Her last chance was Wilfred’s study, a huge room at the front left of the house, meaning that she had come full circle. It overlooked the vast expanse of grounds and the lake. She peeked in at the room, with its leather chairs, Chesterfield sofa and large mahogany desk, the walls lined from floor to ceiling with books. With the shouts from the kitchen and dining room a distant din now, she scanned each nook and cranny as best she could. It was empty, no sign of life at all. She began to feel the panic rising again. Perhaps they had sent him away already. Or he was locked in one of the bedrooms upstairs. Tears began to sting her eyes as she tried to gather herself and work out what to do next. She would have to go into the house; she had no other choice. If it meant being caught, so be it.

  As she stood to make her way back to the servants’ entrance, her eyes fell on a large sighthound in the corner of the room, a long-haired scruffy-looking grey dog stretched out on the rug. Knowing Alfie’s love of dogs, her heart began to thud, and she shifted her position to get a better look. She rubbed at the steamed-up window with her fist, spotting the corner of a book poking out from behind the dog, then a small black boot, and finally Alfie’s head resting on the dog’s stomach as it slowly moved up and down in its sleep.

  For a moment she stood frozen to the spot. It had only been a day since she had last seen him, but she’d been so terrified she wasn’t going to see him again that she was struggling to stay composed. Fighting back the tears as she looked around, checking no one had seen her, she tried to gather her thoughts.

  Making Alfie jump up and rush out to her would be a disaster; she needed to stay calm and catch his eye, but not in such a way that he would shout her name or attract attention. Slowly, her heart racing, she began gently tapping on the window. For a little while he stayed in his own world, slowly turning the pages of the atlas that seemed to be gripping him. She clutched her frozen fingers into a fist and tapped a little harder. Immediately his head spun round and his brow furrowed; it was clear that he was unsure what he was looking at. She raised her finger to her lips, and just as he stood and began to walk over to her, a man came thundering into the room, making both Alfie and the dog jump.

  ‘What are you doing in here? I told you not to come into my study.’ Wilfred Hilton strode towards Alfie in his full hunting gear and slapped him so hard around the head that he immediately started to cry.

  Bella watched in horror as he then pulled Alfie up by the ear and dragged him out of the room. She ran along the side of the house, hearing Alfie crying out in pain, powerless to help him. When they reached the kitchen, Wilfred threw him in. ‘I said to keep the bastard out of my way until they collect him.’

  The housekeeper, at whose feet Alfie had landed, was clearly stressed from her morning’s labours, and upset at having her master shout at her.

  ‘Go and make yourself useful and get a dozen eggs from the chicken coop,’ she barked at Alfie, throwing him outside by his ear as Wilfred stormed from the kitchen.

  Alfie exploded from the back door, crying great sobs, and Bella, having tucked herself around the corner, grabbed him by his little wrist and pulled him to her. At first he was terrified, not realising who she was for a moment, still clutching at his ear in pain, but as Bella pulled him close to her, she whispered in his ear.

  ‘It’s okay, Alfie, I’m here, Mama’s here, I’m going to take you away from this place.’

  The child collapsed into her, sobbing uncontrollably, and Bella held him tight. She could hear the noises from the house beginning to rise like the mist, the atmosphere and tension building as the riders prepared to leave for the hunt. As Alfie’s sobs started to subside, she kissed the top of his head and squatted down to his level.

  ‘Alfie, you need to do everything I say, okay? We have to move quickly.’

  He nodded, his little tear-stained face gazing up at her, and she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stables. Riders in all their regalia were starting to appear from the house now, shouting and laughing as the stable boys began bringing the horses out one by one, the hounds dashing around their feet, excited by all the activity. Bella hung back as the last of the boys took the final horse to the riders, leaving only one tied up in the yard: Titus, Wilfred Hilton’s gelding.

  Bella had no time to hesitate; she ran over to the mounting block where Titus stood, unhooked him and pulled his blanket off. She could hear the stable boys coming back, shouting that the master was waiting, as she swung Alfie onto the saddle and threw the blanket over him.

  The horse didn’t flinch as she clambered on, accustomed as he was to different stable boys riding him to keep him fit. She gave him a squeeze with her legs, then, with her right arm around Alfie’s middle, she took the reins in her left hand and broke straight into a canter as they climbed the bank around the back of the stables.

  Her heart was hammering, knowing they only had seconds before the stable boys realised that Titus was missing. As they reached the grass alongside the driveway, she urged the horse into a gallop. Alfie clung to her arm wrapped around his body, not saying a word. He felt warm and calm; they had ridden together a hundred times, and his little body gave her strength.

  She could hear the other riders beginning to shout in the distance now, commotion breaking out as they realised Titus was gone. Then came the first yells as they caught sight of her galloping down the drive, and she glanced back to see two riders setting off in pursuit.

  Bella’s heart thudded loudly in her ears as she kicked Titus harder and clung tighter to Alfie. She knew the property well enough to be aware that at the end of the driveway there was a cattle grid, which most riders would not dare to jump. If they didn’t make it, it would break the horse’s legs, and possibly kill her and Alfie as well. But as she galloped towards it now, she knew she had no choice.

  She looked back again, over her shoulder; they were gaining on her. If she could get over the cattle grid, they would never catch her; she knew the woods and the estate too well, and there were a dozen places they could hide. Bella’s core felt weak, she hadn’t ridden for two years, but Titus was strong enough for both of them. She pressed her heels down and kicked him hard in his ribs, and as she clung to Alfie, she closed her eyes, and Titus jumped.

  By the time they reached the woods, she could hardly hear her pursuers’ voices at all. Wilfred Hilton’s horse was too fast, and she’d had too much of a head start. She galloped to the edge of the Hiltons’ land, just by the road into town, then jumped off, reaching up to help Alfie down.

  ‘We made it, Mama,’ he said, his little cheeks flushed red from the icy wind.

  ‘Not yet,’ she said, smiling gently down at him and pulling the emerald engagement ring off her left hand. Bella pulled the envelope with her mother’s letter from her bag, slid the ring in and sealed it, running her finger slowly over Tessa’s slanted handwriting.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Alfie asked.

  ‘Returning something that isn’t mine any more,’ she said, smiling down at the little boy.

  She undid the buckle on Wilfred Hilton’s saddlebag, slid the envelope inside and fastened it back up.

  ‘Off you go!’ she said, hitting the gelding hard on its buttock and watching as it galloped back towards Yew Tree Manor. It knew its way home, and the riders who had been pursuing her would stop as soon as they had Titus back.

  ‘Come on, there’s a car; let’s see if we can hitch a lift.’ She climbed over the wooden fence and waved down the vehicle, which slowed and came to a standstill next to them. Together they climbed into the front seat, Bella clinging to Alfie’s hand as they bumped along the road. The winter sunshine piercing the windscreen felt like a sign from Eli that he was watching over them.

  Bella tried not to think of what would happen when they reached Portsmouth. She could only pray that she could find a job where they would let Alfie stay too. He was seven now, and used to growing vegetables in the fields; if she was lucky there was a chance someone could find a use for him. If not, it would leave them with only one option: the workhouse, a place where they would be separated.

  They watched the fields rush by, and as they passed The Vicarage, she whispered in Alfie’s ear, ‘That house is yours, Alfie, don’t ever forget it.’

  ‘I won’t, Mama,’ he said.

  ‘Come back here one day and take it back, you hear me?’ she said, kissing his rosy cheek. ‘Promise me.’

  ‘I promise, Mama,’ he said. Clutching her little boy tight, Bella closed her eyes and prayed that this little joyful moment, which she feared would be their last together, would never end.

  Chapter Thirty

  Leo

  New Year’s Eve 1969

  ‘Alice?’ Leo looked around. Everything had gone quiet suddenly; after seeing Alice’s puppy from the road, and hearing Alice calling out to it, Leo had walked towards The Vicarage trying to find them both.

  ‘Alice, where are you? Answer me! Mum’s really worried about you, we need to go back to the house, now!’ Leo shouted, letting out a sigh of frustration. He’d heard her calling out to Snowy, so he knew she was okay, she was just being a pain – as usual. He just needed to find her and drag her back to his frantically worried mother. His parents were so obsessed with Alice, he thought, looking round the snow-covered ground for any sign of her footprints and let out an irritable sigh. If he went missing, he doubted they would even notice – or care.

  Through the eerie silence of the night a strange noise distracted him from his search, a strange screeching, groaning sound, coming from the field behind The Vicarage. Leo followed the noise to the back of the house, to see Alfie struggling with the tractor, trying to get the huge mouth of the digger underneath a cow’s carcass. The digger skidded and struggled in the ice and the tractor engine strained and growled angrily as Leo watched him transfixed.

  Leo turned back to The Vicarage and shouted Alice’s name again. It was pitch black now, and he didn’t dare to go back without her.

  ‘Alice! You are going to be in big trouble if you don’t come out now!’ shouted Leo, listening to the deafening silence. Suddenly he heard the puppy barking again, from inside The Vicarage.

  ‘Alice, where are you?’ he said, cupping his hands at the window to try and see in as Alfie let out a yell.

  Leo rushed back round the house, to where Alfie had now climbed out of the tractor and was trapped between the cow carcass and the teeth of the digger. Alfie was struggling frantically, trying to push himself out of the hole he got himself into. Within seconds he spotted Leo standing, watching him, and Alfie began shouting out to him for help. But Leo was unable to move or take his eyes off the disaster unfolding in front of him. He felt powerless to act. He felt like his father’s fury was holding him back, stopping him from helping Alfie, who had refused to leave The Vicarage for the past year, making Richard’s life impossible.

  As Leo listened to Alfie’s anguished cries, he began to burn with a feeling of excitement. Was this his opportunity to make his father love him? Was this the thing, his chance, to change everything? To make his father look at him like he looked at Bobby?

  ‘Help me, Leo!’ Alfie shouted to him desperately, blind panic in his eyes as the digger buried him alive in the mud and slush.

  But Leo couldn’t move. What if his father didn’t want him to help Alfie, what if he found out that he could finally have been rid of him, and Leo helped him. He would never forgive him.

  Suddenly, Alice appeared from nowhere and began running towards the tractor. She was in a red dress, and red party shoes that were covered in slush and mud, but she ran towards him as if she were wearing trainers. ‘Alfie! Leo, help him! Why aren’t you helping him?’

  She moved like lightning, scrambling across the snow-covered field, with no thought for herself, tripping and falling once, before getting up again, and hurling herself towards the digger, which was screaming like a trapped animal as the metal twisted and turned.

  Awakened from his trance, Leo began to run, trying to catch up with her, and grabbing at her hand. But she managed to break away, throwing her tiny body, with no thought for herself, under the gnashing teeth of the machine which was on the brink of falling.

  Leo watched in horror as she began pulling at Alfie’s clothes in an effort to free him. She was tiny but utterly determined, crying out with the strain of her efforts. Before Leo reached them, her dress caught underneath the digger, taking Alfie and Alice with it, as it slid down the bank, sinking deeper and deeper into the ditch bordering the field. Soon she became trapped herself, as she was pulled down with the digger and it sank deeper and deeper into the ditch bordering the field.

  ‘Alice, let go! Take my hand!’ he shouted. He could see her face filled with panic as she tried to pull herself out, but the teeth of the digger had her in their grip. He began kicking frantically at the ground underneath her, until slowly he moved enough frozen earth so she could free herself. The tractor engine burned with the effort, belching out a plume of black smoke.

  ‘Help me, Leo, help me. He’s trapped.’

  ‘Alice, let go of him,’ he said. As he pulled her by the waist with all his might, a tooth of the digger came crashing down on top of them, striking Alice on the head. She let out a cry of pain as a trickle of blood ran down into her eyes.

  ‘Alice, for God’s sake, take my hand. I have to pull you out or you’ll be killed.’ He shouted, barely able to be heard over the crashing metal.

  Finally, she let go of Alfie’s hand and with one last almighty heave from Leo, she was free. Seconds later, the tractor groaned its final breath and the digger came down with an almighty crash on top of Alfie.

  Alice looked at Leo, her face awash with tears. ‘Why didn’t you help him? Why did you just stand and watch? I hate you, Leo, I hate you.’ Blood was dripping into her hair and eyes, mingling with the tears.

  Leo stared at his sister, panting with the shock and terror of what had just happened.

  ‘I don’t know, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I didn’t help.’

  Alice looked at the wreckage next to her and began to sob, ‘He’s under there, Nell’s daddy is under there.’

  ‘Alice? Alice, are you out here?’

  Leo and Alice looked over to see Bobby coming through the clearing. Without hesitating, Alice began running towards him. ‘Bobby, help!’

  For a moment Leo looked down at the wreckage, not able to face Bobby and what he was about to discover. He could hear Alice crying, telling Bobby what had happened, he had to get out of there. He had to leave. He turned and began to run in the direction of the road, up the lane as fast as his legs would carry him, back to Yew Tree Manor where his frantic mother was giving up hope of ever seeing her daughter alive again.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Vanessa

  Friday, 22 December 2017

  Vanessa sat on a chair outside the interview room where they had taken Bobby James for questioning.

  ‘We have applied to the magistrate for an extension, because of the seriousness of the crime,’ said DI Mills, ‘but he’s not talking, and there’s no incriminating DNA in his flat or his car. So we can’t hold him for much longer.’

  ‘Has he said what he was doing in our house when Sienna went missing?’

  ‘No, he won’t say. If you can get him to tell you that, we’d have a breakthrough.’

  ‘Can I go in now?’ Vanessa asked. ‘Alone?’

  ‘We’ll be watching through the mirror,’ Mills said.

  Vanessa stood, feeling very shaky. Here she was, almost exactly fifty years after the night Alice had vanished, when she had begged them to let her talk to Bobby James and all her hopes of finding her were pinned on him – just as they were now. She opened the door and then closed it behind her.

  Time had not been kind to Bobby James. He was a tall man, with a drawn face, a narrow mouth and black hair that was starting to thin. He was deathly pale, making his cool blue eyes look almost synthetic in their intensity.

  He was leaning back in his chair, his legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankles.

  ‘Hello, Vanessa,’ he said.

  ‘Hello, Bobby.’ She pulled out a chair and lowered herself into it.

  The two of them sat for a while saying nothing.

  ‘They tell me you aren’t cooperating again,’ said Vanessa. ‘I really think it would help you to at least tell us why you were at Yew Tree yesterday. It’s a bit of a coincidence, don’t you think?’ Her voice trembled.

  He looked at her and smiled. ‘It would help me, would it Vanessa? I see you haven’t changed a bit.’ He shook his head.

  ‘Meaning what exactly?’ Vanessa asked curtly.

  ‘Meaning that, even after everything you’ve been through, all the pain you’ve suffered in the last fifty years, you’d still prefer to believe that I had something to do with Alice’s disappearance and stay in the dark than be honest with yourself.’

  She recoiled. ‘You’re a cruel liar, Bobby James, and you deserve to go to prison for the rest of your life for what you’ve done to our family.’

  He shook his head and let out a sad laugh. ‘You know, Vanessa, I have never, ever lied to you. I can picture myself as a young lad fifty years ago; I think this may even be the same interview room. I can see myself standing in the corner while that man slapped me around the head. Begging and pleading for them to let me sit down or to just be given a glass of water. They told me you’d been there watching. You did nothing, when you knew I would never hurt Alice, any more than I had burned down that barn Richard made me take the blame for, or drowned those puppies. I don’t know how you can live with yourself. You’re the one weaving a web of secrets and lies, letting them send me away to Borstal, to be brutalised, when I worked my fingers to the bone for you and put Richard before my own father, a man who took his home, and everything he loved, and was entitled to, away.’