Danny followed, sniffing and drying his eyes on his sleeve. This boy was strange. He wasn’t unkind but by his own admission he was part of the gang who’d kidnapped him. He was earning money by helping to keep Danny a prisoner. They picked up the kitchen table and chairs then sat down to finish their bread which Lewis picked off the floor. He then set a mug of water down for each of them and Danny gulped his down, he couldn’t remember ever being so thirsty before. Lewis automatically refilled the mug.

Danny sniffed again and decided to be direct. ‘Why are you helping the kidnappers?’

‘Told you last night, for the money.’

‘But my parents aren’t very rich. What if they can’t pay?’

‘Oh, they’ll pay. Y’ll see.’

‘So how long are you going to keep me here?’

Lewis shrugged. ‘Until they come up with the money.’ It seemed all part of everyday life to him and he didn’t appear to think anything was wrong with what he was doing.

‘How much are they asking?’

‘Ha! You wanna know how much you’re worth, eh? Well, I’m not supposed to know but I heard them talking about three hundred grand. So now we’ll see just how rich your parents are.’ It seemed to be a game to this boy, but Danny was scared. He had no idea if his parents could raise such an amount of money. If they could, he hoped it would be soon.

11

DAY 2

‘Y’know, the front door’s bolted from the outside, so you’ll never get out,’ Lewis told Danny.

‘From the outside? But that means you and your mother are locked in too. What if there’s a fire? Why did they do that?’ This information was worrying. The kidnappers were ruthless men who didn’t even care about Lewis and his mother.

‘Who are these men, Lewis? Is one of them your dad?’

‘Nah, don’t be daft. Me mum knows them. Pete’s her current boyfriend but it won’t last long – it never does.’

‘And who’s the other one?’

‘He’s called Neil but I’d never seen him until yesterday. Anyway, I shouldn’t be telling you their names, don’t let on you know.’ Lewis’s eyes narrowed.

‘I won’t, promise. So where do you live – with this Pete?’

‘No bloody way! He’s a bit free with his fists and he doesn’t want us living with him, which suits me fine. We have a flat where Mum and me stay, and Pete comes round when he wants Mum for sex.’

Danny’s face flushed at the mention of sex. He knew all about that kind of stuff – they’d covered it in biology at school, but it wasn’t something you talked about, and particularly not concerning your mother.