Lizzie felt her muscles relax as she rounded the corner and saw just two caravans in a field not far from the farmhouse.

Please let this be the right place.

She trudged into the field and approached the first caravan, tiptoeing to peer inside the window. It looked empty. If the other one was, she’d have to drive to the next farm. What if Billy had lied about where he was? The thought crushed her. There would be no other way of finding him. She’d have to wait for him to come to her. She almost laughed at the irony.

She held her breath as she looked through the only clean spot on the dirty window of the second caravan. Then released it in a rush of air. Billy was inside. She took a few moments to compose herself, then knocked on the door. Her knuckles made a hollow sound on the plastic.

‘Well, well. This is a surprise,’ Billy said as he opened it. ‘I didn’t think I’d see you anytime soon.’

‘Me neither, if I’m honest,’ she said.

‘Come in, if you like?’

Lizzie stepped up inside the caravan, a faint smell of gone-off food wafting towards her. She cast her eyes around the small space.

‘It’s not much. But it’s better than a prison cell.’ He smiled as he quickly cast his eyes around the caravan’s interior. ‘Sit down. What is it that you want?’

Lizzie cautiously moved to the end of the caravan and sat, her back rigid. ‘I want to know the full story. The real one. No lies, no bullshit. Straight-up what happened to me, why I was taken, why the Mapledon villagers wanted you gone so badly. All of it. I need to know what they did and whether you’re here to take revenge.’ Lizzie took a breath.

‘Hmmm …’ Billy said, perching on the edge of the square-looking sofa that ran along one side of the caravan. ‘You didn’t seem like you were ready, or even willing, to hear about it when I saw you the other day.’

‘No. I wasn’t ready then. But I am now.’

‘Fine, I’ll tell you what you want to know. But you have to believe what I say. Not all of it will make sense to you. Most of it won’t sound believable. One part specifically. But I promise you now, what comes out of my mouth will be the truth. I’m not going to lie to you. You need to be certain you want to know. You need to be sure you can handle the fallout. Because all I want is a quiet life now, and somehow I get the feeling after this conversation, shit will hit the fan, so to speak. As seems to be the popular saying in Mapledon – if you don’t want to get your hands dirty, don’t go digging in the dirt. And you, my girl, are digging deep.’

‘I’m aware of that. But it’s time, Dad. Time for the truth. Even if that means more pain.’