‘But I thought today was the day of the exchange? And it’s Danny’s birthday, a fitting time to get him home.’ Elaine was visibly disappointed and Martha hugged her – a rare occurrence but she knew Elaine was feeling the same anxiety as herself. Her mother had assumed she’d be arriving on the day they got Danny back home, a joyous reunion, but the outcome now was anybody’s guess.

‘We could only get so much of the ransom money together and... hoped they wouldn’t count it but it didn’t go well. The kidnappers have given us another forty-eight hours so we’re waiting to hear from them.’

‘You make it sound like a business transaction.’

‘In some ways it is.’ Martha was on the verge of breaking down again and bit her bottom lip in an effort to hold back the tears.

Elaine looked around for any sign of her son-in-law. ‘Where’s Richard?’

‘He’s upstairs, the police have just gone and we’ve nothing to do now except wait for the kidnappers to get in touch. I’ll take your case up and tell him you’re here.’

‘Thank you. I’ll put the kettle on.’

Typical, Martha thought – her mother was one of those women who believed that most problems could be solved by a strong sweet cup of tea.

Martha climbed wearily back upstairs and Elaine went into the kitchen.

Richard rolled his eyes when Martha told him they had a visitor. ‘What’s she come for? There’s nothing she can do – it just means we have one more thing to worry about.’

Martha felt defensive on her mother’s behalf. ‘She means well and Danny is her only grandson, she loves him as much as we do. Come down and see her, then we can update her on how things are going.’

Reluctantly Richard followed his wife downstairs and into the kitchen where Elaine had already met Suni. The FLO was sitting at the table with her laptop open.

‘I introduced myself,’ Elaine said and moved towards Richard to kiss him on the cheek. A tray was set with tea and biscuits and she suggested they took it into the lounge.

Once the three were seated Martha turned to her husband. ‘What did the police want?’

‘Just checking on a few details, nothing they haven’t asked before.’ Richard’s neck was growing red even though it was a cold day.

‘So what are they doing to get my grandson home?’ Elaine asked.

As they drank tea, Martha told her mother everything which had happened so far and the different avenues the police were exploring. Reliving it all was upsetting and exhausting. Richard mostly remained silent, speaking only when directly asked a question and generally giving only one-word answers. Martha could tell he was annoyed at Elaine’s presence, but he’d not been much comfort to Martha and had even managed to bungle the ransom drop.