Yes. She had done it; she’d revisited the memories in each of the boxes. She envisaged them again, frame by frame. It was tough, and her psyche still fought against it. Initially, the boxes had been easy to open. During the hypnosis she’d visualised them, then imagined herself placing the key in the padlock, flipping the latch and lifting the lid. She did this for boxes one and two, but the third box had been the most difficult to open; its lock stiffer, resistant. Once she’d succeeded in opening it, it was also the most challenging to close again. But close it she did. She’d had to. The other two were the ones that needed her full attention at this time. They were the ones that required action.

The last one could wait. Maybe forever.

47

THE GHOST

Wednesday p.m.

As Louisa showered and dressed into jeans and a jumper – her only remaining clean ones, she noted – she let the contents of the first two boxes come back to her. Since the hypnosis session Louisa’s adrenaline levels had abated, and the retrieved memories had settled and fixed themselves firmly in her conscious mind. She realised, though, that the session hadn’t been entirely successful. They were all so close – she could almost touch them – but they were not altogether coherent.

The solution to this was crystal clear to her now: she had to revisit the pub.

Go to the place where this nightmare began and retrace her steps.

Back to her fortieth birthday party.

She had to be in the right place.

Although the woman in the lane had happened twenty-two years prior to her birthday, both events were inextricably linked. She knew that now. It was a case of returning to the scene of the crime, so to speak.

A dull ache began in her head. At one point she’d considered that there was a crime. The way she’d felt the day after the party, the visions, the subsequent revelations – had all added to the hideous feeling that something bad, very bad, had happened that night. Now, she at least felt less worried that she’d done something then, but she did know there was a hidden horror. One she felt compelled to uncover.

The hypnosis had only lasted for an hour. An hour of her life that had changed everything. Brian was still out with Noah – which was hopefully a good sign, in that her parents were finally keen to spend time with him. She couldn’t therefore ask Brian to drive her to Abbotsbury. She’d walk out of the village and get the bus from the main road. If she was quick she’d be able to catch the 3 p.m. Totnes to Newton one. Then she could jump off at the turning to the village – it wasn’t too far from there to the centre of Abbotsbury.