Memory Scents by Gayle Eileen Curtis

make it look like he was just a normal man passing the time in his car having a lunch break. And secondly, so that on his way back from the shop he could check that the sun was shining in the right direction, shielding any view through the windows so that the car appeared to be empty. This was all for the purpose of having full view of all the families arriving for a day out with their children. It was the summer holidays and the coast was crawling with them; Tim’s favourite time of year.
                  He sat in the hot car for hours watching over his paper. The heat and oily stench in the car, which now mixed with his sweat and bad breath didn’t seem to bother him like it would anyone else. He was used to being shut in stifling areas for great lengths of time, another skill he had his mother to thank for.
                  The heat and his lunch laying heavy in his stomach were causing him to feel sleepy. Even though child watching was one of his favourite activities, he was growing bored.
                  That was until he spotted his next victim, like a sparkling jewel amongst some faded beads. Tim sat up abruptly. He scrambled for the dial so that he could pull up his seat which he’d previously lowered to a reasonable nap level.
                  Everything and everyone else turned a shade of grey, like a black and white television screen with one person standing out in vibrant colour. That one person flying towards Tim’s vision as if she’d been miraculously magnified was twelve year old Jacqueline. She lived further up the coast in the next village with her mother and father and her older brother, so Tim had never encountered her before.
                  She was walking down the steps to the beach with her family, her gangly frame exposed to the sun, wearing only shorts and a vest top. Apart from being tall and slender for her age, which Tim found immensely attractive, it was her extremely long vibrant red hair that had caught his eye. It was down to her waist, making her appear even taller than she actually was. The tones of her hair sparkled in the afternoon sun, accentuating her deep cornflower blue eyes.
                  To Tim, she was a stunning object of desire and he wanted her. To anyone else she was a pretty, kind hearted, innocent little girl.
                  He had made up his mind the moment he set eyes on her that he would pursue her until he got his way.
                  Jacqueline had gone from having her life spread out endlessly before her to a limit of a few days in a matter of seconds. A decision made by a stranger who was play acting god, with an ego the size of the universe.
                  No- one told Jacqueline or her family that she had only a few days to live. Tim didn’t give her that privilege, or any of his victims for that matter. Her father had taken a week off work to spend with his children and wife. They spent the days, carefree in the coastal sunshine, oblivious to the sinister stranger lurking in the back ground like the grim reaper.
                  Tim effortlessly snatched her as she was walking from the village where she lived to go and meet her brother, who got up before the light of day to go fishing in a nearby pond. Jacqueline had taken to joining him when she got up; leaving their parents to enjoy a lie in before they dragged them up for another day out.
     
                  Jacqueline’s memory scents had been particularly special to Tim. He normally took one item of clothing and a toy if they had been carrying one. Getting a toy as well as a piece of clothing was a real treat to Tim. Toys carried stronger, different smells. Mainly because they’d come from the child’s bed.
                  In this case though he’d taken Jacqueline’s vest top, and pulling her beautiful mane of red hair together, he cut it along the nape of