Page 60 of A Merry Little Christmas
‘What the hell was hedoing?’ Penny looked white as a sheet.
‘I don’t know. He was virtually tailgating me from the moment we drove away from the school.’ I leaned forward, peering at the black car as it vanished into the distance. There was something about it that seemed familiar.
‘Total maniac!’ exclaimed Penny. ‘Honestly, there are so manyangry, impatientpeopleon the roads these days, it’s really quite scary.’
I murmured my agreement.
But when I parked outside the house and got out of the car, my legs were shaking so much I had to lean against the door for a second to steady myself.
I’d recognised the vehicle that had deliberately cut us up back there. It had a roof rack that wasn’t quite straight.
It was the same car that had mounted the pavement that night outside my flat and almost mown me down...
*****
A little later, after Penny had gone out to meet Tom, I sat in the living room and tried to watch TV. But I couldn’t concentrate – I just kept thinking about that car and who could have been behind the wheel – and eventually, I switched the TV off and went through to the kitchen to make some tea.
Was someone intent on harming me? Or at least scaring me?
But who?
It made no sense at all, and in the end, I decided I must have been mistaken in thinking that the aggressive driver on my tail tonight was the same one who’d driven at me on the pavement a few weeks ago. I’d jumped to a very big conclusion, linking the two in my head.
It hadlookedlike the same car because of the roof rack. But lots of black cars had roof racks. As far as I knew, I didn’t haveany enemies, and certainly no one who would want to hurt me physically – or even psychologically, by scaring me to death.
I was shaking my head at my overactive imagination as I left the kitchen and wandered back to my spot on the sofa. The curtains were still open so I set down my tea and crossed to the window to draw them, and as I did so, I looked out at the street. A dark-coloured car with its lights on was parked right outside the house.
I couldn’t see it properly in the gloom, especially as the car was partly obscured by the low hedge that surrounded Penny’s small front garden. But my heart was suddenly beating very fast. Who was it? And why were the lights on? Was that suspicious? Or was it just my imagination again?
I glanced upwards. Will was in his room. He was mad about cars so he would surely be able to tell me if the car parked outside was also the one that overtook us earlier in such a dangerous manner.
I knocked on the door and explained, and he ran to the window to look out.
‘Yeah, it’s that same car again,’ he confirmed.
‘The same car as the one that overtook us and nearly forced me off the road?’
He nodded. ‘I saw it parked out there once before.’
‘You did?’ A cold hand gripped my insides. ‘Are you sure it was the same one?’
He nodded. ‘I can check in my notebook if you like.’ Picking it up from his bedside table, he leafed through and finally found it. ‘There it is. BMW 4 Series Coupé.’ He reeled off the number plate.
‘Can you see the number plate from up here?’
‘Yup. It’s definitely the same one as last time.’
I swallowed. ‘Have you... do you record the date in your notebook?’
‘Yes. The time as well.’ He told me when it was, and I felt the colour drain from my face.
It was the night Caleb and I had looked after Will while Penny went out with her friends. We’d driven over to Penny’s in my car.
Had the sinister black car been following me that night as well?
*****
I felt my head swim with confusion. Stars were exploding at the sides of my vision and I thought I might faint so I sat down rather suddenly on the end of Will’s bed, my head in my hands.
