Page 54 of She Saw What He Did

‘That’s so kind of you. We would, but Martha has a birthday party this afternoon.’

‘Maybe next time’ said Daphne, strapping Sam into the car seat.

Sam waved to Martha.

‘I’m having pizza later,’ she called gaily.

It was hot in the car and she was pleased when her nana put the air conditioning on. Daphne drove the car slowly along the country lanes. She didn’t like the bends and was always more nervous when she had Sam with her. Sam pointed out the grazing cattle as they passed and wrinkled her nose at the smell of cow manure.

‘Are you hungry?’ asked Daphne. ‘I have some crisps here …’

Her eyes went to the rear-view mirror to look at Sam and she grimaced at how close a white Fiesta was. That always made Daphne nervous, especially when she slowed down at the bends. Joe was always telling her not to worry about the driver behind. This car was far too close, and she decided to pull over at the next lay-by and let it pass.

‘Are we nearly there?’ asked Sam.

‘What was that, love?’ asked Daphne, her attention on the Fiesta.

‘Are we nearly there?’ Sam asked again, crunching on her crisps.

Daphne wished she could get onto a wider road, so the Fiesta could overtake her. The road was deserted, and Daphne realised her hands were shaking. She pushed her foot down on the accelerator. She couldn’t go too fast, not on these roads. She knew that further up there was a lay-by and the sooner she got there the better. But Daphne needn’t have worried as the Fiesta was indicating to overtake her and she let out a small sigh of relief. The Fiesta zoomed past.

‘Thank goodness,’ said Daphne, about to pull into the lay-by.

Then she realised the Fiesta had stopped and she quickly stamped her foot onto the brake.

‘Nana?’ said Sam from behind, as the bag of crisps was thrown from her hands.

‘It’s okay,’ said Daphne, but she knew everything was far from okay.

A man had climbed from the car and was walking quickly towards them. For a moment Daphne couldn’t understand it. There was something wrong with his face. As he got closer she realised. He was wearing a clown mask. It was quite chilling because beneath his clown face there was nothing clown-like about him at all. He had on tatty jeans and a grubby oversize jacket. He was holding a bunch of balloons in one hand.

Daphne went to lock the doors, but it was too late, and he yanked the driver’s door so forcefully that she felt sure she heard something crack.

‘Don’t make a scene,’ he said in a low deep voice.

The man opened his jacket slightly and Daphne saw the sawn-off shotgun. Her eyes widened in shock. Once the man was sure Daphne had seen it, he closed the jacket. Daphne’s heart lurched when she thought of Sam in the back seat. ‘Don’t hurt us,’ she whispered, her voice trembling.

‘No one will get hurt if you do everything I say,’ said the man.

‘Hello,’ he said, leaning in to Sam who sat mesmerised in the back seat.

‘Do you like balloons?’ he asked.

Sam nodded mutely.

‘You can have these if you like.’

Sam looked at Daphne who nodded. Sam reached for the balloons, but he pulled his hand back.

‘You have to do a swap,’ he said.

Daphne looked to her bag on the passenger seat.

‘Don’t even think about it,’ he said, snatching up the handbag and throwing it into the back.

‘You have a nice pretty box don’t you Sam?’

Sam stared at the balloons.

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