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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

Then came the muffled banging on the door. She could see Lloyd’s eyes as he stared through the tiny crack in the curtains, just wide enough for him to see in. But Grace couldn’t move. She stared, unblinking, at the window. In her peripheral vision, her parents’ bodies lay lifeless on the floor. Her heart was fluttering like a bird in a cage.

It was over.

She was free.

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

‘Stop the car,’ Dawn instructed her father as the twinkling lights of Nighbrook village came into view. In self-preservation mode, her mind was reeling as she planned what to say to the police.

‘But Dawn . . .’ Slowly and cautiously, her father pressed his foot to the brake.

‘I need some air!’ she shouted, unbuckling her seatbelt.

Her father might not want to let her out of his sight, but he had no choice. She had spent half her childhood in captivity. He could not begrudge her some fresh air.

‘Be careful,’ he warned as she opened the door. ‘Please, Dawn . . .’ His brown eyes were soft and pleading. ‘You’re all I have left.’

‘For God’s sake, why can’t you give me some space!’ Dawn snapped. Then she softened, feeling a pang of love for the man who had taken her in. ‘I won’t be long. I’ll walk straight home.’

God knows, it hadn’t been easy for them, adopting a shell-shocked, traumatised little child. More than anyone, Reverend Humphries had had to battle with his conscience, and night after night, she’d hear him consulting his Bible for guidance. Then his wife’s voice, soft and gentle as she justified them taking her in. ‘She’s just a child,’ Betty had said. ‘We let her down. All of us. We can put this right.’ And they did. As well as covering up her secret, Betty and Mike Humphries were the kindest, most loving people she had known. She’d been devastated when Betty died. Reverend Humphries had carried on the best he could. But why had Lloyd dedicated his life to hiding her crimes?

She trudged down the woodland path, past the wooden hut where Lloyd had found Morgan, on the brink of hypothermia on the floor. Dawn had heard all about Joel on the grapevine. Nothing escaped the villagers. But these days, as they were individually questioned by police, they were more worried about saving their own skin.