‘I still think this is the place. Let’s get the lid off.’ There were two recessed handles in the thick iron lid. He took one, and the larger of the uniformed officers took the other. There was a scraping sound as the heavy plate was heaved out and slid across its concrete surround. The stench of sewage was overpowering, but what they saw within shocked them even more.

Chapter Nineteen

A three-foot-wide shaft with access ladder descended twenty feet until it met a seemingly full sewer, noxious liquid drifting left to right. From the lower rungs an inert gagged figure dangled by his tied wrists, chest deep into the filth. Gillard called out to him, and saw slight movement in his head, and heard a muffled moan. Arrowsmith, still definitely alive.

Not getting any other volunteers, the detective began to descend the slippery and corroded ladder into the stench, until his feet were below the wrists and immediately above the hostage’s head.

‘We’ll soon have you out, don’t worry,’ he said.

The hostage’s body was trembling and he was groaning through his gag. Rats swam for cover in the side pipes as Gillard crouched down, just two feet above the sewage, then reached below his own feet to untie the gag. Arrowsmith was exhausted, fearful and desperate. ‘Don’t free my hands,’ he croaked, ‘My legs are dangling below the end of the ladder, and I’ll fall in.’

The detective realised he wasn’t in a position to effect a rescue single-handedly, and could not take Arrowsmith’s weight. It took the arrival fifteen minutes later of fire service officers with a lifting harness to get the captive to the surface, where paramedics gave him oxygen. Conscious but shivering and terrified, he was taken by ambulance to hospital. He had said nothing about his abductors, but simply asked that his wife be informed that he had been found. It was three hours later when Gillard was given medical permission for a five-minute interview at his bedside. Arrowsmith didn’t look too bad now he’d been cleaned up, only complaining about being cold, wet and filthy in the pipe.

‘So who put you in there, Kelvin?’

Arrowsmith shut his eyes, and licked his lips. ‘I can’t say.’

‘Was it the Tickett family? We’ve already got them in custody. Rory, Aidan and Christopher. You’re quite safe. There’s a PC on the door here, and Thames Valley Police have promised you the liaison officer can stay with your wife for another week at least.’

‘I’m scared.’

‘That’s understandable, but we do need your co-operation to nail them.’

Arrowsmith shut his eyes again and nodded. ‘I do get that.’

Gillard had saved the most important question for last. ‘Did you double-cross them? Is that why they grabbed you?’