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noticed any strange adults paying her too much attention recently?”
    I shook my head. There was nothing like that. She’d just disappeared.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SIX
     
     
    It wasn’t as hot as summer, but Lindsey had a sheen of sweat on her forehead and the back of her neck. Cars whizzed past her, rumbling and farting black smoke from their tail pipes. She held her breath each time she heard a car coming up behind her. She tried to keep it in until the smoke had gone away.
    She walked home this way every day. A shortcut went through the veld , and she liked the veld much more than the road. Her mom said she shouldn’t go that way, but it was fine, she always did.
    She shrugged so she could move her book bag and let some air between her school dress and her skin. Her fingers brushed against the pocket at her hip and she felt the lump under the thin fabric.
    It was the letter Billy le Roux had given her before the netball game. She’d slipped it into her pocket and forgotten all about it. She reached in and pulled the little wad of paper out. He’d folded it neatly so that it made a little envelope, and he’d drawn a pink heart under her name.
    Lindsey smiled before unfolding the letter and reading it. She turned onto the path that led through the veld , her eyes glued to the letter, her feet following the trail.
    She giggled when she got to the part about how he had wanted to hold her hand during the swimming gala that week. Billy was super cute. Jenny and Carmen would be so jealous.
    A cricket hopped across the path in front of Lindsey and she jumped when she heard its wings zip together as it went past.
    “You don’t have to be afraid.” A man’s voice came from behind her. Lindsey spun around to see who was talking to her. It was a black man. He was tall and thin. He smiled at her but he didn’t look happy.
    “I wasn’t scared,” Lindsey said. “Just didn’t want it to touch me.”
    “What’s that?” The man pointed at Billy’s letter and Lindsey hid it behind her back.
    “Nothing. A letter.” Would he tell her mom she had a boyfriend? She didn’t want to get into trouble.
    “Do you know the way to the Spar?” the man asked.
    “Uh… it’s that way I think.” Lindsey pointed to the road that passed the veld and went to the big shopping center.
    “Do you want to go get a cool drink?” The man held out his hand, the fake smile on his face grew wider.
    “I need to go home.” Lindsey shoved the letter into her pocket without folding it, the paper creased beneath her fingers.
    Lindsey’s heart felt light and heavy at the same time. Sweat beaded her skin beneath her dress.
    This man was dangerous. The way he looked at her made her feel like a bird being stalked by a cat. She had to get away from him.
    She started walking along the path again. His footsteps crunched in the sand behind her.
    “I need you to show me the way,” the man said.
    Lindsey walked faster. She held onto the straps of her book bag to stop it from bouncing and hitting into her back.
    “It’s rude not to help someone when they ask you,” he said.
    Lindsey started running. She didn’t care if she was rude. Her mother had always told her not to go anywhere with strangers and this man made her scared. His footsteps thundered through the dirt close behind her. Laughter echoed over his steps. It was not a nice laugh. It made her want to cry, but she wouldn’t let him see her cry.
    She plunged off the path, into the grass. It was almost up to her tummy. A row of trees stood on the edge of the veld ; if she could climb really high he might not get to her.
    Something pulled on her shoulders and her legs shot out in front of her. She twisted to the left as she fell, and threw her hands out to the sides. A sharp crack sounded in her wrist right before she crashed into the hard clumps of grass. Hot pain burned up her arm, followed by a white light that flashed in front of her eyes. Her arm was so sore that she gasped