And how far could you push a car in a few minutes? Maybe around a corner, but not much further than that.

A wave of relief broke over him. This was a prank. One of his friends, or more likely a few of them, after a beer or two – had seen the kids in the car and moved it to give him a scare. He pictured them, laughing as they released the handbrake and pushed the car down the street. There was a side street about thirty yards away, on the right. That’s where they would have taken it.

That’s where he would find them, standing by the car, laughing.

He would not be laughing with them. This was not funny at all.

He jogged towards the side street. Banner Road. He’d never noticed the name before; he’d remember it now. He slowed at the corner and turned.

There was a skip on the right and a white van parked on the left, but other than that the side street was empty.

The fear roared back and rose into a full-on panic. Where the fuck was his car? Where could it be?

He sprinted out onto the main road and looked up and down, once, twice, a third time.

Still nothing.

He ran back to the shop – to the last place the car had been – and stood outside the window, breathing heavily. His car was gone. His children were gone.

The shop door opened.

‘You OK, mate?’

He turned around. The man from the shop – the owner, maybe – was standing on the threshold, arms folded, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

‘It’s my car. It’s gone.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I left it here, but it’s nowhere to be seen.’

‘You sure it was here?’

‘Yes.’ He paused. Was it possible he had parked somewhere further away and walked to the shop? Had he misremembered looking at the church? No – he also remembered thinking he was only using the shop because it was more convenient than a detour to the supermarket, which would hardly have been the case if he had parked a walk away. Besides, he had checked on the kids when he got out.

‘Yes. It was here.’

‘What is it?’

‘Discovery. Land Rover.’

The man stuck out his bottom lip. ‘Nice vehicle. Maybe someone nicked it. Was it locked?’

‘No, but—’

‘Mate, you should lock your car.’

‘I know, but—’

‘I mean, it’s easy to nick ’em if you can get in. Just plug a laptop into the data port and boom, job done. I heard it takes about fifteen seconds. You can’t leave a car unlocked.’

‘I only left it unlocked because—’

‘There’s no excuse, mate. You—’

‘Listen to me!’ Matt shouted. ‘I left it unlocked because my kids were in there.’

There was a long silence.

‘Fuck me,’ the man said. ‘You need to call the filth. Get the cops on this as soon as.’