Dad wakes me up early, way before I’m ready to get up. My head feels like someone packed it with candyfloss. I can’t grasp what’s going on.
The young policeman is back; the same one that came about the ring. This time there’s a woman with him and they’re asking me about Raven. Where did we part company? What time was it? Did I see anyone in the vicinity? I can’t get my thoughts together. It’s barely seven o’clock. My feet look white and frozen on the kitchen tiles.
‘I’ve told her – I don’t know how many times,’ Mum is saying. ‘Call us. Get a taxi. Is the girl all right?’
Apparently, just a few minutes after I left her, someone jumped Raven in a quiet street, knocked her to the ground and tried to strangle her. My heart jumps and seems to stop.
‘Don’t worry too much,’ the policewoman is saying. ‘She’s all right. Banged her head and she’s very frightened, but the man ran off. We just need to ask you a few things in case you can help us.’
The questions are detailed and I can’t answer any of them. I don’t remember anything being wrong. I don’t remember anyone else on the street. I can’t help them.
‘Did Raven say what he looked like?’ I ask. ‘Will it help you to catch him?’
‘She said he was “smelly’’,’ the policewoman says. ‘Otherwise it all happened too quickly.’
After they’ve gone, I call Raven. She’s awake, but she’s been up all night and sounds wiped. ‘I’m okay,’ she says. ‘But Coo – Joe told me about your bloke. He’s a tramp, right? Well, I think this guy was too. You don’t think it was him, do you? Should I say something?’
I pause for only a moment. ‘Tell them what you like. I’m just so glad you’re okay. You could have been killed.’
‘Yeah,’ she says. ‘I guess I could. But it’s you I’m worried about. You’re the one hanging around with these people. You could be next.’
‘You don’t know it was any of them,’ I say, and she doesn’t answer for a minute, but when she does I can hear the tears in her voice. ‘It was horrible, Coo. He was growling at me.’
I hang up and let her sleep. I stand there while my heart races in my chest. ‘He was growling,’ she said. Maybe in the dark, Alec made a mistake. Maybe if it was me he’d caught, I wouldn’t have got away?