able to reach the nearest branch but Julie was too small. She imagined her sister tumbling like a rag doll to the ground and slammed the window closed. A policeman stood up from behind a car and stared up at her. He was holding a gun and wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest. She needed to signal to him that Victor was the gunman.
It was Julie’s idea to make a sign and display it from the window. She tore the sides off the cover from the Trivial Pursuits box. She found a red pen in Jack’s desk and wrote the words VICTOR COYNE HAS THE GUN!!! in letters so large they covered all the white space. Isobel would need to put it up high so that the policeman would see it above the branches.
She shoved the coffee table under the window and stood on top of it. She had to concentrate on attracting his attention. When Julie handed her the sign, she stretched her arms upwards to display it. Leaning too far forward, she lost her balance. She tried to grab the window frame to steady herself but it was too late. The sound she made as she crashed to the floor was like a roll of thunder. The sign flew from her hands and landed at Julie’s feet.
Footsteps crossed the hall. Victor was coming to get them. What had he done to their mother? He wouldn’t leave Sophy on her own. She would grab the nearest weapon and strike him dead if she had a chance to do so. Isobel clenched her teeth at the thought of Victor aiming the gun at her mother. That couldn’t have happened or she would have heard the shot. The wave of fear was rolling higher than ever as she grabbed Julie’s hand and ran towards the trunk. No – that would be the first place he’d look. He was climbing the stairs as they fled across the landing and into the bedroom with the dust sheets. That first night she had spied on Jack, it had seemed like a haunted room. Now, it had become their refuge. They wriggled under a bed and held on to each other.
He entered Jack’s living room and came out again. The sign. She had left it on the floor. She thought it fell face down but she couldn’t be sure. He opened the door. She could see his shoes. He was standing perfectly still. He could move so silently yet at other times it sounded as if he was marching with an army behind him. Dust gathered in her nostrils. Decades of dust. When she sneezed, it must have been the loudest sound in the world.
He grabbed one of her legs and pulled her out. She tried to hold on to the bedpost but her fingers slid away. She lay on the ground and tried to stop sneezing.
‘Julie’s not here!’ she managed to gasp between sneezes. ‘She’s escaped.’
He bent down almost teasingly and pointed his gun under the bed.
‘Out you come, crazy girl,’ he said and laughed loudly when Julie crawled out. Once, Isobel believed she knew him. He was wearing a mask then, one that showed affection and interest in her as a person. In reality, she had been nothing to him. His real face was set with hate. It told her everything that he intended to do to them. When she screamed it was impossible to stop. Even when he threatened to shoot her if she didn’t control herself, she was unable to do so. Julie bent and picked up Peeper. He wriggled and tried to escape because he was only used to Isobel handling him. Without speaking, Julie shoved him into Isobel’s arms. The rub of his fur, his nose nudging against her hand, forced her to concentrate on what was most important. Courage. It was the only way they would win. When she had caught her breath and fallen silent, Victor walked them down the stairs in front of him.
The hall smelled like Clonmoore Superfast Garage. Then she saw it: a can of petrol beside the door of the den. It hadn’t been there earlier. Isobel would have smelled it before now, especially as the top was off. That meant Victor had left her parents alone while he brought it into the house. How could he have done that, unless… She felt the scream coming again and held tighter to Peeper.
‘Keep moving!’ He sounded as if he was talking to himself.