‘I don’t know. They didn’t say yet.’ He held up his phone and showed her the screen. ‘These messages came just after I left the shop.’

She took his phone and read the texts.

Do not call the police.

I repeat: tell no one and do not inform the authorities. I will know if you do and you will never see your children again.

My instructions will follow. Await them.

He reached over and tapped the screen. ‘Then these came from a different number.’

This is a kidnapping.

The ransom demand will follow.

Remember. Do not contact the police under any circumstances. I will know immediately if you do and you will never see your children again.

So that was why he had not called the police. It made sense now, but she wanted them to know. They needed help with this.

‘Shouldn’t we tell the police?’ she said. ‘How would the kidnapper know? It could be a bluff to stop us involving them.’

‘It could be,’ Matt said. ‘But it could be real. Maybe whoever it is knows someone. Or it’s a cop. And if there is a way they could find out—’

‘We won’t see the kids,’ she said. ‘If it’s true, we can’t risk it. We have to wait. See what they want.’ She looked at the phone. ‘Were there any other messages?’

‘No. That was the last one.’

‘Did you call the number?’

‘Not yet.’

‘We should. I will.’ She tapped the screen and lifted the phone to her ear.

‘Are you calling?’ he said.

‘Yes.’ She listened for the ringing to start, but it never came. It went straight to a recorded message.

The number you have called does not have a voice mailbox set up. Thank you.

Then the line went dead.

She put the phone down.

‘What is it?’ Matt said.

‘An automated message saying no voicemail has been set up.’

‘If they’re using different numbers, they probably get rid of the phones afterwards.’

She pictured someone throwing a phone into a bin then taking a new one from a rucksack and typing in a number.

Matt’s number.

‘My God,’ she said. ‘They know your number. Which means this isn’t random. It isn’t someone who saw an opportunity and grabbed it.’ She took a deep breath in an attempt to control the panic rising in her chest. It didn’t work. ‘This was planned,’ she said. ‘Someone was watching and waiting.’ She felt a wave of nausea. ‘They’ve been watching us, Matt.’

Matt stood and began to pace the room. ‘I know.’

‘But why? What do they think we have? What do they want?’

‘I can’t think of anything,’ Matt said.

‘But to go to all this effort …’ Annabelle’s voice tailed off. ‘This is fucking unbelievable. Why would anyone do this? What do they want from us?’

‘It must be money,’ Matt said. ‘What else is there?’