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Back The Village Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CONTENTS
  5. START READING
  6. PROLOGUE
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  61. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  62. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

‘Damn that woman.’ His hand curled into a fist. He had warned her. Told her that whatever she thought she knew was never to pass her lips. But the Doyle woman was dying. She had nothing to lose. Her husband’s death had not silenced her for good.

Lloyd picked up his mobile phone from where it had fallen in the car footwell. He needed Joanne for this. He could not do it alone.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Ten Years Previously

‘Drink it!’ Susan’s voice was thin and brittle as she held the glass up to Grace’s mouth.

But Grace didn’t want to drink the bitter-tasting medicine that doubled her up in pain. She pressed her lips tightly together as Susan pinched her chin between finger and thumb.

Since learning of her secret night-time trips, Susan had come down harder on her daughter than ever before. Grace wasn’t even allowed to see Bonnie. There were as many nails in the window frames as there were padlocks on the doors. Susan’s patience was a guitar string ready to snap, and Grace couldn’t do it any more. She had seen the way the other children had stared at her missing front teeth. At her once-beautiful hair now falling out in clumps. She was fading away, the invisible girl. If she was going to die, she didn’t want it to be like this, bald, toothless and skeletal in her bed. But Mummy wouldn’t listen. Mummy had turned hard and cold. But why? The question haunted her nights and tortured her days. What if Mummy’s head injury made her do bad things? She hadn’t seen a doctor in years. What if her mother was killing her? The thought was too big for her childish mind to comprehend.

‘All right, have it your way.’ Susan finally withdrew the glass. ‘You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to.’

Awash with relief, Grace relaxed her jaw. Immediately, her mother’s sharp fingers pinched her nose tight. The cold, unforgiving glass was pressed hard to her lips as Susan screamed at her to drink. Her eyes wide, Grace met her mother’s gaze, her betrayal cutting into her.

‘Drink it!’ Susan cried savagely, as the sticky orange liquid sloshed over Grace’s mouth and chin. Gagging, Grace gargled for breath as her mother tipped the juice down her throat. Half she swallowed, half spilled down her chin. Tears burned her eyes as the glass was finally emptied. Then her mother was tugging at her buttons in an effort to change her damp nightclothes.

‘No!’ she shrieked, slapping away her mother’s hands. She had never hated her as much as she did now. ‘Leave me alone!’ As their eyes met, her despair was returned.

‘I’m sorry,’ Susan cried. ‘It’s your medicine. You have to take it, otherwise . . .’ Yet the sense of violation lingered as her mother tried to reason with her.