The grave was a slash of yawning darkness in the spring-washed grass of the graveyard. A mix of mourners milled around in the light rain, but not all of them really cared, apart from Stephen. In the last two weeks he had buried a mother and a father, neither of whom were actually his kin. He remained unaware of his parentage. With the graves fresh and raw, now was not the time. She hated to be lying still, after everything that had happened, but Leo had kept the secret long enough. Let her son mourn the man who had been his father, before they told him the truth about his biological parent.
Ava blinked hard, but a few tears slid from under her dark lashes. The tears were for all of them, for eight children playing in the woods, for the years of lies. Her son glanced round and smiled at her. It was a genuine smile, the kind she never thought she would have the right to. But in a funny way, she felt she had finally earned it. On Stephen’s other side Bethan, white-faced and big-eyed, was staring at the coffin. Her collar was turned up to hide the bruising on her neck, and her bulky red puffy jacket hid her skinny body. Luckily, she was young and fit. The doctors said that had saved her life during her time in the freezing caves under the hill. Physically, she would be okay. Mentally, Ava knew she would remember what happened for the rest of her life.
DI Miles was watching from a respectful distance, and Ava raised a hand in recognition. The other woman nodded and mirrored her action. The earth was being shovelled back into the ground now, thumping hard against the wooden coffin. She winced. Strange that Paul should go so quickly after his wife, or perhaps not. Penny had been the vital heartbeat that drove him. He had long ago lost the fight against cancer, but it seemed she had almost been keeping him alive by her very presence, her denial that he would die.
Ava had been with him when he died, and he fell asleep with a half-smile touching his lips. It was enough.
* * *
Back at the Birtleys’, Ava quickly finished her packing, snapped her case shut, and took a last look around the room. She would go to Leo’s place tonight and collect the things she had left there. Her heart gave a painful jerk as she noticed a small pink box on the bedside table. It wasn’t hers. Surely it hadn’t been there this morning.
She reached for it, sliding shaking fingers around to prise open the lid. A memory stick lay on a bed of white foam. No note. There was nothing else. A footstep outside her door brought her swinging around, hand automatically going to her hip.
‘Oh, Ava, I see you found the box. Good, I quite forgot that Penny gave it to me last month, just before we knew you were coming. She said that I must give it to you when she was gone. Very cryptic she was, but of course I never imagined that she meant gone, gone, you know, as in dead… I thought she might move away after Paul died.’ The old man rubbed his face, sniffing loudly. ‘I always did have a soft spot for little Penny, and I never liked Alf Thomas. How did we never guess, Ava? That poor child. There’s been a lot in the papers about how evil she was, planning this, and making money out of misery, but everyone forgets that she was corrupted first.’
‘I know, it doesn’t justify what she did at all, but I do know what you mean. You couldn’t have known what was going on. Please don’t beat yourself up, Mr Birtley. Did… did Penny say anything else when she gave you this?’
He shook his head. ‘No. Just what I told you. Anyway, safe journey, Ava. I have no doubt we’ll see you again next time you visit young Stephen.’
On impulse, Ava leant over and kissed his cheek. ‘Thank you.’ She didn’t have the heart to tell him she would never come back to Aberdyth. Stephen wanted to head to England for university. Their relationship was still in the early stages, but at least she had been able to give him the money without causing offence, presenting it as funding for his degree. His acceptance, and the tiny smile he gave her, told her that there was hope. Ellen’s parents had made their feelings pretty clear, and she didn’t blame them. They were holding a private memorial service for Ellen, before they too moved away.
When Mr Birtley had gone, Ava rang Leo, then Stephen. It seemed right that they should both be present for Penny’s last gift. It seemed even more fitting that they should meet at her house.
* * *
Stephen opened the door, red-eyed and frowning. ‘You said she left a USB?’
‘Yes. Can we go into the office?’
They booted up the computer and slipped the USB into the slot. Leo was drumming his fingers on the oak table and Ava told him sharply to stop. He glanced up, grinned briefly at her, and without thinking, her hand slid onto his shoulder. She couldn’t predict whether they had anything but possible friendship, but Leo had already casually mentioned he would be spending time in LA over the coming months.
‘It’s just her bakery website…’ Leo said squinting at the screen.
‘No. Look there’s something at the bottom right, a tiny square in her logo. That shouldn’t be there,’ Stephen said, pointing.
Ava clicked on the pop-up, and the screen went black, then red swirls started appearing. ‘Is it a virus? There isn’t anything she could want destroyed on here. The police have been through all her files. Oh, shit, it’s the dark web site underneath, isn’t it?’
‘More than that. There are hundreds of files on this stick, all dated and named. I can bring one up – look, names, phone numbers, addresses. Who are these people?’
The documents were neatly arranged, with website links, passwords, and hundreds of names. Some were highlighted, others had information missing. A separate folder held photographs, and another contained videos. Clicking on a couple, Ava winced and glanced at Stephen, but he just shrugged, and pushed her hand away as he carried on looking through. His face was a careful blank, but his brow was furrowed, and he kept rubbing a nervous hand through his wild hair.
‘That’s Penny.’
‘Yes.’
‘And that’s Rhodri, and Jesse.’
‘Yes.’
‘And there are so many others…’ Leo’s voice broke and he coughed to hide it.
They were silent for a long time, abandoning the photographs, and scrolling through the documents.
‘I could be wrong, but I think Penny’s last gift is enough evidence to take down a number of paedophile rings. I assume from the things she said, and from what she did to me, that she continued with the family business, but if you look at the dates on a few of these, she was never involved in child pornography. The pictures she used on these sites are old, and of her…’ Ava blinked back her own tears. ‘The women in these newer photos are all older. I’m not saying that makes it right, because it sure as hell doesn’t. She was making money out of sick bastards who got off on the idea of torturing and abusing women. But I think I know what she meant when she said “everything isn’t as it seems”. I asked about the cut on my leg, and she said mine was real, but others weren’t, so perhaps this lot are just make-up and Photoshop? I mean, if this many women were suffering serious GBH, or even dying, on a regular basis in Cardiff, the police would have noticed! She was too clever for that.’
Leo ran his eyes down the files. ‘Bloody hell, she must have infiltrated hundreds of these websites to get this much evidence. This list of names and contact details runs over five pages. The Major Crime Team, or whatever DI Miles is involved in, are going to have a field day.’
They sat in silence for a moment, Leo’s arm around his son’s shoulders, both of them leaning close to Ava. Ava couldn’t get the photographs out of her mind. Penny had gone home to this for years and years. No wonder she was damaged. Damaged so badly, she came up with a whole new twisted logic to explain her behaviour and make herself feel whole again.
Paul had been her rock, but when it became clear he was terminally ill, that had shaken Penny. Jack had been bang on with his theory.
She had never killed Uncle Alf, because he didn’t deserve the easy way out. She needed to make him suffer, but Ava thought from their conversation that it was more than just being able to torture him on a weekly basis. She was inextricably linked to him, unable to free herself from his business, or his life. Or was it that Penny had simply told herself one day she would get revenge on all of them, her uncle included, and he needed to be alive for that?
Ava called DI Miles. ‘Hi, Sophie. Penny has left us a parting gift. Let’s just say it is far more palatable than her other gifts. This will keep you guys busy for months.’
‘Cryptic,’ the other woman said dryly. ‘Care to give me a clue?’
So Ava told her about Penny’s legacy. ‘I’m at the farm now, so I’ll wait until you get someone over here, shall I?’
‘Sure. Bloody hell, who would have thought?’
‘I know.’
‘We found a few other things when we searched the house. You should know that there was a stash of evidence that ties Alf Thomas not only to Ellen’s murder, but also to a string of other offences. Penny obviously kept it all after he went into the nursing home.’
‘I still can’t believe she knew, but never told anybody. I’ll speak to you later. Thanks for letting me know about Uncle Alf.’
Leo made coffee, and Stephen scrolled through his social media. None of them spoke. It was too much, too many horrors. Restless, Ava wandered back into the office, opening random drawers, and peering into cupboards. Nothing of interest, and the police would have taken anything anyway. She wondered what evidence Penny had kept to convict her uncle. Trophies probably, maybe photographs. Had she always intended this, or did she think about blackmailing him when he was lucid?
‘What are you looking for?’ Stephen appeared at the door.
‘I don’t know… Something special. Where would she have kept something that she really treasured?’
The boy shrugged, his brow creasing. ‘Dunno… Oh, maybe in her dressing table. There’s a wind-up music box in there. She used to show me when I was younger. It’s got some Disney princess character that dances when the music plays. I’ll show you, if you like.’
They went together up the wide staircase, and in the bedroom Stephen hunted around for a bit before bringing out a box. ‘Look, she kept it in here.’
The music box was packed tightly against something else. A chequered game board and a couple of dice fell out with a clatter. Several wooden playing pieces rolled under the bed, but Ava was looking at something else. A little book right at the bottom. The book Penny had mentioned they had as kids, for pressing flowers. The summer they discovered the magic meadow near Big Water, all the girls had a pungent little book of dead and dying squashed flowers.
Ellen had tired of it well before Ava and Penny. Ava opened the book with gentle fingers. The pages crackled, but right in the centrefold was a fragile line of daisies. It was smaller than the one Penny had sent to her, and would most certainly have fitted neatly as a floral necklace.
She could almost feel Penny’s warm breath on her hand as she placed the flowers around her neck, see the glow in her green eyes, and the pure, untainted happiness in her face. Her clear voice came from nowhere and everywhere.
‘I loved you then, Ava, and because you made me the first daisy chain, I knew I’d finally found someone who loved me back. You did love me, didn’t you, Ava Cole?’
Tears were streaming down her cheeks now, as she sat alone in a shaft of sunlight, smoothing the last page of the book with unsteady fingers. The writing was clear and strong, and she hardly had to think to translate it:
‘Sut byddwch chi’n cofio fi, Ava Cole?’
‘How will you remember me, Ava Cole?’