He paused and she looked at him. He and Sammy had been very close in the years after they left university, but since the wedding – the stag party, actually – things had not been the same.

‘No,’ Matt said. ‘Let it go to voicemail. I’ll call him when this is all over.’

She put a hand on his knee and squeezed it.

‘Matt,’ she said. ‘I love you.’

He made a soft, strangled sound and she saw his lips quiver.

‘I love you too,’ he said.

‘You know, people talk about love at first sight and whether it’s possible, and I never say much, but I know it is. From the very first time we met I knew you were going to be special in my life. I didn’t know how special, but I knew you were different. Now, looking back, I know what that was. It was love.’

‘Annabelle,’ he said, his voice breaking. ‘You’re my life. I can’t imagine how I could carry on without you. I keep thinking about all the time we’ve been together. I can’t do it without you.’

She felt a sudden, shocking horror at the situation. She wanted to shrink to nothing, disappear. She wanted never to have existed.

‘I feel the same,’ she whispered. ‘You’ll be OK, I think. Make sure you tell the kids their mum loves them. Every day.’

‘I can’t think that way,’ he said. ‘We won’t lose you. We have the drones.’

‘I know,’ she said. ‘I know. But just in case. I want you to know that I love you and I trust you to bring up our children the right way.’

They approached a roundabout and a woman’s voice came from the phone.

Turn left at the next junction.

‘It’s down here,’ Matt said. ‘Another mile or so.’

She looked at the clock: 5.54.

Six minutes left with her husband.

Six minutes until her kids were safe.

They followed the road. It was lined with industrial units. After a few hundred yards it turned into a rutted track. It was unlit, and the car jolted as they hit potholes and rocks.

Somewhere above them, a drone tracked their progress. Half a mile or so behind them, Brenda and Rob watched the images it relayed to them. Mike and Tessa were parked beside them, waiting for the signal to come and get the kids.

Eventually the track turned left into a wooded area.

And there was the gate.

The woman’s voice came from the satnav. ‘You have reached your destination.’

They slowed to a stop. The clock on the dashboard showed 6 p.m.

Annabelle turned to Matt.

‘Bye,’ she said. ‘Goodbye, darling.’

Summer 2012

Sammy climbed on a chair in the middle of the room. He was holding a bottle of vodka in his right hand, and a cigarette in his left. His face was flushed, and he wobbled on the chair.