‘It was my dad,’ Anna said. But her words were lost in the echo of the door banging.

‘Say again, Anna?’ Lizzie asked. She wanted Anna to say the words loud and clear.

‘It was Eric, my dad, wasn’t it?’ Anna repeated more confidently. ‘He was the one who broke in here and planted the necklace. It was mine, not Jonie’s; we had identical ones.’

Chapter Ninety

2019

Eric

It was his day of reckoning.

Eric had known it would come one day. But knowing it didn’t stop his guts from turning to liquid now. Didn’t prevent the paralysis of his lungs, the gripping pain in his heart. Maybe he’d die right here, now. Save him from a fate far worse.

He couldn’t really complain, though. He’d lived his life as he’d seen fit, enjoying years of freedom he didn’t deserve. Years of over-indulgence: women, drink, food. He hadn’t held back, never knowing how much time he had left.

Not long now, he guessed.

He turned, sensing someone behind him: the hairs on his neck bristled, standing erect in anticipation.

Was this it?

He clutched his chest; tried to catch his breath.

No one was there.

Not yet.

But there would be. Soon.

His time was running out.

Chapter Ninety-One

2019

Anna

She wasn’t sure why she felt so shell-shocked. Before the text from Lizzie earlier, she’d been waiting for her mother to come clean – admit her father had been the one writing the letters, admit he’d planted the fake evidence to further implicate Billy. The Fishers had well and truly set the poor man up. Anna was responsible for the false witness testimony, her father responsible for the fake evidence; her mother was responsible for manipulating the entire heart-breaking episode so she could get her own way.

All to get Billy out of Mapledon because she thought him a risk to their tight-knit community – a risk to their kids. And it turned out he wasn’t either of those things. He was merely someone who didn’t ‘fit’ into her mother’s ideals. Didn’t measure up to her expectations, her standards. Muriel had made her mind up that Billy Cawley didn’t belong and that was that.

But if Billy was innocent, who was really responsible for Jonie going missing?

‘I’m not sure I’m understanding all of this,’ Anna said. ‘If we’re to believe Billy’s account, he was wrongly accused of abduction and murder – framed for it by my mother, and even my dad. But none of it brings us to a conclusion about what happened to Jonie. Where was she taken? By who?’

Muriel rushed forwards, embracing Anna in her wiry-thin arms. ‘I’m sorry, love. I’m so sorry.’

Anna pushed away. ‘Why?’ She looked at the faces in the room. Her gaze settled on Tina’s. ‘Were you doing this thing with the dolls because my mum and dad planted the evidence?’

‘Partly, yes,’ Tina admitted.

‘Partly?’

‘And to point you in the right direction.’ Tina said.

‘So, the severed doll’s limbs were for me, to get me to figure out my parents were involved in a crime?’ Anna still felt confused.