I wonder what the house looks like now. I have no doubt it will have changed significantly in the past ten years. I only hope the family who moved in managed to build some happier memories than the ones I have. It was the beginning of the end for me. Then we moved here, a fresh start, I had no idea that it meant isolating me from everyone I had ever known. My whole life revolved around R and I was completely dependent on him for everything. He knew what he was doing.

The detectives tell me that Jimmy Chilton was assisting them. I knew from the first moment I met him that he couldn’t be trusted. There was something intrinsically weak about him. Now, I feel like maybe I judged him harshly. I had no idea he was helping the police; I didn’t think he would have the courage to do something like that.

Something the detectives tell me about the house in Oswestry jumps into my mind. I try not to think about those days when everything changed – they are too upsetting for me. I can accept what came after, but to go from feeling loved by a person to them making you feel so ashamed and disgusted with yourself, it’s hard to come to terms with something like that. It’s hard to remember them the way they used to be.

You wonder what you did wrong to bring about this change in them. But the greenhouse … I used to love tending to the garden. It was one of my great escapes in life and R bought me a greenhouse. I remember Clive letting me watch him install it and so I know it wasn’t Clive’s body under the installation. It was then that Clive offered to help me get away. R must have found out. I wonder where Clive’s body is now. I have no doubt that he is dead, as well.

There is only one other person I can think of who would be under the greenhouse. I am sure R found it hilarious, watching me potter about in there, looking after the flowers, knowing who I was walking on. I see how everything is a game or a power play to him. He doesn’t care about me – maybe he never did. It’s all about him.

If I am right, then the police will definitely be able to arrest him. That body will be conclusive proof of what he has done. I need to get to him before the police do, though. I need to get to him because, if it is who I think it is, I don’t want him to go to prison. I want him to die.

Chapter Seventy-Six