I try to imagine the terror Isobel must have felt faced with someone as unstable as Grace’s father.

‘He came at me,’ she says, her eyes red from crying. ‘He was a huge man, tall and broad, a soldier. And I was just … I was just a kid. I thought he was going to kill me. I swear I did.’

‘What about Steve?’ I say, trying to keep calm. ‘Didn’t he … didn’t he try to help you?’

‘It all happened so fast,’ she says, her face stricken. ‘I didn’t really know what I was doing, just that I had to stop him, so I … I … reached down and I grabbed the gun. It was big and unwieldy, but I managed to get a grip on it. Jesus, I’d never held a gun in my life.’

She shakes her head and looks down at the floor once more. After a moment’s pause she resumes her story.

‘He … he went to grab it from me, grabbed me from behind,’ she says, glancing up at me. ‘I felt his fingers curl round the trigger. He was going to kill me, I was certain of it. So I spun round to face him and … and then there was this almighty blast and he … he fell down.’

‘What did you do then?’ I ask, trying to imagine someone as slight and demure as Isobel being capable of shooting a man as formidable as Grace’s father.

‘It was all a blur,’ she says, pulling her knees up to her chest protectively. ‘I was panicking so much I thought I might have a heart attack. Steve and I just stood there for what seemed like for ever but can only have been a few minutes. He just kept saying, over and over again, “What have you done, Isobel, what the hell have you done?”’

She stops, closes her eyes and starts to cry again.

‘Then we just grabbed each other’s hands and started to run,’ she says, her voice barely audible through the sobs.

44

‘We ran all the way back to the village until we reached Steve’s car. Then we drove back to the edge of the wood and sat there, trying to think what to do.’

Isobel’s voice cracks again and she takes a deep breath before carrying on.

‘I told Steve that I’d go back to the vicarage and tell my father what had happened,’ she says, her voice steadying. ‘I said I’d tell him that Grace’s dad had attacked me and I’d acted in self-defence but Steve grabbed my arm and told me I mustn’t do that, that if I did then there was a possibility I’d go to jail. He couldn’t let that happen. So … so then …’

She looks up at the ceiling, closes her eyes, then – as though confessing her sins to some greater being – continues to speak.

‘He told me to stay where I was and keep a lookout for anyone coming. If I saw anyone I was to tell them we’d broken down and that the AA were on their way. “Whatever you do, Isobel,” he said to me as he got out of the car, “make sure you send them on their way, do you understand?” I nodded my head, though the truth was I could barely hear a word he was saying. My ears were ringing with the aftershock of gunfire. I don’t know whether you’ve ever heard a gun go off at close range?’ She opens her eyes and turns to me.