‘What are we going to do about it?’ Tina asked.

‘We have no proof it’s him. Not at the moment. We need to catch him in the act, maybe?’ Anna said.

‘Don’t you think that might be too risky?’ Muriel’s attention seemed to be lost in her mug of coffee.

‘Mum – I know you want this to just blow over, but if Auntie Tina is right, Billy Cawley is out for revenge. I don’t think he’ll stop at a few bloody doll’s parts. That’s just the beginning. He’ll be working up to something. We have to inform the police. At worst, we’re right – but then they’ll put him right back inside.’

‘And if we’re wrong?’

‘Then we can try and find the little shits who’ve been doing it.’

‘If we’re wrong, Anna, he’ll be angry with us that we’ve implicated him, and that could actually make him do something against us.’

‘Do you still hold the monthly Mapledon Meetings?’ Anna asked.

A strange look passed between Muriel and Tina. ‘They were … well, disbanded, so to speak.’

‘Maybe now is the time to reassemble the group. It affects everyone, doesn’t it? Everyone should come together for this.’

‘I’m not sure,’ Tina said, lowering her gaze. ‘It’ll feel like a manhunt all over again.’

‘How do you feel about the man who murdered your daughter being free, Tina? Free to terrorise this community again.’

Tina snapped her head up, her glowering stare fixing on Anna.

‘That’s unfair. You weren’t aware of everything that went on – you were too young. Then, when you were old enough to understand, you buggered off, never came back. Well, until two days ago. Don’t start flinging your weight about now. It’s nothing to do with you.’

‘It is when he’s threatening my mother!’

‘You don’t know enough to say how we should handle it now, though. It was my daughter. My hell. I should be the one to say how we deal with him.’

‘Well, you let me know what you two come up with then, yeah? And I’ll just sit back and watch you make another huge mistake.’ Anna slumped against the back of the chair, folding her arms tightly across her chest. ‘I wonder who’ll suffer the consequences of your poor decisions this time?’

Chapter Thirty-Five

2019

Lizzie

They’d been in the dimly lit pub for an hour and Lizzie didn’t feel as though she’d made any progress. Apart from finding out another name – Bella – she’d come no closer to getting to the heart of the matter: Billy Cawley. Surely, she’d done enough chit-chat and groundwork now to gain Rob’s trust and be more direct without setting off alarm bells. She had to go for it.

‘Auntie Muriel is worried about Billy Cawley, I think. I mean, she hasn’t said it in so many words, but she seems distracted, anxious.’ Lizzie thought it was a general enough response that not just Muriel, but other villagers from that time might feel. It would hopefully ring true.