He knew why Muriel had asked for his help. Eric couldn’t have done it alone. No other villager – however much they supported Muriel and her cause – would’ve covered this up to the point of burying a child. Only someone as guilty as him.

Someone else who needed to keep secrets for their own survival.

God. The villagers had been afraid of what Billy Cawley might do to their kids, when all along it was their beloved vicar who’d been the one they should’ve feared.

And now, he could add himself to the list of people Mapledon should rid itself of. And he knew Muriel wouldn’t stop until each on the list was gone, in one way or another.

As he stripped off his clothes and climbed into bed next to the warmth of his wife, Eric cried. He’d had secrets in the past – didn’t everyone? But this was more than a secret. The implications of it were huge. To keep this quiet, stop the truth from coming out, he’d have to leave. There was no way he’d be able to face people every day knowing what he’d done.

How could he ever look his daughter in the eye again?

He pushed his body up close to Muriel’s, sliding his hands over her waist, pulling her close.

‘It’s done,’ he whispered in her ear.

She stirred. ‘That part is. There’s still a long way to go, Eric.’

He turned over, flicking the lamp switch. The light left the room.

Left him.

Chapter Ninety-Seven

2019

Lizzie

Friday 19th July

When Billy had mentioned Reverend Farnley, there’d been a moment when Lizzie thought the gathered group wouldn’t believe it. Not a Reverend. Not the man who’d preached to his flock all about God. The man who’d seemed to care about his parishioners and had gone out of his way to encourage Billy to let his daughter attend Sunday school. Maybe his intention had always been to groom her – she was the perfect victim. Lizzie wondered if she’d been the only one. As much as she hoped it were the case, she had a bad feeling she wouldn’t have been the first, or even the last, to suffer at the vicar’s hands. Had the old man really lost his mind, or was that self-preservation too?

It’d come as a shock when Lizzie had been in the caravan with Billy and he’d told her about that, and how he suspected Muriel was covering for the Reverend and Eric. But Billy was convinced and his reasoning seemed sound. Having gone over and over the events, taking in what he remembered from the witness statements and reading the newspaper articles, together with Tina’s and Pat’s versions, it’d been the only logical explanation. With so much time to ruminate and go over every detail, Billy had worked through a number of theories, but this one stuck, and it was the version of events that made the most sense to him: Eric was responsible for Jonie’s death and Reverend Farnley had helped dispose of her body. Billy reckoned Muriel knew he’d been up to no good and used it as leverage – in effect blackmailing him to help her cover up what Eric had done. Billy remembered how Eliza had acted after every Sunday school session, and once Billy’s ex-cell mate had fed back the information he’d found out about the Reverend’s rapid exit from Mapledon and his subsequent breakdown, he’d been convinced the Reverend had been the one abusing Eliza, so would’ve been the perfect person for Muriel to go to.