‘Of course. But there’s no way. I mean, why?’

‘There’s nowt so queer as folk, as my dear grandmother would say.’

Muriel nodded. ‘Fine. I’ll pay her a visit soon, pretend it’s something to do with the next meeting. See if I can get her chatting. We need to know what she’s playing at.’

Chapter Seventy

2019

Anna

Wednesday 17th July

Anna was greeted with a worried look from her mum as soon as she got to the foot of the stairs.

‘I was going to say, “good morning”, but from your expression I’m guessing it’s not so good?’

‘You were right,’ Muriel said. ‘There’s been another.’ She took Anna’s arm and half-dragged her towards the kitchen. There, sitting ominously on the dining table, was a doll’s leg. Polly’s leg, Anna assumed.

‘Have you taken the note out?’

‘No. I was leaving that for you.’

‘Well, cheers,’ Anna mumbled as she sat down, squinting at the leg. ‘Can I at least get a coffee first; my eyes aren’t even in focus yet.’

Muriel hurried to the kettle, shook it to check the water level, then switched it on. She tapped her fingers on the worktop.

‘A watched pot never boils, Mum.’

‘Are you going to recite back to me every saying I’ve ever uttered?’ Her voice was strained, the stress seeping from her.

‘No. Sorry. Look, I’m going to show this all to Pat later.’

‘What? Why?’

‘Because he knows the history. Because he’s an ex-cop. Because he could be of assistance. Lots of reasons, Mum.’

‘But we agreed no police involvement. It’ll aggravate the situation.’

‘But we don’t know where this is all leading, do we? What if there’s a pièce de résistance?’ Anna stopped herself from finishing her thought. She didn’t want to put any more worry on to her mother. But it was a real concern – if Billy Cawley truly wanted revenge, who knew where this would end? Getting police involved might be the only thing that would prevent a tragedy. Another one. Anna shuddered. ‘Anyway, he’s only going to offer his opinion and Tina’s probably told him all about it anyway. He didn’t seem surprised when I mentioned it last night.’

‘You spoke to him about it last night? Is that where you went – to meet Pat?’

‘Yes. I want to get to the bottom of this, find the truth; and I thought he would be a good source of information.’

‘Please, Anna. I’ve told you – there’s no point digging up the past.’

‘I disagree. So would Lizzie.’

‘Well, she didn’t seem happy about what she’s found out so far. What makes you think getting your hands dirty in the depths of history will do you any good either?’

‘Doesn’t the truth matter to you? What about finding out what really happened to Jonie Hayes? What about finding her body? Doesn’t that matter?’

‘After all this time? Maybe not.’

‘How can you say that?’ Anna’s eyes widened in shock at her mother’s attitude. ‘You amaze me sometimes. Auntie Tina could finally rest, for one. The dark cloud that’s hovered over Mapledon for thirty years could be lifted. It would be awful for Tina to go to her grave never knowing where her daughter was. How would you feel if that were you?’