‘Tommy, this isn’t the time for—’ Nancy began, but he held out his hand and spoke over her.

‘Then give it to me,’ he insisted. ‘I’m not fooling around, I know what I’m doing.’

Baffled and uncertain, she delved into her bag and hunted around in its contents for her precious store of Kirby grips. They’d been a present from Gary. Well, if Tommy could make use of them to free her son, it would be the best present he’d ever given her. She thrust them into Tommy’s hand. ‘What do you want them for?’

‘Wait and see.’

Tommy steadied himself so that he was at the level of the lock and gently extended one of the grips. He forced himself to breathe slowly and evenly, as he’d been taught, to keep his hand steady. Carefully he manipulated the narrow prong of metal until he heard the clicks he’d been waiting for. Cautiously he tried the door. It moved.

‘Let’s go in and keep as quiet as we can,’ he suggested, and the pair of them swiftly edged inside the damp, cold shed.

There was barely any light penetrating from the cobweb-covered small window, but it was enough to see Georgie, in his blue pyjamas, standing back from the door just as Tommy had told him to. His cheeks were smeared with grime and his hair stood up on end, but otherwise he looked unhurt. His face broke into a delighted smile and he ran into his mother’s arms, hugging her tightly as she picked him up and spun him round. ‘I knew you’d come,’ he said. ‘The bad man shut me in here and said you’d never find me, but I knew you would.’

Nancy came to a stop and set him down gently. ‘It was Tommy who found you,’ she said. ‘He’s very clever, he knew exactly where you’d be.’

Georgie beamed up at his idol and Tommy ruffled the little boy’s hair. ‘All right, scamp?’ he said. ‘Sorry it took us a while.’

Nancy looked around the mean little shed. There were some sacks in the corner, pushed into a heap, but not much else. ‘Did you sleep over there?’ she asked anxiously. ‘Are you all right, the man didn’t hurt you, did he? Did he give you anything to eat or drink?’

‘No,’ said Georgie, the corners of his mouth turning down. ‘Mammy, I’m cold and hungry. Have you got any food?’

‘Let’s see,’ said Nancy, but she knew it would be a fruitless search. Her bag contained some money and items of make-up, but she hadn’t thought to put in anything else, anything useful.

Tommy dug around in his pocket and drew out a stick of liquorice wrapped in a paper bag. ‘Here you go, scamp.’