the party as she knew that she had to make the effort to fit in. Being a newbie to the area, that’s all she wanted.
Another image came back to her. It was when one of the boys was looking into her eyes just before he’d kissed her – her first kiss. Then he’d laughed at her with all his friends. She was nothing but a joke to them. Where had he gone? He’d left her, like all the others had.
Why had she left the party in tears? It would take more than a couple of people teasing her to make her cry. She had no trouble holding onto her sadness in a well-practised way, often letting it all out when she was alone in her bedroom. Maybe it was the alcohol in the punch.
She tried to swallow, then she coughed as her own saliva hit her windpipe.
There it was, the muffled laughter. The fact that she could hear them was good. She wasn’t buried too deep. It had to be a prank.
She let out a scream as a thud came from above. They were throwing more earth on the box.
She wanted to tell her family how much she loved them. She wanted to go back to their old house in Birmingham and talk to her best friend, Sasha, again; the same friend who’d since moved on and not answered any of her calls. She wanted to walk around the shops, breathe in the air, feel the rain dripping down her face; feel the frosty undergrowth crunching as she walked her terrier, Miffy, through the naked brambles. It was the little things she craved – even school. She wanted film night with her mum and dad, with popcorn and crisps. She didn’t want to die. She wasn’t ready. She hadn’t even had her first proper job or boyfriend. She’d never go to university or college or experience freshers’ week.
She felt the trickling earth that was now piling up on her tummy. She tried to bang again and again, barely getting any pressure behind her fists in the confines of the box. Would a group of partygoers all get her out and claim it was a Halloween prank? She forced her hand above her head and began to touch her surroundings again. Rough wood… and… wait— A piece of string was poking through the tiniest of holes. Her mind flashed back to how there used to be bells attached to string that led to the casket during historical outbreaks of cholera. That was it. This was a test, an initiation. Depending on how she handled this, she’d either be forever ridiculed or admired by her peers. The matchbox slipped from her other hand.
It was okay now. She knew how this worked. All she had to do was pull the string. A bell would ring and she’d be freed. The partygoers would be waiting for her and tell her it was just a joke.
‘Okay, I know what you’re doing. You can let me out now. Ha, ha, ha. It’s not funny any more.’ She’d play it cool, pretend it wasn’t a big deal, but it was. As soon as she was let out, she’d run as fast as she could, all the way home. She wanted nothing more to do with anyone she’d met at the party, or the one person who had claimed to be her new best friend.
The laughter started up again, but this time she couldn’t hear it as well and another spray of earth landed on the coffin. With numbing fingers, she reached for the string, taking two attempts to grab hold of it and wrap it around her wrist to gain some purchase. She began to pull over and over again, banging her elbow with each tug. The string slackened. She pulled it more and more, winding it around her two hands until the end flew through the hole with a final flick against her cheek.
All she wanted to do was cuddle Miffy and be in her bed. She dug what was left of her nails into the gap and felt the weight of the earth pressing on the wood above. She could see no way out. Goodbye Mum, Dad and Miffy.
Chapter Two
Now
Monday, 26 October
‘I’m glad you could make it.’ DCI Chris Briggs sipped his coffee in their usual seat at Lucy’s Café. Even sitting down, he appeared tall. His greying brown mottled hair had flopped forward, giving him that off-duty look. At this precise moment, it didn’t