“I know.” Harper glanced at her quickly. “I know what he could have done.” She took a deep breath. “I guess we have to go in, don’t we.” Harper conceded.

“That’s really your only choice,” Detective Springer said with a nod, then he smiled politely at the waitress who brought him a cup of coffee. “Thanks.”

“Are you ready to order?” she asked, looking between the three of them.

“Just coffee for now,” Harper said dismissively.

“I couldn’t possibly eat anything,” Dani said. She was having a hard enough time swallowing the coffee. She picked up the cup, absently glancing out the window toward the parking lot. The scream got lodged in her throat as she dropped the cup, spilling coffee across the table. The clown was pressed against the window, his nose smashed on the glass as he peered inside, looking for her.

Harper jumped up, running for the door. Dani was paralyzed with fear as Detective Springer jumped up too.

“What the hell’s going on?”

She pointed, her hand shaking. “He was…he was there…looking in.”

“The clown?”

Dani nodded. “Yes…the clown.”

Their waitress hurried over with a towel and started cleaning up the coffee. “Don’t you worry about the mess. I just hope your friend didn’t get scalded,” she said with a smile. “You probably hear this all the time, but you look just like Danielle Stevens.”

Dani smiled back at her, summoning up her best Tennessee twang. “I’ve heard that before, but she’s much prettier than I am.”

“Oh, honey, I don’t think so. She wears too much makeup. I like the fresh look myself.”

“Well, thank you.”

“Should I bring you another cup?”

“No, no,” Dani said quickly. “We’re leaving. But thank you.”

Detective Springer pulled out some bills and tossed them on the table, then he took her elbow and led her toward the door. Harper opened it, then motioned them out.

“No sign of him,” Harper said, directing the statement at her.

“I’m not surprised.”

“I didn’t even see him,” Detective Springer said.

“I swear, he’s like a goddamn ghost. Come look what he left us.”

Tied to the car was a balloon, identical to the one left in the house.

“Have a nice day? Really? I’ll give him this, he’s got a sense of humor,” Detective Springer said.

“Yeah. Same balloon that we found in the house,” Harper said.

Dani grabbed Harper’s arm and squeezed. “Look,” she said, pointing to the car. “The doll is gone.”

Harper tried the back door, but it was still locked. “Like I said…a ghost. Maybe there was a tracking device in the doll. That’s how he found us here.”

“Then why take the doll?”

“I don’t know. Hell, I don’t know anything anymore.”