‘They wouldn’t go out, not this late. Nick would have woken me. There’s blood.’

‘Have you contacted your husband? Nick, did you say? Have you tried to call Nick?’

‘Yes. There’s no answer. On the mobile. It’s not in the house. Look, you gotta send people.’

‘Have you contacted friends to see if—’

‘They wouldn’t go out. They’ve been kidnapped.’

‘Was this recent? Did you just discover this?’

‘Just now. I woke up. They’re not here. You’ve got to send someone. They wouldn’t go out.’

‘How old is your daughter and what’s her name?’

‘She’s Josie. She’s five.’

‘Okay. So you woke up to find them gone, and did you say the door is wide open?’

‘The back door, the patio door, yes. There’s blood on the step. They wouldn’t go out, not this late. Send people who can find them, please.’

‘Has your husband ever taken your daughter out late before?’

‘No. They didn’t go out. Someone’s broken in and kidnapped them. The blood.’

‘Blood? Did you say blood? I thought you said mud. How much blood is there? And this is on the step outside your back door?’

‘Yes. Please, just send someone. They wouldn’t go out.’

‘Okay, I’m sending officers to your address—’

‘I live at—’

‘I’ve got it. Have you checked all rooms in the house? The attic? The cellar? Is the house empty?’

‘They’re not here. I keep saying. They’re gone.’

‘You’re certain there’s no one hiding in the house?’

Then it hit her. Hiding: the operator wasn’t thinking about Nick, about Josie – she feared an intruder could still be here. Anna immediately thought of the cellar.

The one place she hadn’t checked.

Maybe, far in the future, if everything ended happily, she might be able to joke about the cellar angle. There was none of that horror film creeping-towards-the-door, knife in hand, slowly reaching for the handle. Nick had some exercise equipment down there, so, with an image of a late-night need to burn calories and a terrible fall down the stairs, she rushed into the kitchen and threw open the door in the back wall and slapped on the light. Lurking intruders weren’t even considered. Bizarrely, she would have wept with relief if she’d discovered her family hurt and unconscious down in the cold brick room.

But: ‘They’re gone. There’s no one in the house.’

‘Officers will be there within minutes. This is what I need you to do…’