‘I didn’t plan it, the opportunity just arose. And your father had been so down. I just did it on the spur of the moment. It was such a gift when you later told us about that creep of a teacher accosting you at the fair. There was a way to give the police a suspect.’

‘You killed Morrell too, I suppose?’ I say, looking down on her sitting on the floor. So pathetic, but I have no sympathy at all.

‘He caught your father hiding the girl’s wallet in his car, so your father had no choice but to get rid of him.’

‘But you buried Hannah in the woods?’

‘I got her body from the shed, where it was hidden. I wrapped her up in blankets weighted with stones from the garden and plastic sheeting around her, so Tim wouldn’t notice she was a bit smaller than Frank. I told Tim it was your father, that I had killed him as promised. Tim put her in the boot of his car himself. I followed him up to the woods. When he threw her into the grave I waited for him to cover her up and then as he was walking back to the car I hit him over the head with the spade. I buried him nearby.’

‘When?’

‘After you and Frank didn’t come home that night. Tim kept asking where Frank was, why you weren’t back yet. He was a mess. He sat me down and told me what he had told you, told me to call the police, said he was scared that Frank had hurt you. As if your father was capable of that,’ she scoffed.

‘I played the role of worried mother perfectly. I told him you were staying with your friend to be safe and that he should lie low until I had spoken to Frank. He believed every word of it, because it was what he wanted to believe.’

‘Why? What could possibly make you and Dad do those awful things? Did you know about the girls he killed from the start?’

‘First, tell me what happened the night you left,’ she insists, holding onto the console table to pull herself to her feet. She’s struggling but I make no effort to help her.

‘I told Felicity, as you know. Dad worked out that we knew and he killed Carol, Flick’s mother. Then he took me and Flick to one of the clifftops. He threw her over the side and wanted me to just let it all go so we could carry on the way we had been. But how could I? I had no choice but to stop him.’

‘You killed him?’ Lisa spat. ‘How could you? He was your father. He loved you so much. You meant the world to him.’

‘How could I? How could you? How could you let him kill all of those young women? They didn’t deserve that.’