He didn’t stop her as she walked calmly from the room, out into the small corridor and then into the garden. She gulped but couldn’t get the warm air into her fast enough. She thought about those women, their photographs in a box under the bed. She knew the box Tim was talking about. She had never looked in there because it was her father’s box. She wondered if this was why her father was so adamant about respecting each other’s privacy; he wanted to keep his secrets private. Jasmine thought back to the way he’d expertly dismantled the fish when they went to Wales together on family trips and she was reminded of the cuts on the women’s bodies. Her father handled a knife like an expert, like someone with a lot of practice.

The sun beat down on her, and she felt dizzy as the images of those poor girls’ faces appeared in her mind like a highlight reel. She could feel herself falling but had no power to stop it. The last thought in her mind before she lost consciousness was that her father was a stranger.

Chapter Forty-Three

Now

The end of the road, that’s where I am. Both figuratively and literally. Still dressed in yesterday’s clothes, awoken this morning by an eager spaniel who was sniffing and licking my hand as I lay on the bench where I had intended to stop for only a few moments but instead slept the whole night.

I walk down the road I once lived on. The good memories of this house completely overshadowed by the bad. I can’t see it yet, but I can feel it, like the sinister black mansion in a horror movie, looming with malicious intent. I hope it will be a hole in the ground when I finally reach it, even though, in my mind’s eye, it’s still the same as the day I left. I approach a bend in the road I have walked down a hundred times before, knowing full well what I will see when I take those next few steps. The sight that was once so welcome instils fear in me now. It’s just a house. It’s just a house. It’s just a house.

Chapter Forty-Four

Then

Jasmine banged her fist against the door of Felicity’s house. She could hear Carol’s music blaring again. She pounded harder and pushed the doorbell several times. The door swung open to reveal Carol in her dressing gown. She always had a smile for Jasmine.

‘Felicity!’ she screamed up the stairs as she made her way back into the kitchen and closed the door. The house vibrated as the music started again.