‘Mrs Andrews to you,’ she snapped.

Anna hadn’t seen Nell for many years prior to this visit; maybe she’d always been sharp, snappy. But she didn’t think so. Lizzie had hit a nerve.

‘Sorry. What went on at the meeting, Mrs Andrews?’

Nell puffed out her chest. ‘All sorts,’ she said. ‘How am I meant to remember now? We covered a lot of topics: how to raise money for new playground equipment, how to make the roads safer for the children, that sort of thing.’

‘And how to make the children safer in general?’ Lizzie asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, none of the villagers made a secret of the fact they mistrusted my dad, did they? He wasn’t liked. So, did you discuss that at your meetings? Did you talk about what to do about him?’ Lizzie’s voice rose as she spoke, her face turning a deep shade of pink.

‘It’s so long ago, no point digging up the past,’ Nell said.

Anna’s blood chilled in her veins. ‘Funny,’ she said. ‘That’s word-for-word what my mother said.’

Nell bowed her head.

Anna wondered now, more than ever, just what had gone on at those meetings. Why were her mother and Nell so cagey about them? It was almost as though it were some kind of secret society. As if Lizzie had read Anna’s mind, she walked up to Nell and said: ‘Mapledon has a whole Stepford wives vibe about it, doesn’t it? I don’t know how you bear it – it’s suffocating. You’re trapped, aren’t you. I think the truth would set you free, Nell. Sorry – Mrs Andrews.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Nell backed away from Lizzie. ‘You come here, pretending to be someone you’re not, raking up the past for your own benefit. You’re disgusting. Just like your father.’ Nell’s face scrunched up into an unattractive ball of wrinkles, spittle forming at the corners of her mouth.

‘Mum!’ Rob said, a hand raised towards his mother. ‘Enough.’

‘Well!’ Nell shook herself, as if to rid her body of something clinging to it. ‘If it wasn’t for the pair of them, this village would’ve carried on as normal. And poor Jonie Hayes would be here now. When you went, you weren’t meant to come back,’ Nell said, her words almost hissing like a snake.

Anna, Lizzie and Rob remained silent as Nell stormed out of the room, each seeming to be as shocked as the other by the outburst.

Anna turned to Lizzie. ‘I think we’ve found out enough for now. Let’s go, shall we?’

If Anna was certain of one thing, it was that those women had done something more than just get Eliza Cawley taken away from her father.

Chapter Seventy-Seven

2019

Lizzie

Lizzie drove in stunned silence back to Anna’s house. Whilst she’d been glad the topic of Rob’s childhood visit to their bungalow hadn’t come up again, she hadn’t expected the turn of events that had unfolded. She was so pleased Anna had been present. She was another witness to Nell’s outburst.