Her father spoke of bringing them all together, of doing what was best for the community as a whole. A vow of silence had been agreed on by everyone but Dawn. So far, she had kept the Harper family secret, but how much longer could she keep up the act? She didn’t want to go back to being Grace. That part of her had died in Ivy Cottage, along with her biological parents. The guilt of their deaths had weighed heavily on her conscience, but she had been a different person back then. Her thinking had been skewed by drugs, her body poisoned into submission. Psychologically, she believed that pulling that trigger was the only way out of the torture inflicted on her. As she matured, she coped by creating a new identity, convincing herself that she was someone else.

But her feelings for Morgan ran deep. She couldn’t imagine never seeing her again. Lost in thought, Dawn didn’t hear footsteps approach until they were almost upon her. She spun around as a hand pressed on to her shoulder, her shriek causing the birds to flap from the branches.

‘Joanne!’ she exhaled, breathy with relief.

Joanne was cloaked in a long black coat, a scarf wound around her neck. Her eyes were puffy from crying, her face lined with grief. But there was something else. An underlying current of anger.

A sense of shame washed over Dawn. She had not spoken to Joanne since Lloyd’s death. She fell into step with the woman she had known almost all her life.

‘I’m sorry about Lloyd,’ she blurted.

In truth, she wasn’t. She was glad the man was dead.

‘At least say it like you mean it,’ Joanne spat. ‘Not a card . . . not a flower. What is the matter with you? After everything he did . . .’

‘It was all for himself,’ Dawn said, as a cool breeze curled around them both. Once, she might have portrayed Lloyd Thomas as the hero, but not any more. ‘We all know what he was.’ The truth was ugly, but tonight it needed to be looked at without flinching. ‘The only reason nobody reported him was because they wanted to protect me from the stigma of being the kid who killed her mum and dad.’ Dawn’s voice carried a dark edge. ‘Not one of the villagers saw what was right under their nose. It came down to one thing – one person. Susan Harper was a manipulative witch who made my life hell.’

Dawn had spent so long keeping it a secret that it was a relief to hear the truth echo around the forest. It had taken her months to adjust to living a normal life, although she’d never truly been free. Joanne needed to be told.