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Back The Family Next Door Save as PDF
Chapters (117)
  1. Also by
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Epigraph
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. 1
  7. 2
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  10. 5
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  115. 110
  116. Teaser chapter
  117. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

But it was still unclear why the other victims had been targeted. Thanks to Cooper’s revelations, they had studied the newspaper caption in Adam’s belongings and confirmed that the five children in the photograph, which included Joby Clifton, were at the Doll & Fancy Dress Emporium on the day of the Grand Reopening in 1985. Cooper had killed them all.

Confused and elderly, his wife was less help than they’d hoped. Apart from her family, she was unfamiliar with the names of his victims, except for Adam, and even then, she had recognized him only because he was a police officer who had been working on the case.

As Audrina Clifton explained, she had no idea how Cooper had poisoned his victims, or when or where, or even why. Life had continued as normal, she had explained to them. There had been no signs. None at all.

Wildeve did not think she would ever forget the look on Mrs. Clifton’s face when she had explained, so gently, about the discovery of the child’s bones in the crate after Olivia Lockwood had banged her head.

“We can’t be sure,” she told the old woman. “But the size of the skull is consistent with a child aged around ten.” She had left the rest of the sentence unspoken.

“You think—could it—might it be Joby?”

“It’s highly likely,” she said. “I think you need to prepare yourself for that eventuality.” She had explained to Mrs. Clifton that if it had not been for Olivia Lockwood, her son’s fate might have remained a mystery. That the tape recording handed in by the Lockwood children was evidence that Joby had been beaten before his death. That Olivia Lockwood’s fall in the garden had triggered a chain of events that had led the police back here. To Cooper.

And the skull of her missing son was a key piece of evidence.

Then there was Bridget Sawyer.

Trefor Lovell had shared with them what he and Fletcher Parnell had uncovered on the walls of the shop. Advances in DNA techniques meant they would be able to confirm the murder. It seemed Cooper had been trying to frame Trefor and tie up loose ends.

Lovell had been bailed but he was due in court next month to face a charge of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and grievous bodily harm. He had accepted a caution for failing to register a death.

As for Fletcher Parnell, his suicide had been unfortunate. He had been trapped in the noose of his own guilt and fear.

He, too, was unconnected to these murders.