in her garden in Green Street. They’re organising a house-to-house in the immediate vicinity to see if anyone saw anything unusual.’

It wasn’t the best news Martha could have heard but it was another avenue to pursue – although if someone had seen her son being taken, they’d probably have reported it to the police. She thanked Suni then sat down with her eyes closed again. Open or closed, the image of a distressed Danny was still there, and she had never felt so powerless in her life.

Within the hour Richard came downstairs wearing his coat. Martha glanced expectantly at him.