The twists in this story were surprising in the moment, but on a closer read the clues were there all along. I’ve been thinking about this one for days:

When she opened the front door Jake stood there with his clown behind him. The clown wore a big full-cheeked smile, with the slightest bit of stubble pushing out through his makeup. She wasn’t sure why she was surprised, the clown always followed him everywhere, like a rainbow-coloured shadow, but for some reason she had expected him to show up alone this time.