I continue back onto the path, taking the fork I remember and then finding the dog waste bin next to the bench.
There’s nothing obvious to mark the route into the woods that Max made me take – but there are subtle signs. A couple of plants have been trampled down and there’s the scuff mark I left on the ridge by the path. I wasn’t sure why I did it at the time but it’s a useful marker now.
There is no trail through the trees but it feels as if I know where I’m going. Trees and bushes seem familiar and there’s never a moment where I’m lost.
It takes a little over ten minutes until I reach the clearing that is seared in my memory. I know it’s retrospect because I’m aware of what’s there – but the shallow bowl that nature has carved into the ground seems so obvious as a place to bury a body. Even if there wasn’t a spade part-covered by the layer of clover and moss, not to mention the mounds of dirt I cleared, the curve of the land is a slightly lighter green then anything else in the clearing. I wonder how many people have walked through this way in the past thirteen years – and it can’t be many. This is proper middle-of-nowhere territory and there’s no reason for hikers to leave the trails.
Max found himself the perfect spot to get rid of that poor little girl.
Of my sister.
I pick up the spade and shovel the dirt I removed back into place. The plants will grow back over the coming months and it won’t take long until it’s covered with the same carpet of green as the rest of this clearing.
When I’m done, I walk a little further into the woods and slide the spade underneath the densest bush I can find. The branches are brittle and sharp; the leaves small and thick, and I can’t believe it will ever be found.
The closest tree to Olivia’s grave has a blanket of vines and leaves clinging to the bottom. It’s the thickest in the clearing, stretching so high that I can’t see the top among the intermingled branches of all the other trees. I sit among the plants and lean back, the rough bark scratching through my top.
‘Olivia Elizabeth Adams.’
I close my eyes and listen. There’s a gentle breeze, barely enough to ripple the leaves on the trees but I can feel it tickling my ears.
My voice is the gentlest of whispers, two words: ‘I’m sorry.’
And I am.
I’m sorry that Olivia, the real Olivia, will never have her story told.
This is not what I expected when I came to Stoneridge and I suppose the question I have to ask myself is whether this was all worth it. Harry will grow up without a father; Dan – my dad – might go to prison. I didn’t mean to but I’m the person who caused this.
But I have a mother and she has a daughter. The question of ‘why?’ that’s haunted her for thirteen years has finally been answered, even if it’s with a lie.
Sometimes lies are better than truth.
I’ve got a younger brother and a best friend. I’m going to be loved.
So was it worth it?
I wrap my arms across my front, hugging my knees tight. It takes a while but I sit and listen for an answer until a warmer purr of wind caresses my face.
‘Thank you,’ I say, opening my eyes slowly.
I take a few moments to stare at the patch of land under which Olivia is buried, knowing I’ll never return here. Then I set off back to the trail, ready to live a life that might never be mine.
* * *
If you enjoyed The Girl Who Came Back, you will LOVE Two Sisters by Kerry Wilkinson.
* * *
Order here!
Two Sisters
A gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist
They told us he had been missing for nearly two days, that he probably drowned. They told us a lie.
* * *
Megan was ten years old when her older brother, Zac, went missing among the cliffs, caves and beaches that surround the small seaside town of Whitecliff.
* * *
A decade later and a car crash has claimed the lives of her parents.
* * *
Megan and her younger sister Chloe return to Whitecliff one summer for the first time since their brother’s disappearance. Megan says it’s to get her parents’ affairs in order. There are boxes to pack, junk to clear, a rundown cottage to sell. But that’s not the real reason.
* * *
Megan has come to confront her family’s past after receiving a postcard on the day of her parents’ funeral. It had a photograph of Whitecliff on the front and a single letter on the back.
* * *
‘Z’ is all it read.
* * *
Z for Zac.
* * *
A totally gripping psychological thriller that will have fans of Louise Jensen, Sue Fortin and The Silent Child absolutely hooked.
* * *
Order now.
Also by Kerry Wilkinson
Standalone novels
TEN BIRTHDAYS
TWO SISTERS
THE GIRL WHO CAME BACK
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The Jessica Daniel series
THE KILLER INSIDE (previously titled LOCKED IN)
VIGILANTE
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
THINK OF THE CHILDREN
PLAYING WITH FIRE
THE MISSING DEAD (PREVIOUSLY THICKER THAN WATER)
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
CROSSING THE LINE
SCARRED FOR LIFE
FOR RICHER, FOR POORER
* * *
Short Stories
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
* * *
The Andrew Hunter series
SOMETHING WICKED
SOMETHING HIDDEN
* * *
Silver Blackthorn
RECKONING
RENEGADE
RESURGENCE
* * *
Other
DAWN AMONG DEAD MEN
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
WATCHED
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If you want to be kept up to date with Kerry’s releases, you can sign up to the mailing list below. We will never share your details with anyone else.
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Kerry’s Email Sign Up
A Letter from Kerry
There is a big, big spoiler in this letter – so, if you’re having a sneaky look before reading the book, you really should not continue on…
If you ask any author which question it is he or she gets asked the most, I can almost guarantee you it will be, ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’
It’s the standard question that everyone asks, whether family member, friend, blogger, TV, radio or newspaper interviewer, reader, stranger in a pub, and so on. Everyone asks it.
I’m never quite sure how to reply, because there isn’t a definitive answer. There’s no single place from which ideas come. It’s everything and nothing. It’s observing people and things but it’s also being by yourself and allowing your mind to wander.
I think that, perhaps, the difference between someone who does this sort of creative job and someone who doesn’t is simply that we allow ourselves to listen to those mad thoughts that pop into our brains. Instead of dismissing them, we note them down because, one day, it might become useful.
For me, the core of a story usually comes in one of two ways. Either the ‘hook’ for the beginning, or a twist or reveal for the end. Once I’ve got that in my head, the rest of the writing is working either forwards or backwards to try to join the dots.
Not everything works. I can spend weeks on something before realising I don’t have enough. That’s hours of work, thousands of words, that get abandoned to digital dust.
The Girl Who Came Back has a unique origin for me because it was neither a beginning nor an end when it popped into my head. It was simply one line – which is still in the book. It’s at the end of chapter 34, broken across two sentences:
... there are only two people on the planet who know I can’t be Olivia.
<
br /> Me… and the person who killed her.
I didn’t have a name for Olivia at the time, I simply had an idea of someone trying to pull off the almightiest impersonation job and being caught out by the person who knew with absolute certainty that it couldn’t be true. Crucially, that person couldn’t say anything, else he’d expose himself as a killer. I liked the dynamic of this cat and mouse game in which neither person could figure the other out.
Everything grew from that one line.
There is also another story behind this. When I originally wrote it, it was called Thirteen Years. Somehow, I’d written a succession of books with numbers in the title. There was Ten Birthdays, this, and then, a bit later, Two Sisters. I’d finished my second draft and sent it off to my agent and then, literally that week, a show appeared on BBC iPlayer called Thirteen.
The show’s description was, horrifyingly, rather similar to my outline for this – that a girl returns home having been missing for thirteen years. It was one of those moments in which you’re not quite sure what to do. The coincidence of the idea being so close, even down to the title, was rather extraordinary. I’d never heard of the show before but watched the first episode with great trepidation, obviously hoping it was nothing like my book.
Luckily, it isn’t. It shares a premise and (at the time) a title – but little past that.
I suppose what it does show is that different writers can have the same weird ideas pop into their heads, even down to titles. Oh, and when people say some coincidence can never happen... it probably can.
Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed the book. As ever, if you did, a review would be terrific. Nothing helps to spread the word better than that. You can also contact me via social media at the links below!
Cheers for reading,
Kerry
www.kerrywilkinson.com
The Killer Inside
Detective Jessica Daniel Book 1
Buy here!
* * *
You can lock your doors…but what if the killer is already inside?
* * *
When the body of a woman is found in a locked house, Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel is called in to investigate a seemingly impossible murder. Without a key, how did the killer get in or out?
* * *
Jessica is under intense pressure to solve the case fast, but as she and her team chase down flimsy leads, she realizes this might just be the toughest case she has ever handled.
* * *
Then a second body is discovered bearing the same hallmarks as the first victim, and Jessica’s worst fears are confirmed: the hunt is for a serial killer, and only one thing is certain: they will strike again.
* * *
Can she get to him before the body count rises? And is she prepared to put her own life in terrible danger to catch the murderer?
* * *
An intense and compelling edge-of-your-seat thriller full of twists and turns.
* * *
Buy The Killer Inside here.
Vigilante
Detective Jessica Daniel Book 2
A gripping and twisted serial killer thriller
* * *
A killer behind bars is still killing…
* * *
When the body of a man is discovered with multiple stab wounds, Detective Jessica Daniel thinks it could be another drug-related murder. But then two more victims are found with similar markings. Each of the men were hardened criminals but is that the only link?
As Jessica is drawn into her most difficult case yet, dead bodies continue to pile up and the media go to town with headlines of a ‘Vigilante’ on the streets.
Then forensics match blood from the killer to a man already behind bars: Donald McKenna. Serving life in prison, Donald is a dangerous individual with the perfect alibi. But Jessica is sure he’s lying - and that he’s not the only one.
Can she catch a ruthless killer before he takes his next victim? And as Jessica inches nearer to the truth, can she protect those closest to her?
The second novel in the bestselling Detective Jessica Daniel series is a chilling serial killer thriller full of twists and turns.
* * *
Read the second book in the Detective Jessica Daniel series, OUT NOW.
The Woman in Black
Detective Jessica Daniel Book 3
A chilling serial killer thriller with a twist you won't see coming
* * *
A severed hand is discovered in the centre of Manchester and the only clue Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel has to go on is CCTV footage of a woman in a long black robe placing it carefully on the ground.
* * *
With a growing missing persons list and frantic families wondering if the body part could belong to their absent loved ones, Jessica must solve the case fast.
* * *
When a second hand is found and a local politician’s wife goes missing, Jessica is left struggling to find out who the appendages belong to. The mother of missing Lewis Barnes, is convinced his girlfriend, twenty-six year-old January Forrester is responsible, but something doesn’t add up. Who is the mysterious woman in black and how is she connected to the abandoned body parts?
* * *
Then, unnervingly, a detached finger arrives in the post for Jessica - and it's clear that someone knows exactly who she is.
* * *
A totally gripping and chilling thriller that will have you completely hooked to the very last page.
* * *
Buy now!
Think of the Children
Detective Jessica Daniel Book 4
One is dead. One is missing. Who is next?
* * *
Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel is first on the scene as a stolen car crashes on a misty, wet Manchester morning. The driver is dead, but the biggest shock awaits her when she discovers the body of a child wrapped in plastic in the boot of the car.
* * *
As Jessica struggles to identify the driver, a thin trail leads her first to a set of clothes buried in the woods and then to a list of children's names abandoned in an allotment shed.
* * *
When another child from the list goes missing, Jessica is desperate to find them but in order to do so, she must crack open the secrets of a case that’s been unsolved for fourteen years.
* * *
A darkly compelling and heart-stoppingly gripping novel in the bestselling Detective Jessica Daniel series.
* * *
Order now.
Playing with Fire
Detective Jessica Daniel Book 5
Out now!
* * *
His sentence may be over, but his crime is not forgotten.
* * *
Martin Chadwick is about to be released from prison, seven years after setting fire to a pub, killing a teenage boy. But the victim’s father doesn’t believe justice has been served. He wants retribution.
* * *
A media storm is swirling and it’s not long before journalists have a story to follow. First, a series of arson attacks and Martin Chadwick’s own son, Ryan, is at risk.
* * *
Then Ryan’s school friend is discovered with her wrists slashed. Days later another girl is found hanging from a beam in her bedroom. A devastating suicide ring or murder? Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel is struggling to get to the truth.
* * *
When the father of one of the dead girls loses his home in a fire, Jessica must find the twisted individual fast, before they strikes again. But with a private investigator interfering in the case, and her personal life spiralling out of control, can she do what it takes to make sure no one else gets hurt?
* * *
An utterly gripping and unputdownable thriller with a twist you won’t see coming. Discover the million-copy bestselling Jessica Daniel series today.
* * *
Order now.
The Missing Dead
Detective Jessica Daniel Book 6
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Think you can trust those closest to you? Think again.
* * *
Out now.
* * *
When a couple arrive home to find their teenage babysitter, Oliver, has disappeared, they are angry their young daughter has been left alone. Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel is sent to investigate and it quickly becomes clear that something truly sinister has happened.
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