I don’t know what to do. I have to tell the police, don’t I? But Dad is still crying and saying please don’t, please don’t leave me…

Stay. Bella’s voice again. Echoed by Julia’s, asking me to look after him. Stay. Live your new life and stay. Let it remain an accident.

“I can’t.” I say it out loud. “I’ll never sleep again if I hold this secret inside.”

Oh, Tess. Oh, baby sis…

I get Detective Levinson’s card out of my pocket, pick up my phone. I leave a short message before putting the phone down and turning to Dad.

“I’m sorry.”

For a second it feels like Bella’s squeezing my hand and then she’s gone.

I drift…

…the woods and the house that always wait for me when I close my eyes fade…

…and I sleep.

From the Western Vale News, August 2020:

TRAGIC TALE OF ARABELLA COOPER
REACHES ITS SAD CONCLUSION

When eighteen-year-old Arabella Cooper was found dead in the woods surrounding West Dean in 2008, her death was ruled an accident. But ten years later, in a series of shocking discoveries, the truth was uncovered. Greg Lewis, posthumously proved to be the “Babes in the Woods” murderer of Annie Weston and Nicole Wallace, was found to have been killed himself, by Arabella Cooper, aided by Helena and Max Rees, who were convicted of perverting the course of justice and withholding evidence of a crime. Lewis is also believed to have murdered missing teenager Rachel Wells, whose body has never been found. The final twist in the Lewis/Cooper case was when Tess Cooper came forward and confessed to pushing her sister during an argument, which resulted in her falling to her death.

This tragic tale reached its strange conclusion this week when Tess Cooper was quietly released from prison and was met by Sean Lewis, youngest son of Greg Lewis. It is believed she joined her father, who left West Dean soon after his daughter was arrested.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Once again, I’m hugely grateful to so many people for all the help and support with this book.

Special thanks to Lucy Dauman and Rosanna Forte, my editors at Sphere, and to Millicent Bennett at Grand Central for your wonderful support. I also want to acknowledge the sheer brilliance of all of the team at Sphere and Little, Brown, especially Thalia, Gemma, and Stephanie.

Of course, none of this would have happened if it weren’t for my super-agent Juliet Mushens. I will be forever grateful for everything the team at Caskie Mushens has done.

Thanks to former DCI Stuart Gibbon of GIB Consultancy for the advice on police procedure—his book, The Crime Writer’s Casebook, was also invaluable. Thanks once again to Savage and Gray Design Ltd for the wonderful website and book trailers.

All the thanks, as always, to all my writing friends, especially the Romaniacs and the Cowbridge Cursors.