He didn’t notice her descend the steps. She was about to call his name when she spotted Josie’s phone on the floor by a small stool. Focussed on burning his muscles, he still hadn’t fathomed her presence, so she picked up the mobile, now consumed by an urge to find out exactly why he had targeted the abuser. She got something far more shocking.

There was a Wikipedia page of famous child murders. She found a page about police protocol in kidnapping cases. Child murder statistics. Reasons children were abducted. And then worse in a drop-down search history.

‘UK child organ harvesting.’

‘UK buying a daughter on black market.’

‘UK child trafficking.’

She pulled her eyes away in disgust, and fear, and tossed the phone aside. It clacked on the concrete floor, but Nick didn’t seem to hear it.

The anger that had brought her down into this cold room was history. Now all she knew was pity, and shame because she should have been by Nick’s side throughout all of this, to prevent his still-addled mind from running amok. She reached out and put her hands around him from behind and her head on his back, and felt ashamed that she’d been trying to cope with her own stress while all along Nick had been most in need of help.

‘We’ll get her back,’ she moaned against his slick skin.

He hoisted himself up one more time, dragging his weight through her tight hug, and paused until his muscles began to tremble. Then he dropped to his feet. But he didn’t turn. She still had that clamp on his torso. The muscles remained tight, still hard even though he’d let himself gain some body fat over the last few months that their relationship had faltered.

‘Maybe they should give her cow’s milk,’ he said, barely audible.

‘What do you mean? She’s allergic.’

‘If she gets ill… if she goes into anaphylactic shock… they’ll have to take her to a hospital.’

She released him and stepped back. ‘Don’t say that.’ She didn’t want to hear such a thing, because she’d thought about it herself. But in her visions, the kidnappers didn’t leave Josie outside a hospital. They ignored her illness, until it was too late, and they fled from her cooling, unmoving body.

Her breathing got rapid and he turned to her, regret just visible on his face in the gloom. This time he took her into his arms.

He said, ‘I’m sorry. I just…’

‘It’s okay,’ she told him. ‘This is impossible for us both. But these people, they just want money. They won’t hurt her. They won’t. Please believe that.’