The sun was shining the day he told Dylan the truth. A day he destroyed his son’s dreams, tearing Dylan from Hollie. Then my father took it further, told him he wasn’t good enough to be his son, dismantling Dylan’s future piece by piece, with layer upon layer of his cruelty. Dylan didn’t kill himself; my father destroyed him.

Chapter Fifty

Jo

Noticing a missed call from Elise Buckley, I call her back. ‘Elise, it’s DS May. Sorry I missed you earlier. Is everything OK?’

She sounds jittery. ‘I found something. I think you should see it.’

*

As I drive over to the farm, the toxic effect of being in close proximity to Andrew Buckley seems to hang over me, and I think about what I have to ask his wife. I thought I’d got the measure of Elise Buckley, but now I’m less sure.

When Elise opens the door, she looks flustered. ‘Come in. I’ll get Niamh.’

‘In a moment.’ I wait until we go through to the kitchen. ‘I need to ask you something. It’s probably nothing, but when we were asking your husband about Hollie, he said we were talking to the wrong person – that we needed to talk to you. Do you have any idea why he might have said that?’

I watch her tense.

‘No.’

‘There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come out with it. You told us you were on a flight to Athens the day Hollie died. I checked with the airline, Elise. They said you didn’t show.’

I’ve never imagined Elise could have killed Hollie, but when her face turns white, suddenly I confront the fact that I’ve let my own experiences influence my perception of her. Maybe I’ve read her terribly wrong.

‘It isn’t what you’re thinking,’ she says at last. ‘If you must know, I had a hospital appointment. I found a lump. You’ve no idea how difficult it’s been taking phone calls without anyone knowing. I couldn’t let Andrew find out. He’d use it to wear me down. Another addition to his list of reasons why I’m an unsuitable mother … I’ve been back several times – scans, a biopsy. It’s malignant, but they think they’ve caught it early enough. I’m waiting for a date for surgery.’

It’s a lot to deal with, on top of everything else, as well as keeping it from her family. ‘I wish I’d known.’ Then I frown. ‘But he couldn’t use your illness to discredit you.’