20
Sam Leadbetter never knew what sudden urgency drove him to push aside his writing and immediately leg it out for Hannah’s house. He only knew that the need was as imperative as a sneeze, something he couldn’t have stopped and had no control over. And that he had to prevent her: Hannah, at the moment, was dangerous, volatile, and liable to go off at any moment, with who could say what disastrous consequences?
He could have saved himself fifteen minutes if he’d been able to cut across the playing fields and use the gate near the house. But even Sam didn’t entertain the possibility of scaling the school’s chainlink fencing, behind which grew a robust hawthorn hedge – and to drive via the ring road would add at least fifteen minutes. No alternative but to walk along Kelsey Road and turn r
