It was too much information in one go – the bloody vicar had been the one abusing Eliza? Anna looked over at Lizzie – her face was unreadable. How did Billy even know, though, when Lizzie herself had no memory of it? Anna’s head ached trying to untangle the threads. It was nearing midnight and all she wanted was to get out of this dust-ball and shower, climb into bed and fall into a deep sleep so she could forget about what she’d learned. For a few hours at least. Everything Billy was saying came back to something Muriel did. Her mother had caused all of this.

‘So, let me get this right. My mother—’ Anna shot Muriel a piercing glance ‘—knew the vicar was the one abusing Eliza, yet did nothing apart from rope him in to help her blame Billy? Just to get what she wanted?’ Anna glared at her mother. ‘How bloody could you? You went on about keeping the kids of the village safe, then knowingly allowed a predator to remain in his position of trust—’

‘No, no,’ Muriel said, shaking her head. ‘I didn’t know for sure, and to begin with I thought his odd behaviour was because he was covering up for Billy – trying to play the good vicar who gave everyone a chance, not willing to rock the boat by making such an accusation. But then there were a few occasions when he caused me to question how he was with Eliza. For a long while I really did believe Billy was abusing Eliza. And when Robert had his incident in the bungalow, Nell thought Billy must’ve done something to him, too, and that added fuel to the flames. I put Reverend Farnley to the back of my mind for a little while.’

‘Until you needed him, you mean? Then you approached him with your suspicions and gave him a get-out clause by blackmailing him to help you pin it on Billy, or you’d tell everyone what he was,’ Anna said.

‘Look, once Billy was in prison, I made sure Reverend Farnley left. I made it clear he wasn’t welcome in Mapledon anymore. He was run out, rest assured.’

‘Rest assured? Really? God, Mum. Great, so you made sure he left this village, but in doing so pushed him and his paedophilic tendencies onto another unsuspecting community? Good job.’

Muriel crossed her arms firmly. ‘Actually, after everything that happened, he had a breakdown, became reclusive – he wouldn’t have been a harm to any other children.’ Muriel sounded almost triumphant. Anna felt sick to her stomach.

If she hadn’t taken her mother’s call on Friday, if she hadn’t left Carrie and travelled to fucking Mapledon, she could’ve carried on not knowing. She’d lived without these truths for most of her life, she was sure she could’ve continued happily in her blissful ignorance.

But what about Jonie Hayes?

Didn’t she deserve to be found? By denying the truth, Anna was denying her friend. Anna couldn’t look at Muriel any longer. She turned her back and faced Billy.