If only he’d behaved differently back then. If only he’d been able to control his jealousy.

Will knew this was his last chance to make things right. This was not the time for wild accusations; he needed to focus on the facts. Forensic evidence would be long gone so he would have to find another route to prove that Guy deVillars was responsible for the death of Alice Lang.

It wasn’t as if Will hadn’t had plenty of time to think about his strategy. He had been planning to write a book about Alice for more than two decades. He had a title, The Girl in Caravan 49. The morning’s discovery was the obvious starting point and the end would be an account of the trial of Guy deVillars. Will would be there, in the court to watch Guy being found guilty of murder. Then there would be resolution.

But first, work must be done. In the absence of concrete evidence, and with the police starting from scratch, it would be up to Will to build a case. Others had known Alice while she was in Severn Sands. Mr and Mrs deVillars, Guy’s parents and owners of the holiday park, were hardly likely to say anything that might implicate their son, but Will’s mother, Angharad, had a memory that was still razor sharp. Angharad was in Majorca now, only a phone call away.

There were two other key witnesses: the park’s caretaker, John Morahan, and John’s daughter, Marnie.

Marnie.

Thinking of her gave Will an uncomfortable sensation. Two uncomfortable sensations. Shame and guilt. He really didn’t want to have to face Marnie Morahan again.

To distract himself, he read the headlines of the newspaper stories he’d clipped and saved over the years.

Young woman missing from holiday park.

‘Raised voices’ heard near caravan where pretty Alice was staying.

Our troubled daughter: Alice’s parents speak out.

Alice talked of suicide: schoolmate’s revealing claims.

And most recently:

Holiday park mystery: What really happened to Alice Lang?

a story inspired by a medium who claimed Alice had faked her own death in the estuary and gone off to live with a group of travellers. It was a theory that had done the rounds before.

There’d be more headlines in tomorrow’s papers, more speculation. Picture editors would juxtapose images of the building site with the crowded hedonism of the holiday park in its heyday. They’d use the Second Severn Crossing looming in the background as a metaphor for life’s journey. People who hadn’t known Alice would search the internet for pictures and information. They’d post comments about her, some sympathetic, some critical, some cruel. They’d make assumptions and judgements. They’d behave as if she belonged to them but Alice didn’t belong to anybody. Only Will Jones had truly understood the kind of person she was.