‘What sort of mother poisons her daughter?’ Dawn continued. ‘Can you imagine torturing your only child for attention?’ It was a rhetorical question. Dawn was lost in the past now, her hands clenched in fists. ‘Everyone thought my mum was some kind of saint, but my illness was nothing but a sham. And then your paedo husband comes wading in . . . why couldn’t he have handled it properly? Seen what was going on? So many times I asked for help, but nobody listened.’

‘You know nothing, you stupid girl!’ Joanne’s nails dug into Dawn’s wrist as she flung her around to face her.

‘Get your hands off me!’ Dawn screeched, fury rising in her chest. ‘You knew what he was, and you accepted it. Everyone in Nighbrook knew.’ Dawn remembered the many times Lloyd had hugged her. The look of love in his eyes as he’d leaned in to kiss her cheek.

Joanne’s face was twisted with long-buried emotion. ‘We took you in, protected you from the stigma of being a killer. It took a village to raise you.’

‘And where were you when I needed you? Where were any of you?’

‘We did everything we could,’ Joanne said, a pinch of regret in her words.

‘Too little, too late,’ Dawn snapped. ‘Lloyd only helped because I was his precious “moonlight girl”.’ Their eyes met as she recalled the term. ‘Oh yeah.’ She nodded as she saw a flicker of recognition in Joanne’s eyes. ‘He told me the story of how he first laid eyes on me. But all the time, he was in love. Funny how he lost interest when I grew up.’

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Then tell me. Why would a grown man want to be friends with a child?’

‘Because he was your father!’ Joanne’s words rang around the forest, leaving Dawn in stunned shock.

‘No,’ she whispered. ‘You’re lying.’ She struggled to find her footing as she absorbed the implications.

‘God help me, I’m telling the truth. It was such a well-kept secret that even your own mother didn’t know.’

Dawn walked unblinking, the half-moon highlighting her face. Shadows danced around them as long-kept secrets were spilled.

‘Now can you see? Do you understand why he protected you all these years?’ Joanne looked at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to break down.

‘No,’ Dawn said. ‘No, I don’t.’

For the last ten years, Dawn had worked hard to put the past behind her, distancing herself from Lloyd and planning to travel the world. But her actions revisited her in nightmares. How she had pulled the trigger, once, twice in quick succession. Had her father not run towards her, he would never have been shot. With Lloyd, it was different. He planned Morgan and Naomi’s murders. Dawn was glad he was dead.