‘Yes, Flick was in the queue for one of the rides – it was huge and so I just said I would go and come back rather than us both losing our spot.’

‘What did he do? Did he hurt you?’

‘No, nothing like that.’

‘Then what?’

‘He just said he wanted to talk, he grabbed my arm and he was crying, it was all really weird.’

‘That fucking snake. Wait ’til I tell your father; he’s going to go ballistic,’ Lisa said through her teeth.

‘It’s fine, I don’t think he will bother me again,’ Jasmine said, mostly to convince herself. He hadn’t got the message and it was clear he had no intention of giving up – she had been able to tell that much from those few terrifying moments with him.

‘And he just let you go? He didn’t do anything … sexual?’

‘Mum!’

‘You know what I mean, Jazz.’

Jasmine looked over towards Tim, still standing quietly with his arms folded. ‘Tim was there, he stopped him. I think he scared the shit out of him. Mr Morrell ran off and Tim brought me home.’

‘Why the hell didn’t you tell us?’ Lisa snapped at Tim angrily.

‘I begged him not to. He told me I should tell you guys. I was just afraid you would lose it completely,’ Jasmine said. Tim didn’t seem particularly bothered by Lisa’s outburst as he maintained his same casual stance in the doorway.

‘I’m sorry, Mrs B, I just didn’t want to break Jasmine’s trust like that. She was pretty upset at the time and I didn’t want to make things worse.’

‘So you broke our trust instead?’ Lisa said. It was the first time Jasmine had seen her annoyed with Tim.

‘Don’t be mad at him. If he hadn’t been there, I don’t know what would have happened. I just heard on the news that a girl went missing after the fair. You don’t think it was Mr Morrell, do you?’

‘We’ll have to speak to the police,’ Lisa said, her demeanour suddenly calmer, as if she had somehow accepted the situation was resolved. ‘Is there anything else you haven’t told me?’

‘No, that’s it. I swear.’

‘I had better call your dad to come back for when you speak to the police. You shouldn’t be keeping secrets from us, Jasmine.’