The Retreat(86)

‘That’s right. And Shirley was terrified. She met up with her secret lover, Rhodri, that night, and told him what Glynn had said at the meeting. Of course, they already knew about the legend of the Widow. Everyone in this town is obsessed with it, especially the older generations. Old people and kids.’

I thought about Rhodri and his conviction that a woodpecker would attack Julia if she moved the peonies. Superstition ran through his veins. Shirley must have believed in the Widow too. I guessed they were brought up treating the Widow’s existence as a fact, passed down from their parents and grandparents.

‘And Heledd,’ DC Hawkins said. ‘She believes too. She’s spent her whole life being told she was saved from the Widow. She’s an intelligent woman, though. I’m sure her belief lay dormant for a long time until last night. Now she’s absolutely convinced she saw her, that the Widow came into the chapel and told her to confess.’

DC Snaith and DI Hawkins shook their heads in tandem, as if despairing of this place where the locals clung to superstition and crazy legends.

‘You were telling us about Shirley and Rhodri,’ Julia said.

‘Oh yes.’ DI Snaith went on. ‘According to Heledd, they were terrified the Widow was going to take their love child. I think there was something in the legend about how the witch was more likely to take children born out of wedlock or one whose parents weren’t together. So they made up their minds. They would take a child who, according to them, wouldn’t be missed. An orphan from the children’s home. They would take her into the woods and leave her tied to a tree – which is what they did.’

‘But what happened to her? Surely the woods were searched after she went missing?’ Julia asked. ‘The Widow can’t have taken her. She doesn’t exist!’

‘We don’t know that yet,’ DC Hawkins said. ‘But we’ve arrested Rhodri Wallace. We’re going back to talk to him now. So far, he’s keeping schtum. He won’t even admit that Heledd is his daughter or that he was sleeping with Shirley all those years ago. I guess he’s worried what his wife will say. They just celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary.’

So that was why he and Shirley weren’t together. He was already married when Heledd was conceived.

‘According to Heledd, he lived a double life. Coming to visit her at the bed and breakfast, then going back to his wife and other children. He’s maintained a relationship with Heledd in secret all these years. Maybe his wife knows and has been turning a blind eye. I guess we’ll find out when we talk to her.’ DI Snaith ran a hand over his scalp. ‘People and their fucked-up, messy lives. The way Heledd talks about him, it’s as if he’s some great hero. The man who made huge sacrifices to save her from the Widow, who risked everything each week to visit her. She said she would do anything to protect him. Anything.’

‘And that’s what she did,’ said DC Hawkins.

I got up and crossed the kitchen. ‘I don’t get why Heledd decided she needed to kill Zara, or why she wanted to kill me. We didn’t know anything about what her parents did.’

‘But she was terrified you were going to find out. And who knows? Maybe Shirley gave something away to Zara, or Heledd believed she had. It seems she got it into her head that all potential leaks had to be dealt with.’

‘What about the journal?’ I asked. ‘Malcolm found out that Rhodri was Heledd’s dad. But he didn’t know they took Carys.’

‘Apparently not. But Heledd had been brought up to believe it was imperative that no one find out who her dad was, that it would ruin his life if everyone knew he had cheated on his wife. I guess his secrets were mixed up in her mind so she felt she needed to keep all of them.’

Throughout the conversation, Julia had been growing increasingly impatient, fidgeting and tapping her foot against the floor. Finally, she couldn’t hold back any longer.

‘But what about Lily? What did Heledd tell you about her?’

Again, the two detectives looked at one another before DI Snaith spoke. ‘Heledd denies any knowledge of what happened to Lily.’

Julia stood up and slapped the counter. ‘She must be lying!’

‘She’s confessed to two murders and the manslaughter of her own mother. She’s told us about the abduction of another child, naming her own parents as the perpetrators. She seems utterly terrified of the Widow, as if the witch is going to come for her if she doesn’t tell us everything. I’m sorry, Julia, but I don’t think she’s lying.’

‘Then it must be Rhodri. That bastard. He was always around here. He used to tell me how lovely Lily was. I thought he was a nice guy. But he was watching her, wasn’t he? Waiting? To do to her what he’d done three decades ago. I bet there are more. And she knew him, she trusted him, would have gone with him if he asked.’

She paced the kitchen, out of breath. I got up, tried to take hold of her, but she pushed me away. She jabbed a finger towards Snaith.

‘You have to get him to tell you what he did to Lily. What he did with her. Let me come to the station, put me in a room with him for five minutes. I’ll get that bastard to confess.’

Hawkins raised his palms. ‘Mrs Marsh . . . I can assure you, we’re doing everything we can.’

Julia’s face was red. ‘Then why the hell are you still here? Why aren’t you at the station, getting him to talk? I need to know where my Lily is. I’ve waited so long. I can’t wait any longer!’