Free Dying to Meet You by Patricia Scott

was too late to spoil things for her now.
    She pulled back her shoulders lifted up her chin and smiled bravely back at her tormenters. ‘And I’m going to have such a nice time, ’ she said as she walked away.
    ‘Really! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Remember if you can’t be good, be careful - I’ll be watching out for him!’ Janice giggled. ‘Did you tell your Mum about it?’ She shouted out after Ellie.
    Blushing Ellie hurried away quickly, feeling foolish, she didn’t like telling lies. Especially to Janice. She’d never change, always a bully when she was at school. Ellie wasn’t going to tell her that she was out on a blind date. She would never hear the end of it and if it went wrong she would be teased mercilessly. And Janice would be sure to tell Gordon, and Gordon would tell Mum. And then there would be big trouble.
    She had an awful feeling now that they might try to follow her around. Especially when she was with her date. He wouldn’t like that and now she was really feeling nervous. Even guilty about it.
    What if he was much older than he made out to be? What if an old man turned up? Someone forty or fifty? She clenched her hands and shivered. Maybe even older than that. She’d heard stories about girls who’d dated boys from the internet and they had turned out to be nasty old men. Real pervs. She’d run a mile if he was one of them.
    She started to panic. Should she go back home and pretend it had never happened? He’d think she was scared and had stood him up. She didn’t like doing that to anyone. She looked around amongst the assorted clumps of chattering teenagers and holidaymakers spread out in noisy groups around the machines.
    Thank goodness he didn’t know where she lived. She’d used the phone at the hotel to speak to him. She didn’t want him phoning her at home. But he sounded really nice; his voice warm and friendly on the phone had reassured her. But what could she do if he wasn’t so nice after all? What if he was really ugly? What if he were ever so old? Bald and had bad teeth? Pretend not to see him?
    He might be feeling the same about her too.
    She wanted to see him first. She felt her heart sinking there were so many people around. How could she make out who he really was? Except he would be wearing a rose too.
    ‘Hello - it is Ellie, isn’t it? My Cancer date with the lovely blue eyes?’
    And then she wasn’t worried anymore. She smiled. ‘Hello .’
    ‘I thought we’d have a meal here on the pier. The restaurant is good I’ve heard. Is that all right with you, Ellie?’
    She nodded as he took her arm. ‘Yes - please. I’d like that.’
    She’d got that glowing feeling inside all over again. He was so attentive. Nicer than she thought he would be. He was lovely. True, she hadn’t gone out with anyone as old as him before, she hadn’t gone out with anyone before. He might guess that this was her first date but then it was much better to have a more mature man to care for her she thought happily. Boys were sometimes so silly and immature.

     
    Twenty-Three
     
    Monday morning dawned bright and sunny, and as the start of the all-important Carnival week it promised much to ease the fears of all those working hard on the entertainments to make it a great success. The entertainment committee were feeling reasonably confident until the phone call warned them that a girl had been found naked and dead in the Alexandra Park boating lake.
    The Park keeper’s young spaniel, Trixy, had discovered her while they were doing their early morning rounds at eight a.m. before the park gates were opened to the public at nine.
    At first the Park keeper, Bob Wherrett, a young man who took his job very seriously, thought that his terrier dog was attracted to the water by an injured bird, a swan perhaps. It was barking frantically. But when he came closer on the grassy bank and looked down into the sunlit green water, he saw the girl’s distorted puffy face looking up at