Marie dismounted and went slowly towards the frightened boy, who was struggling to open the door. She smiled. ‘It’s going to be okay. Just relax.’

Then Jackman was there, with all the team behind him. He stepped through the circle of uniforms and asked for quiet. He moved towards the driver’s door, keeping well back.

‘Jordan? I’m Detective Inspector Rowan Jackman. It’s over now. All over. Will you please unlock the doors and let Davy out? He’s frightened, and we need to help him.’

Jordan Spiller looked at Jackman, blinking. ‘Who’s Davy?’

Marie wondered how they were going to play this. She had a good idea that to Jordan, the boy in the car was his beloved Christopher, his Teddy.

And as she’d also suspected, Jordan was refusing to be parted from his son. The car was locked, and Davy Frances was starting to panic. Marie could hear him begging “Mr Edwards” to let him out. Jordan seemed calm at present, but Marie feared that could all change in an instant, if they made any attempt to force the car open. Spiller now had his arm around Davy.

Jackman had stepped back and was talking urgently with his uniformed counterpart. She suspected they were going to bring in a police negotiator. The Fenland constabulary deployed a brilliant team of highly trained crisis negotiators throughout the area, each one with their particular skill set, on call twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year. Marie looked at the ashen-faced boy and prayed they would send the best they had.

* * *

Hugh Mackenzie studied Laura’s notes on Freddie Shields, asking questions as he read. When he came to the end, he gave them a broad smile. ‘Fascinating! What an interesting subject he is.’

‘Do you believe that these terrifying episodes are real?’ asked Laura.

‘Not for one moment,’ Hugh said, a hint of mischief in his expression.

Laura was speechless.

‘But my word, am I looking forward to meeting him.’

Laura and Sam looked at each other. ‘Hughie, you are a breath of fresh air!’ Sam said. ‘We had our doubts about him, but he was so convincing. He completely took in the GP he’d been seeing for years.’

‘Well, I’m a suspicious old sod by nature, but what I see here is a calculating mind. To serve his own ends, he’s drawn on a common childhood condition that he probably did have, and he’s done one hell of a lot of research into adult somnambulism. What those ends were, the police will have to find out. They’re going to have a very interesting case to solve. And, if you’ve no objection, I’d like to be part of it. Unless I’m hopelessly wrong, which I never am, they’re going to be in sore need of an expert witness.’