Tina note the shake in her voice over the phone?
‘And Jonie isn’t with her? Was she with her? Can you ask
her?’
‘Calm down, love,’ Muriel said lightly. ‘Yes, she was with her
earlier – they were playing that stupid game over at Blackstone again. But Bella said she got fed up and convinced Jonie to go
into the village park instead.’
‘So, she left Jonie at the park? Is that the last place she saw
her?’
‘I’m not sure, Tina. I’m sorry. She was upset when she got
back – I think Jonie went off on her own. Bella hasn’t said much
since.’
‘For God’s sake. Where the hell is she?’
‘Maybe she went to another friend’s house – have you tried
everyone?’
‘Not yet. I rang you first because I assumed she’d be with
Bella.’
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Muriel could hear the tears thickening Tina’s voice. Her heart stuttered; her mind went blank. She couldn’t think of the right
thing to say.
‘I’m going to ring off now then,’ Tina said. ‘Try others. Can
you speak to Bella again please? She might have forgotten some-
thing. Maybe Jonie told her where she was going.’
‘Will do. Keep me posted.’ Muriel hung up and turned to
Bella. ‘It’s okay,’ she said. Bella’s red-rimmed eyes were stark
against her milky-white face. Muriel put her arms around her.
‘Don’t worry. It’ll be all right.’
Bella’s sobs were muffled in Muriel’s shirt. Muriel squeezed
her eyes tight, willing her own tears not to come. She had to be
strong.
Everyone would need her to be strong.
After a few minutes, Bella pulled away from Muriel’s chest.
‘Where’s Dad?’
‘He went to look for Jonie.’
‘Oh.’ Bella looked thoughtful. ‘Did he go to where I said?’
‘Yes, love. He left as soon as you told us where you’d last
been.’
‘When will he be back?’
‘I don’t know, Bella. I expect he’ll call on the others to help
too. He’ll be as long as he needs to be.’
‘Until he gets Jonie back? I want her to come home now,
Mum.’
Muriel looked down at Bella, cupping her face in her hands.
She couldn’t head off her own tears any longer.
‘Whatever it takes, my darling girl.’
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Chapter Eighty-Two
2019
Anna
Friday 19th July
‘Confess to what? What the hell did I do?’ Anna slumped into the chair. ‘Mum? Why did you say you were sorry? Because I’m
getting the bloody blame for something you did?’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said again. Muriel had her head bowed.
‘Why can’t you even look at me? What did you do, Mum?’
‘I did what I felt I had to do.’ Muriel’s voice was void of
emotion. Dead. Anna could feel her anger rising and tightening
in her chest – sticking there like a hot lava ball. It was typical that Anna would now have to suffer for her mother’s high-drama
antics from thirty years ago.
‘What have you dragged me into here? For Christ’s sake,
Mother – I’ve got Carrie to think of. Being here all week away
from my daughter has been bad enough. But now I find you’ve
been keeping things from me, and probably knew the whole
time what this fucking Knock, Knock game was all about – and
don’t you dare chastise me for swearing, I have every right – but somehow it’s me who needs to confess? Me who this person wants to seek some kind of revenge on? How is that fair?’ Anna
ran out of breath.
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Her head was swimming with false knowledge, with disjointed memories – with an anger she realised now had been germinating
for a long time. Whatever had happened in Mapledon all those
years ago, whatever lies had been told, whatever truths buried
– Anna knew her mother was behind them all. And now Anna
was going to pay the price. This woman who’d been leaving the
doll’s parts, the notes, clearly believed it to be Anna who needed punishing.
What was next?
‘Dad,’ Anna said. A sudden, clear memory shot into her brain.
‘He was late home the day Jonie went missing. I remember you
asking him why he was late. But then he left again. I was upset
at the time, didn’t think about it. Where had he been and where
did he go?’
‘I don’t remember.’
‘Yes. You do.’ Anna stood up, walked into the lounge and
began pacing. ‘The necklace.’ Anna frowned, then went to the
dining table to retrieve the small cloth ball that had been stuffed in the doll’s torso. She walked back in, coming to a stop in front of Muriel. ‘It was found in Billy Cawley’s bungalow. It was one
of the key pieces of evidence, apart from my witness statement.’
Muriel stared unresponsively at Anna.
‘I had an identical necklace. I remember Jonie’s dad giving
them to us at a barbecue that summer. He said he’d got the
same ones for the “terrible twins”. But I don’t remember anyone
ever mentioning that when the necklace was found in Billy
Cawley’s place.’ Anna took the silver necklace from the cloth,
shoving it in Muriel’s face.
‘It wasn’t your necklace they found,’ Muriel said, taking a
step back. ‘So, there was no need to mention it.’
‘How do you know that, though?’
‘Because you had yours, obviously.’
‘But I didn’t.’ Anna shook her head. ‘I can’t remember ever
seeing it again after Jonie went missing.’
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‘Well, your memory of that time has always been hazy – you said it yourself. You just can’t remember having it. But you did.’
‘No . . .’ Anna said, her mind now in overdrive. ‘You took
mine, didn’t you?’ A sudden and shocking realisation hit her. A
dizzy sensation swept over her. ‘Did you make Dad put it inside
Billy’s bungalow so the police would suspect Billy of taking
Jonie?’ The accusation sounded incredulous, even though she
was the one saying the words. She prayed she was wrong.
‘But Billy did take her, Anna. You saw him with your own
eyes.’ There was a pleading in her mother’s voice. Anna’s skin
turned to gooseflesh, her mind awash with snippets of conver-
sation, a collage of images – none of which made sense in this
moment.
And her mother had not denied her accusation.
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Chapter Eighty-Three
2019
Lizzie
Armed at last with what she truly believed was the correct story, Lizzie reversed her car back out of the farm and sped through
the lanes towards Mapledon. It was late, the night closing in
quickly around her now the sun had set. She’d listened intently
for hours to what Billy Cawley – her father – had to say. She
felt as though she were on fire – all her synapses firing at once, her adrenaline crashing through her veins at breakneck speed.
All her focus was on one thing: finally airing the dirty secrets
Mapledon had been hiding for thirty years; hanging the villagers
involved in the cover-up out to dry. She’d felt the darkness the
moment she’d driven into Mapledon six days ago. Then she’d
questioned accounts, delved into the background of the story,
as well as the inhabitants of the Stepford wives’ community –
and now she had answers.
But she couldn’t carry this off alone; she needed help.
Someone to be a witness.
As soon as she got to the outskirts of the village, she stopped
to make a call while she still had signal. The recipient didn’t
seem surprised to hear from her, even giving her some further
important information. Nothing else could shock her now.
They’d agreed to meet Lizzie at the suggested location. Her
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phone pinged with notifications. Dom had tried calling and had texted her seven times. Lizzie quickly hammered out a reply, a
brief explanation. Then she started the car again and turned in
to Mapledon.
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Chapter Eighty-Four
1989
The Mapledon Meeting
Thursday 20th July – the day after
‘Thank you for coming. I know the timing seems . . . difficult.
But actually it couldn’t be better. We can do something to help.
Something positive,’ Muriel said.
‘Like what, though, Muriel? Jonie’s missing, the police haven’t
found any trace of her. We were out last night combing the
village, the moorland on the outskirts – and nothing. What
more can we do?’ Allison, Councillor Furlong’s wife, said.
‘We can make sure whoever did this doesn’t get away with
it! Come on – we all know who’s responsible, let’s not make
any bones about it. Billy Cawley took her and whatever he’s
planning to do with her, we can assume it’s not good. We know
what he did to his own daughter . . .’
The women, all fifteen of them, began mumbling between
themselves. Muriel and Nell exchanged glances.
‘Ladies, ladies, quieten down a moment. This is important.
Muriel has brought this meeting forward for good reason,’ Nell
said.
‘Thank you, Nell.’ Muriel stood up in front of the women.
‘We need to come up with a plan.’
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‘To do what?’
Muriel sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically. ‘To make sure
the police get him, obviously.’
‘How? We don’t have any evidence he took her, Muriel.’
Wendy, one of the members who was usually very compliant,
shook her head and the noise started up again, a loud buzz of
conversation filling the lounge.
‘Well, that’s where you’re wrong!’ Muriel raised her voice.
The women all stopped their chatter and stared at Muriel.
‘If you have evidence, why haven’t you told the police already?’
Allison asked.
‘Tomorrow. I’m taking her tomorrow.’
Nell stood up and went to the lounge door.
‘What’s going on? Taking who?’ another woman piped up.
‘Come in, sweetie, it’s okay.’ Nell grabbed Bella’s hand and
pulled her inside the room and positioned her next to Muriel.
‘As you are aware, my daughter is best friends with Jonie.
And she was with her.’ Muriel smiled at Bella, stretching her
arm out to embrace her. ‘Good girl, it’s going to be fine. Don’t
worry,’ Muriel whispered in her ear before turning to address
the women. ‘She was in shock. She wasn’t able to tell me until
just before you arrived. Bella, darling. Just tell them what you
told me.’
Bella began to cry, and Muriel squeezed her shoulder tighter.
‘It’s fine. Go on,’ she said more firmly.
‘I – me and Jonie . . .’ Her bottom lip trembled. ‘We were
playing all afternoon . . .’ She snivelled and wiped the back of
her hand across her nose. ‘Knock, Knock Ginger. As usual. He
chased us.’ Her voice rose. ‘We got away, but Jonie thought it
was funny and wanted to do it again.’ Bella paused, her eyes
looking to Muriel.
‘Go on, tell them what happened next.’
‘I— ca . . . can’t,’ Bella sobbed and broke away from Muriel’s
grip, running out of the room. Her footsteps crashed loudly as
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she bolted up the stairs. Her bedroom door slammed shut moments later.
‘She’s distraught, poor thing. It’s taken ages for her to open
up – she’s barely uttered a word until now; my darling Bella
was traumatised and in deep shock,’ Muriel said, accentuating
the word ‘deep’. ‘I can’t get her to speak to the police just yet
– she’ll freak out. And she was witness to it, so her statement
will be important; she has to get it right first time.’
‘What did she see, Muriel?’
A hushed silence fell on the room.
saw Jonie getting into Billy’s truck.’
‘Christ! Is she sure?’ Wendy said.
‘Of course she’s sure. That truck’s not exactly common, is it?
She knows what she saw.’
‘Then you have to let the police know now, Muriel. You can’t waste time with this. He might be doing awful things to poor
little Jonie as we speak and there’s already been too much time
wasted.’ The women all muttered their agreement with Allison’s
statement.
‘I know, I know. But I have to protect my daughter too, don’t
you see? This could ruin the rest of her life. She feels so guilty that she left her best friend when she needed her most, running
away in fright and not telling anyone what she saw. I can’t allow her to come to harm because she was in shock and afraid. I
won’t have people saying it’s her fault. I won’t let that happen, do you hear me? And anyway, we are the adults. We will take care of this. The village will pull together as it always does. And it’ll get through this.’
‘If it’s not a good outcome, Muriel, then I don’t think it’ll
be so easy for Tina Hayes to get through it.’
‘I get your point, Wendy,’ Muriel sighed loudly. ‘I’ll talk to
Pat Vern after the meeting, give him a heads-up so he can start
looking at the right person. But, Wendy?’
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‘What?’
‘Remember you’re a member of the Mapledon community,
and you’re part of these meetings. You know we work for the
good of the whole village. Don’t forget that.’
‘I suggest we keep a few of the more productive – and fai
thful
– members here after the others have gone, Muriel?’ Nell whis-
pered when the others were all talking among themselves.
‘You’re right. We’ll make a proper plan then.’ Muriel spoke
quickly before moving on to the next item on the agenda, and
the room once again became quiet.
‘How did the meeting go? Did you come to an agreed plan of
action?’ Eric asked as they climbed into bed.
‘Yes. We’ve agreed. I’ll take Bella into the station tomorrow,’
Muriel said. She kept her eyes averted, not able to look at her
husband.
‘Mark’s destroyed. Tina is going mad with worry. I’m not
sure I can handle it.’
‘You have to, Eric. What’s done is done. You should’ve thought
of the consequences before, shouldn’t you?’
‘Likewise, Muriel. Likewise.’
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Chapter Eighty-Five
2019
Anna
Friday 19th July
‘I’ll make us a Horlicks,’ Muriel said, her voice bright and breezy as though they hadn’t been sitting in complete silence, neither
making eye contact, for the last few hours. Muriel had said
nothing following Anna’s accusation. Having thought about it,
Anna now felt sure her dad would never have agreed to plant
fake evidence to ensure blame was placed on an innocent man.
Her mother wasn’t that persuasive; he would’ve stood up to her.
Wouldn’t he?
‘What time is it?’ Anna asked.
‘It must be late.’ Muriel walked into the kitchen. ‘Nine-
twenty,’ she called.
Anna was exhausted. Mentally and physically. If she could go
to bed now, she would. But she knew she wouldn’t sleep. And
the uneasy feeling the day wasn’t over – that there was still far more to come – hung around her, loitering like a malevolent
force waiting for the right moment to release its devastation.
‘Okay. Sure,’ she said.
Muriel came back into the lounge ten minutes later with a
drink in each hand and set them down on the coffee table.
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‘Can you grab another coaster, Anna? They’re on the dresser.’
Anna reached across and took one of the old coasters – they’d
bought them on a family daytrip to Looe, in Cornwall, a lifetime
ago – and as she did, she remembered the letters that had been