'Please help me!' Rachel heard a child sobbing.

'Where are you? Come, I won't hurt you,' she called out, coaxingly.

The crying suddenly stopped. It was getting dark and the park was emptying. A little girl with a blue ribbon in her blonde curls stood before her.

'There you are, sweetheart,' she smiled, as she started to walk towards her. 'Are you lost?'

'No, I'm not.' The coldness in her voice stopped Rachel in her tracks.

'So what are you doing all alone in the park?'

'I was waiting for you.' The girl had startlingly blue eyes which she bore into Rachel like a knife. 'But I don't know you,' said Rachel, feeling slightly unnerved.

'That doesn't matter,' came the icy reply. 'Can we go for a walk, please?'

'I think you should be getting home, don't you?' asked Rachel.

The little girl walked towards her and held out her hand. 'Not yet.'

The next day, the park keeper found Rachel's body, caught amongst the reeds in the lake. The police were dumbfounded. This was the fifth body that had been found in the lake this year. On the grass they'd found a blue ribbon.

That night the park keeper was still in shock. His wife poured him a glass of whisky as he stared into space.

'What's the matter, daddy?' asked his daughter, concern in her blue eyes.

'Nothing to worry your little head about, ' he replied, stroking her beautiful blond curls.