“That’s right. ‘My Silver Lining.’ It just seemed odd that someone would be playing that song so loud in the middle of the night. I could hear it clearly because when the car slowed down . . .”

“Slowed down?” said Annie.

“Yes. I distinctly heard it slow down. The engine changed sound, and that’s when I could hear the music even louder for a while as if . . .”

“As if what?”

“As if someone opened the door or something, just for a moment. Which they must have done because it closed a few seconds later. And I thought I heard laughing and yelling or whooping, but I’m not sure about that.”

“So the car actually stopped for a while?”

“No, I don’t think it stopped. At least, the engine never stopped. Just slowed down. It sounded as if it skidded a bit first. I heard the tires squeal a little. It must have been going fast. Maybe it idled for a short while. I don’t know. All I know is, it shot off again just a few moments later, after the door slammed shut. Burning rubber, as they say. And the music went back to what it was like before.”

“How much later?” Annie asked. “This could be important, Mandy.”

Mandy bit her lip. “Not long. I mean, seconds, not minutes. It was very fast.”

“You seem to have a remarkable ear for details,” Annie said. “Did you hear anything else?”

“Well, I was just lying or sitting there in the dark with the windows open. You tend to notice every little sound, don’t you, every creak and animal noise. I didn’t hear anything else for a while. I went to the toilet, and when I got back to bed, a short while later I heard another car. No music this time. But it was odd, two cars out there so close together in one night.”

“How much later?”

“I’m not sure. Not long. About ten or fifteen minutes after the first one.”

“Again, this could be important, Mandy. Think carefully. Was it the same car as the one before? Did it sound the same? Could you tell?”

Mandy frowned in concentration. “I don’t think so,” she said finally. “I think it sounded different. But honestly, I couldn’t really tell. I’m not good at mechanical things.”

“What did the second car do?”

“It stopped.”

“Completely?”

“Yes. I couldn’t even hear the engine, but I could still see the glow from the headlamps through the trees.”

“And it started up again?”

“A few minutes later.”

Bingo, thought Annie. That was long enough to beat the girl to death. The second car, coming from the same direction ten or fifteen minutes later, when she had managed to stagger half a mile or so back up the road after being thrown naked out of a van.

“Did you hear anything during the time it was stopped?”