‘I was trying to help her. I did what I could.’ Muriel’s attention had drifted again, she seemed lost to another place, her eyes wide, unblinking. Anna’s mind went back to Lizzie’s earlier comment about having been taken inside Muriel’s house before she was removed from her dad’s care.

‘What did you do, Mum?’

Muriel didn’t answer.

‘Mum?’ Anna got up and gave her a gentle shake. ‘Anna to Muriel,’ she said.

‘Enough for tonight, Anna,’ Muriel said, finally. She rose from her chair, placed her empty mug in the sink, filled it with water, then walked past Anna and headed to the stairs.

‘I’ll lock up, then.’ Anna called after her.

What a strange exchange. Anna got up and locked and bolted the back, then front doors. Her mum had been the one to suggest a heart-to-heart, but had shut down almost immediately. As Anna turned out the downstairs lights and was about to climb the stairs, a thought occurred to her.

The letters in the drawer. She’d clean forgotten about them. They might not be important at all, just letters from a friend maybe. But the thought they might be from her father, Eric, intrigued her. Muriel never spoke of him, and Anna hadn’t tried to contact him herself. But if there were letters, she’d perhaps learn more about what went on at the time of Jonie’s disappearance.

Retreating, Anna switched the hallway light back on and walked into the lounge and across to the dresser. She slid the top drawer open. The letters weren’t there. She rifled deeper, then tried the other drawers. Not a single one.

Muriel had moved them. She must’ve seen Anna holding the one she’d found on Saturday morning. They were letters she clearly didn’t want Anna to read.

Chapter Fifty

2019

Lizzie

Tuesday 16th July – 1.15 a.m.

It was gone midnight when Lizzie finished speaking to Gwen and she immediately went to her room and opened her laptop, clicking on the files icon. At 1.15 a.m. Lizzie pulled on a jumper, grabbed her phone, then tucked her room key in her jeans pocket. She left through the main door of Bulleigh Barton B&B, reversed her car out of its space in the courtyard and took the winding lane towards Mapledon. She was wired, her mind too busy for sleep. Gwen had been more helpful than she realised, and Lizzie had been able to add to her notes; the further information she’d gleaned changed some things.

Lizzie parked directly outside the church gate. No one would need access at this time of night. She got out of the car, and quickly checking her mobile for the time – 1.24 a.m. – switched its torch app on. Her heart rate had doubled, or that’s how it felt, crashing against her ribs like waves against rocks. She had a feeling – a premonition, almost – that this was where she had to be. With her mother, Rosie. Even with the torch app, the graveyard was eerily dark. If she was one to believe in ghosts, she’d be turning back about now and heading for the safety of the car. But the only ghosts she believed in were those in her head – her memory, or her imagination. She tripped on uneven ground but managed to right herself. She took it more slowly. At least she knew where to find Rosie’s grave; that made the walk across the ground slightly easier.