Page 15 of Then She Vanished

She shook her head. ‘No, I just want this over with.’

Molly and Rona both sat back down, and Molly turned to face Gina, who could see the pain etched in the girl’s face. ‘He came in a few weeks ago when you weren’t at the library, Mum. I can’t remember when. Maybe it was the beginning of August. I was just reading after school for a bit, actually I was meant to meet Paul from school to do homework, but he bailed on me.’

‘Did that creep hurt you?’ Rona clenched her fists.

Molly slammed her hand on the coffee table. ‘I need to tell this my way, okay?’

Rona nodded and pulled out a scrunched-up tissue from her pocket, then dabbed the corners of her eyes.

‘When he came into the library that day, he gave me his number. He said his daughter had been really depressed and that he’d told her about me. He said she was really excited to meet me. I asked for her number, too, but he said she didn’t have a phone. He said that she was really sick and that phones made her worse – something to do with microwaves – but she could use his phone for a little while. I didn’t really understand.’

Rage surged inside Gina, but she managed to contain it as Jacob continued noting everything down. ‘What happened next?’

‘We messaged back and forth over the next few days. He sent me photos of their dog and their house, and he asked if I’d like to watch a film and have a takeaway with his daughter one night. I said yes.’

‘Did he mention her name?’ Gina hoped he did.

‘Yes, her name is Luna.’

‘Did he say how old she is?’

‘No, just that she was about my age and he wanted us to be friends.’

‘And after you and he messaged, what happened then?’

Molly began to scratch her head, then she hunched over, elbows on her knees. ‘Mum, I didn’t mean for it to happen.’

Rona wrapped an arm around her daughter. ‘Whatever happened is not your fault, okay?’

The girl sat back up and nodded, her red, puffy eyes stark. ‘He said he’d pick me up one evening that weekend. I waited at the bus stop on Cleevesford High Street. He pulled up and I got in his car. He was meant to bring the dog with him – he messaged to say he’d just left the park with the dog. I didn’t think about it at first, but as soon as he pulled off, I thought,where is the dog? I asked him and he laughed, saying he’d dropped the dog off at a friend’s house. It didn’t make sense. He pulled over on a country lane and I asked him why. That’s when he…’

‘You’re doing really well, love.’ Rona’s hands were shaking.

‘He told me he really liked me and that he thought that I liked him, too. I tried to laugh it off, and I said that Luna would be waiting for us. He put his hand on my leg and I froze. I looked around and it was almost dark. There were just country lanesahead and behind and I didn’t know how I’d get home if I ran out of the car.’

Rona sniffed. ‘You can call me anytime from anywhere, you know that. I will always come.’

‘I know, but I knew you’d be angry that I got in his car, especially as I knew you didn’t like him. When I asked if Luna was expecting us, he shrugged like she suddenly didn’t matter. I knew then that something was seriously wrong. He grabbed me, but I hit him, then I opened the car door and ran. He tried to chase me, but I hid behind a tree for about an hour. He kept shouting for me to come back; that he only wanted me to go to his house to meet Luna, that she was expecting me. A part of me felt like I’d gone way over the top. He called again, saying he didn’t mean to accidentally touch my leg, and to come back, that I wouldn’t be able to find my way back to Cleevesford, and that he’d take me straight home if I wanted him to. I felt stupid by this time. My mind kept replaying when he’d touched me and I thought that maybe it was an accident, but I didn’t want to be near him so I kept quiet. Eventually he left.’

‘Where did you go then?’ Gina wondered how Molly had got home.

‘I kept walking in the dark until I found a road sign.’

‘And which road did you end up on?’

‘Hereford Lane. I called Paul, begging him to come and get me. Paul is seventeen and he has a car. He picked me up and he dropped me home. I told him that I’d been seeing a friend and I couldn’t find a bus stop. He looked at me like I was on another planet, but he was also meeting a boy he fancied so he was eager to drop me off. Mum,’ – she turned to Rona – ‘you were at Betty’s house.’

Rona piped up. ‘Betty is my neighbour. She lost her husband earlier this year and I have been spending a lot of time with her.’

‘Anyway, when Paul dropped me off, I had a shower and went to bed, and it was then I decided I didn’t want to meet up with Luna or see Calvin again. I was angry with myself for getting into his car, and I was so ashamed because even I know it was a stupid thing to do, but I trusted him. After that night, all I wanted to do was forget about it and move on.’

Gina cleared her drying throat. Her mind had been whirring with how terrified Molly must have felt. ‘Molly, you’ve been through a traumatic event. PC Benton here’ – she nodded to the PC – ‘will inform you of what help there is available because you’ve been through a lot.’ Gina paused. ‘Do you still have the messages he sent you?’

‘I deleted them as I didn’t want Mum to see them. I also got a new phone with a new number three weeks ago. I downloaded a few things onto my computer to transfer over, but did a factory reset on the old one, which I sold to a second-hand shop.’

‘Was it a contract phone?’ Gina knew they could contact the service provider for the messages, and that would give them a date of when Molly was in John Doe’s car.

Molly looked at her mum and shrugged.

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