She opened the message, gasped, then emitted a little cry, which caused Joyce to take her eyes from the road and glance anxiously at her daughter. Molly was staring at her phone, in shock. ‘What is it?’ asked Joyce. ‘It-it’s Fred,’ stumbled Molly. ‘I have a message from Fred.’ ‘What?’ Her mother almost forgot to steer and the car lurched across the road. Joyce recovered just in time to avoid a head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle. Molly was so preoccupied by the message on her phone that she seemed not even to notice. Spotting a lay-by ahead, Joyce pulled over. When she turned to her daughter, Molly was still staring at the screen of her smart phone, frozen in a kind of limbo of disbelief. ‘What?’ Joyce enquired again, hardly believing her ears. ‘It’s Fred, it has to be Fred,’ Molly repeated. ‘This message can only be from Fred.’ Joyce immediately snatched the phone from her daughter and looked at the screen, her heart racing. The message was brief and to the point.
