I Dare You (ARC)

by Sam Carrington

did it was too late – the awful events from Wednesday 19th July

  1989 had overtaken them – and she’d shunned him.

  He’d vowed to get out of prison in order to find the culprit,

  to prove to Tina once and for all it hadn’t been him – so he’d

  completed all the offending behaviour rehabilitation courses,

  continuing to talk of his guilt despite his innocence – just so he would be able to get out. Now he was out, he’d told Lizzie he

  felt quite calm; his anger had dissipated somewhat. He’d learned

  a lot in his rehabilitation programmes that made him view things

  differently. Coming across as ‘reformed’ enabled the parole board to come to the decision he could be let out on life licence. As

  he put things together, though, he realised the justice he’d

  initially wanted wasn’t as simple – and it wouldn’t have the

  satisfactory outcome he craved. But he knew there was something

  he could do. An act of selflessness to try and limit further damage.

  His aim now was to find Tina’s daughter’s body, and make

  sure she could finally have a real funeral for Jonie.

  All they needed was for Muriel to tell them where to find

  Eric.

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  Chapter Ninety-Eight

  2019

  Eric

  He’d called Muriel straight away – as soon as he’d been told

  about Billy Cawley’s release. Warned her of what might come.

  What would come. Told her to keep a low profile. Just in case it did blow over. But he knew he couldn’t be that lucky. Eric

  owed a debt to Billy. Not just any kind of debt either: he owed

  him his life. There was only one way he could repay that. And

  if he didn’t offer to repay in full – then Billy would collect in person. He had no doubt of that. It had been almost a week

  since his release. There’d been two occasions in Eric’s life where time had stretched – seemed infinite – when the moment of

  agony seemed never-ending. One was thirty years ago. The other

  was today – waiting for his punishment. He’d hoped it would

  be swift, over by now. Billy was dragging it out, making him

  suffer.

  He couldn’t blame him.

  Billy – for all his faults, for all the bad things they’d

  attempted to pin on him – was an innocent man. Had been

  then, was now. For a second, he cursed Muriel. She’d started

  the ball rolling, and once it’d gathered speed there was no

  stopping it – it would knock down whoever got in its path. If

  she’d realised who it would damage, maybe, just maybe, she’d

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  have had second thoughts. He liked to think so. She said she loved him, wanted to protect him. And to be fair, she had.

  She’d kept in contact with him even when he’d moved back

  down to Somerset. She’d been angry that he’d moved closer

  – only one county away. She’d liked him being in Scotland.

  The distance had made her feel more secure. But she’d come

  around, eventually. And she carried on updating him on his

  daughter’s life, informing him when she’d married, when she’d

  made him a grandad . . .

  A sob escaped his tight chest as he tried to imagine what his

  granddaughter looked like. He’d so desperately wanted Muriel

  to send photos of Carrie, but they knew it wasn’t wise. Letters

  were risky enough. He wished Billy realised that he’d been

  punished too. He’d also lost out on seeing his daughter grow

  into a woman, missed all the major life events. The major one

  for Eric was how he’d missed the chance to be a grandad, to be

  involved in Carrie’s life.

  Muriel had called him a coward once. It’d cut through him

  – he’d literally dropped to the ground, his legs giving way. How

  could she say that? Because he’d gone – escaped as far away as

  possible? He hadn’t just done that for himself. He’d done it for

  her. For them.

  It had been an accident.

  A tragic, awful accident. A moment he’d regret for a life-

  time. For days, months and years afterwards, every other

  conceivable outcome had run through his mind. One that

  didn’t involve the death of a ten-year-old girl. If he’d done

  something differently, might things have worked out for

  everyone?

  Sitting at the window watching cars go by – waiting and

  wondering which would be for him – Eric contemplated whether

  he should go back.

  Back to Mapledon to face the music.

  He was dead whether he stayed in Somerset or went there.

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  He might as well do some good before the Reaper came for him.

  Eric Fisher stuffed a holdall with some clothes. Then, with a

  creeping sense of doom, got in his car and set off for the place

  he’d once called home.

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  Chapter Ninety-Nine

  2019

  Anna

  Once Billy seemed satisfied the truth had finally been spilled,

  after thirty years of Mapledon keeping it hidden, he opened the

  lounge door, standing aside to let people past him. Rob and Nell

  were quick to accept the invitation to leave, scuttling out rapidly, probably fearing he might change his mind. But Tina and Pat

  Vern hung back. And Anna did too, despite Muriel giving her

  a questioning glance as she herself edged closer to the door. To

  Anna, it all seemed unfinished, somehow. And she also felt the

  need for confirmation about what, exactly, was expected of her

  and Muriel next. Once Eric Fisher had been contacted.

  Regardless of what Billy and Tina had said about not wanting

  to involve the police, Anna felt certain they’d come calling on

  the Fishers sometime soon. If Tina wanted Eric to tell her where

  he’d taken Jonie’s body, they’d obviously want a proper burial

  – a full funeral. So, the police would become involved whether

  they wanted it or not.

  Mapledon’s secrets would become public knowledge. It was

  inevitable.

  Unless Billy was planning on still taking the blame. If he was the one to disclose the whereabouts of Jonie’s body, no one else

  would need to be implicated. Maybe he’d say it was his final

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  confession. Surely, though, the opportunity to clear his name would override everything else. Anna’s head throbbed. It was

  all too much to take in; too much to consider right now, past

  midnight in this derelict, ghostly bungalow. As the six of them,

  the remainers, stood looking uneasily at each other, Muriel began muttering.

  ‘The fact is, you have no evidence . . . not really, it’s all just hearsay and circumstantial.’

  Anna laughed. A hysterical cackle she had no control of. Tears

  joined in, and before she knew it, she was sobbing.

  How could her mother be so damned ironic? Could she not

  hear herself?

  ‘Calm down,
Anna,’ Lizzie said, coming to her side. She placed

  an arm around Anna’s shoulders. ‘It’s been a hell of a few hours, hasn’t it?’

  That was one way of putting it. Anna had lurched from one

  emotion to the next without warning. She was drained. Her

  thoughts chaotic. She took a few shuddering breaths in, enough

  to regain her composure without inhaling further dust particles.

  ‘I can’t calm down! We’ve just heard the same story, haven’t

  we?’ Anna gave Lizzie an incredulous look as she shook her arm

  off. ‘When did you find all this out, Lizzie? Or did you come

  here already knowing the answers?’

  ‘No, honestly; I was as in the dark as you were – until reaching

  Mapledon, anyway. Then there was a slow, creeping realisation

  that things weren’t as they first appeared. Once I met Billy, and heard his side, some of the lies came to light. Then he told me

  stories that rocked the foundations I’d built, made me question

  what I thought I knew. It wasn’t all from Billy, of course. Pat

  also helped fill in some gaps. As did Gwen, from Bulleigh Barton.

  I was surprised at her knowledge of the villagers, being she’s a

  relative outsider – although I guess most of it was based on gossip. But those present here tonight have confirmed most to

  be true.’

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  ‘Get a roomful of people together – all of them trying to hide a secret – throw in one accusation and watch as the panic sets

  in,’ Billy said. ‘Doesn’t take long for the first person to break

  – then the others to follow; the truth usually comes rolling out, each attempting to blame another. Self-preservation at its best.’

  ‘Which is why I asked everyone to meet here. It was the

  quickest way to pull all the threads together – get to the heart

  of the matter,’ Lizzie said.

  ‘It’s taken too long, but at least we have some answers now,’

  Tina said, her body encased in Pat’s arms.

  ‘You need to get Eric to talk now, Muriel,’ Pat said.

  Anna looked to her mother. She saw an old woman – one

  who appeared incapable of the actions she’d been accused of

  tonight. She now hoped that Muriel could give Tina what she

  was asking for. She’d protected Eric for too long already. She

  had to give him up now. ‘I assume you’ve got a contact number

  for Eric, then?’ Anna said.

  ‘Your dad,’ Muriel corrected.

  ‘I don’t think he deserves that status, do you?’

  ‘Yes, love. He does.’

  ‘After all that, you’re still standing by him? He’s a cold-blooded child killer, Mum.’

  ‘Do you have a way of getting hold of him, Muriel?’ Tina

  asked.

  Muriel sighed, taking a long time to answer. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Once she speaks to him, what then? What if he refuses to

  tell us where Jonie is?’ Anna said. It would be a huge setback

  now if Eric Fisher couldn’t tell them. And what if Billy was right about it not being long before Eric took his life rather than face up to his crime? They’d never find out and all this would’ve

  been for nothing.

  ‘When you talk to him, Muriel,’ Billy said, slowly, ‘you tell

  him I’m here. Waiting for his answer. And if he doesn’t co-op-

  erate, his daughter will “disappear”.’

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  ‘I thought you said you weren’t interested in revenge?’ Anna said, her voice high-pitched. Great that she was the bargaining chip.

  ‘I’m not. Per se. It wasn’t the reason for me returning to

  Mapledon. I was only here to visit my wife’s grave, not to stir

  up trouble or disturb old ghosts,’ Billy said. ‘However, I met

  Eliza, and a need for her to know the truth overtook me. The

  situation now, tonight, has . . . altered things. And needs must.’

  ‘Fine. I’ll make sure she tells him that.’ Anna wasn’t sure she

  bought the “I was only here to visit my wife’s grave” line. She

  knew in her gut there was an ulterior motive. She walked over

  to her mother and, taking her arm, guided her out of the lounge

  door, back through the hall and outside. She breathed in the

  clean air, deeply. Muriel was doing the same. Or she was hyper-

  ventilating, Anna wasn’t entirely sure.

  ‘We’ll be waiting and watching,’ Tina called out after them.

  ‘Make that call tonight, Muriel!’

  Anna and Muriel began the weary walk home. The progress was

  slow, neither of them seeming to have the energy to walk briskly.

  ‘The why wasn’t answered, though, was it?’ Anna asked. ‘I

  mean, why would Dad have killed Jonie?’

  ‘I don’t suppose we’ll ever know that, Anna.’

  ‘You must know. Didn’t you ask him at the time? Won’t you ask him now, when you speak to him again?’

  ‘Can we leave it? For now. I’m done; I just want to be home.’

  Anna, too, was drained. It seemed learning the truth was an

  exhausting experience. She wondered how the others were faring.

  ‘As soon as we’re home, though – you need to call him.’

  It might be gone midnight, but their night wasn’t over yet.

  While the task of contacting her father was a daunting prospect,

  there was no way she’d allow Muriel to put it off. Anna wouldn’t

  sleep now until this was over.

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  Chapter One Hundred

  2019

  Lizzie

  ‘Did that go how you’d planned?’ Lizzie was sitting in her car,

  Billy in the passenger seat. The four of them who’d remained

  in the lounge after Muriel and Anna left, had carried on talking

  for a bit longer, thrashing out ideas of how to follow up on the

  demand for Muriel to contact Eric. Apart from Billy – he’d been

  quiet, not adding much to the conversation. It was as though

  he were holding something back. Not keen to share his plan of action. It made Lizzie nervous.

  ‘Ah, sort of,’ he said, his head cocked.

  ‘Only sort of. What else had you hoped for?’

  ‘Well, they didn’t exactly apologise for causing me to spend almost my entire adult life behind bars, did they?’

  ‘Not in so many words, no. But I think that some, at least,

  were very sorry. Even if those exact words weren’t uttered. The

  expressions on their faces when the truth began emerging . . .’

  Lizzie widened her eyes. ‘That must’ve given a degree of satis-

  faction?’

  ‘I won’t be satisfied until she’s found, Lizzie.’

  Hearing Billy say her name, rather than using Eliza, was like

  an electric shock pulsing through her body. Maybe she’d be able

  to forge some kind of father–daughter relationship with him

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  now. Or would it be impossible after such a huge gap – after all that had gone on?

  ‘Do you really believe Eric Fisher will confess? What if he

  doesn’t remember?’

  ‘Oh, he’ll confess, all right. And trust me,’ Billy said, his eyes burning, ‘he remembers.’

>   Lizzie was uncertain how to respond to that, so instead shuf-

  fled in her seat, placing her hands on the steering wheel.

  ‘Do you want me to drive you back to the farm? I could try

  and fit your bike in the boot.’

  Billy shook his head. ‘No, thanks. I haven’t finished here yet.’

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  Chapter One Hundred and One

  2019

  Eric

  The outside of the house hadn’t altered.

  Eric had parked two streets away and walked, ducking down

  the side entrance and knocking on the back window. Lights were

  on inside, but no one answered. He should’ve called before he

  set off. He checked his watch.

  Midnight.

  Where the hell was Muriel? There’d be no way she was out

  this late. There was a car in front of the garage belonging to

  Muriel’s house. Not hers – he supposed it could be Anna’s. If

  they were both here, was it because there was a problem?

  His pulse hammered in his ears.

  Billy’s here.

  The words flashed through his mind.

  It was the only explanation. He strode up and down the

  garden, trying to release from his body the sudden surge of

  adrenaline. He wouldn’t allow Billy to do it. Not after he’d spent the best part of thirty years away from his girls to keep them

  safe. He wasn’t going to allow Billy to hurt them.

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  Chapter One Hundred and Two

  2019

  Anna

  Anna got to the front door first, giving it a once-over – just in case. She gave a cursory glance to the camera as she entered.

  Muriel traipsed in after her.

  ‘I think I’ll head up right away, Anna. I’m so—’

  ‘Er . . . no, Mum. Sorry. You need to call Dad.’

  ‘Anna. It’s ridiculously late. I’m not phoning at this time of

  night.’

  ‘Seriously, I’m not able to calmly go up to bed and sleep after

  everything that’s just been said. How the hell can you?’ Anna’s

  face was hot with anger at her mother’s blasé attitude.

  ‘Fine,’ she said, wearily. ‘I’ll call, but there’ll be no point

  because he’ll be asleep.’

  ‘I’d feel better if you at least tried, though, thank you,’ Anna

  said, stepping aside to let Muriel go into the lounge ahead of

  her.

  The time it took for her mother to find the mobile number