The Clown Statue

A rich couple are going out for an evening, leaving their young baby boy in the care of a teenage girl from the neighbourhood, who has offered to babysit. She turns up early and they greet her at the door.

"The baby is asleep upstairs," they tell her, "and you can help yourself to anything from the fridge." She looks like a pretty capable young girl, and so the couple head off to their restaurant without any worries.

Halfway through the meal however, the man receives a call. It's the babysitter. "I'm having trouble getting him to sleep," she says. "Would it be all right to move the clown statue out of the nursery, only I think it's upsetting him."

"Clown statue?" says the man. "We don't own a clown statue."

"Oh," says the girl, "but it's right by his bed. . ."

The man realises that something is wrong. He's about to tell the babysitter to take the baby and get out of the house, but then the line goes dead. He redials frantically, but gets nothing. He and his wife interrupt their meal, jump into the car and drive back home. By the time they arrive the house is silent. The babysitter lies limp on the sofa, her throat slit with a carving knife. The baby is nowhere to be found.