She stopped and moved her arms, testing that she was free.

What was she going to do? She looked at the door, her eyes drawn to the handle. She should wait a moment, recover her strength, then dash out of the door and get away from here. She didn’t know where she was but it didn’t matter. Once she was out of this car she would be free and she could deal with whatever came next.

It would be child-locked. The kidnapper would have seen to that.

Her only option was a direct attack. She gave a weak groan, like someone in distress, and manoeuvred herself slowly and silently into a crouching position.

Then she launched herself at the back of the black hood, smashing her elbow against the driver’s head.

It banged hard against the steering wheel and she fell forward, her hips and legs getting caught on the passenger seat. She lifted her arm, remembering what Brenda had told her. Hard as you can. Don’t hold back. You’ll only get one chance.

She swung, and the kidnapper slipped away from her, twisting in the seat. One hand shot up and grabbed her around the neck. The other slammed into her sternum and pushed her slowly backwards.

The hand around her neck started to squeeze.

She looked out of the window. Maybe someone would be seeing this.

There was no one. She watched the traffic light turn green.

‘Sorry,’ a low, rasping voice said, and then the world went black.

PART THREE

Sunday, 8 March 2020, 5.50 p.m.

Why did she do that? Why?

It is so irritating. I did not want to hurt her, not at all, but she gave me no choice. Was I supposed to let her hit me? What if someone saw? This would all be over. She would have ruined it.

Stupid Annabelle. Stupid, stupid Annabelle.

She could have made this easy, but now she will have to suffer. I cannot risk that again. Maybe she is a bit confused. I will explain it to her and she will forgive me. She will understand.

But I am not sure I do.

I am left with a question: why did she do that? Why did she try to ruin this?

It is not what I expected.

And that makes me nervous.

Annabelle

It was the pain in her shoulder that brought her round. At first she just had the sensation that something was hurting, that maybe she was sleeping awkwardly, lying on her arm in an uncomfortable position. Then she started to think no, it was worse than that, it really hurt, and then she was not sleeping at all.

Because the pain in her shoulder wasn’t bad any more. It was excruciating.

It all came back to her: the attempt to attack the driver, the hands around her neck, the certainty that she was being choked to death, and then the fade to black.