Luke rubbed at his eyes and slapped his cheek. He’d covered too many miles over the last week, with too little sleep, and the last thing he wanted was to fall asleep and come off the road so close to home.

‘I’ve got to take the hire car back to England,’ Luke had said to his mother on Monday morning, having come to some clear decisions during the previous night, when sleep had eluded him. ‘Then I’ll get us a bigger car. There’s an MPV for sale near Dublin – a private cash sale, so I think we’ll be safe enough. We can all fit in that. It means a couple of days away though. Are you okay to keep an eye on the kids?’

His mum had smiled at him, so much more relaxed now they were settling in to the new house, and that in itself made everything he had put his family through worth it.

‘Okay, love. That’s not a bad idea. The kids will be fine here, in fact, I think you’d have trouble tearing them away.’

Luke knew she was right; his children were having a wonderful time with their cousins, the four of them running around like a little herd of wild animals after the restrictions of the journey and the stress they’d been under for so long. After all, it wasn’t just the adults in the family who’d had to abide by Ted’s rules, it was the children too, and although Luke knew Ted loved his nephews and nieces, his love was so oppressive they hardly dared to speak out of turn. Now he could hear them all laughing and shrieking as they ran round the field outside, playing a game of chase.

The noise of them, that innocent laughter, was enough to fire up his resolve. He knew what he had to do, and even though his mother wouldn’t approve, it was the only solution.

Late on Monday night, he rang his mother to check that everything was okay with the children and to find out what Ted had been up to.

‘It’s nearly done,’ she confirmed, relief in her voice. ‘Mel has been taken away by the police. Ted’s just got to hand in the bag of clothes, then he’s more or less finished.’

‘Great, Mum. Well, I’m going to turn in for the night, I’ll let you know when I’m on my way back, okay?’

He said his goodbyes and hung up, but didn’t go straight to bed. He had one more call to make that night, while his nerve held. He rang the Crimestoppers number he’d found online.

‘I’ve got some information,’ he said when the operator answered. His dilemma formed a hard knot in his stomach. Am I doing the right thing? He remembered his mother’s words, her tales of how Ted had controlled every aspect of their lives, not letting them have their own money, or even leave the farm. Isolating them from friends and cutting off contact from all their local connections. He remembered how he’d been moved to tears by the fact that his family had uprooted themselves for him, to help him resolve his problems.

They did that for him.

Now he had to do this for them.

‘It’s about a cannabis farm in Gwynedd, North Wales. It’s run by a man called Edward Roberts.’ He took a deep breath and answered all the questions and when he disconnected he sat for a long time, letting the enormity of what he’d done sink in.

By Wednesday lunchtime, Luke had managed to pick up the car in Dublin and was on his way back south when his phone started to ring. He answered straight away – there was only one person who had this number, and that was his mum. His gut twisted, unsure why she’d need to contact him.

‘Hey, Mum, everything okay?’

‘Oh, Luke. Where are you?’ Her voice was shaking, panicky, and he knew there was a problem. ‘I thought you’d be back by now.’

The tone of her voice grabbed the back of his neck like an icy hand. ‘I’m on my way. What’s wrong?’

‘They’ve found us. The police. They were at the door. A man and a woman.’ He could hear the short gasps of her breath, as if she’d been running. ‘What are we going to do?’

Luke’s pulse quickened, his mind searching for an answer that might calm her down. ‘What? Are you sure?’

‘Well, it was Ceri who opened the door. The woman asked for you and Ceri realised that nobody knew you were here. So, she denied any knowledge and shut the door.’

Christ! How did they track me down so quickly? A flush of heat surged through his body, sweat gathering on his brow. ‘And they were definitely police?’ He pulled into a layby, wanting to focus on the conversation. This was the worst news. The very worst.

‘Well, she didn’t give them time to say. They weren’t in uniform or anything and not Irish. But who else would be asking for you here?’

Luke had to admit that the logic was sound. He couldn’t think of anyone else who’d be knocking on their door. The police. Already? He closed his eyes, telling himself not to panic as adrenaline coursed round his body. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought. Maybe Ceri had got it wrong. Misheard or something, her worry about them being found making her hear things that hadn’t been said. That was possible, wasn’t it?

‘Mum, I’m almost at Cork. I’ll be there as fast as I can.’ He gathered his breath, a whole herd of thoughts galloping through his mind as he tried to decide what he should do to keep his family safe. ‘Don’t worry, just keep an eye out and don’t open the door to anyone.’

‘Okay, Luke. You take care now.’ There was a tremor in her voice and he knew he’d done little to ease her panic. ‘Don’t go driving too fast. I couldn’t cope if you had an accident.’

Luke thought the possibility of an accident was probably the least of his worries. ‘I’m sure it’s all okay, Mum. See you soon.’

He ended the call and screeched away from the kerb.

They found me. How the hell did that happen?

His heart was racing, panic searing through his body as he ran through everything in his head, trying to work it out. His plan was in pieces, the risks he’d taken all for nothing. How has it all gone wrong?

Ted. That was the obvious answer. He was always the weakest link and his mother’s insistence that he should be involved, that the timings wouldn’t work without him, had proved to be their undoing. He was pretty sure Ted would have had an uncomfortable encounter with the police by now after the call to Crimestoppers. Maybe Ted had told the police that they’d escaped, told them about their new identities. He’d do that, wouldn’t he? And once the police knew they were alive, well, it was simple to check through family connections and that would lead them to the house.

Luke clenched his teeth and snarled at the naivety of them all. Ted had known too much. And now he’d put them all in danger. Or did I do that myself? It had been Luke’s decision to get the drug squad involved. Had that been his downfall? What goes around comes around, he reminded himself, and he knew that none of them were blameless. All of them had made decisions that had led them down this dead-end. There had never been an easy solution, no miracle cure to ease their desperation.

As he approached the suburbs of Cork, he knew what he had to do. There was only one way to keep his family safe and he had to be brave and just do it. He stopped the car, checked the map on his phone, and found the place he was looking for. Easy enough to get there, he realised, memorising the directions. With his jaw set, he ticked off the left turns and the right turns in his head until the building he was looking for was there, in front of him. He parked in a visitor’s space, took a deep breath and walked through the doors.

The person at the desk looked up, his Garda uniform crisp and tidy, an enquiring expression on his face.

‘I’m Luke Roberts. I’m visiting relatives and I’ve just been told that the police in Cumbria are looking for me.’