Page 103 of Darling Girls

‘She blackmailed you?’ Norah asked.

‘For heaven’s sake,’ Miss Fairchild said. ‘The police are investigating him. Of course he’s going to come up with a story to cover his arse!’

‘She didn’t tell me much,’ Dirk continued, ‘just that there had been a mix-up with the adoption paperwork and it turned out she’d had the little girl illegally for six months. She told me the girl was already on her way to her new family, but if the police had questions just to say I knew nothing. If I did that, she said, she wouldn’t have to tell them I’d beenfraternising with the adolescent girls at the farm.’ Dirk put on a very strange woman’s voice for this last part. ‘That was fine by me; I didn’t want to be caught up in anything regarding a little girl, given my record.’

He looked up at them with new clarity, as though his speech had taken him somewhere else. ‘I read about the body being found under Wild Meadows last week. I should have gone to the cops straightaway, but . . . I don’t know. I thought they’d point the finger at me. I’ve been wrestling with it for a week. I came to see you last night to tell you but I was intercepted by you-know-who. Anyway, I wanted to tell the truth, so there it is. I’m sorry.’

‘All right,’ Hando said finally. ‘We appreciate you sharing that, Dirk, and as Detective Patel said, we’d like you to make a formal statement. Detective Tucker will take care of that with you now.’ He nodded at Tucker, who led Dirk from the room.

Alicia’s feelings were piling up too quickly for her to process.

Anger at Dirk for lying.

Gratitude towards him for telling the truth now.

The knowledge that they’d been gaslit their whole lives.

The thrill of finally being able to prove it.

Meera spoke up. ‘My name is Meera Shah,’ she said. ‘I’m acting as legal counsel for Alicia and Norah today.’

Hando and Patel exchanged a glance. ‘Noted.’

‘You brought a lawyer?’ Miss Fairchild said. ‘Sounds like you’re feeling guilty about something.’

‘As I said on the phone,’ Hando said loudly, as several voices rose in protest, ‘we’ve asked you here because the forensic anthropologist has finished examining the remains. As you may or may not be aware, there was a request to pay careful attention to the feet, looking for evidence of a sixth toe, or a deformity that would indicate that there had once been a sixth toe.’

‘And . . .?’ Alicia could barely breathe.

‘They found no evidence of this,’ Hando said. ‘The feet appear to have developed normally.’

Alicia and Norah and Meera looked at one another.

‘I don’t understand,’ Zara piped up. ‘Why would there be a sixth toe?’

‘Amy had six toes on her left foot,’ Norah said, her gaze still on the detective. ‘Are you sure they checked the correct foot?’

‘Who’s Amy?’ Rhiannon said.

‘There’s more,’ Hando said. ‘They also estimated the child to be under the age of one.’

Silence. Norah looked as baffled as Alicia felt.

The only people in the room who didn’t look confused were Hando and Patel. Patel chose this moment to step forward with her piece of the puzzle. ‘Perhaps the most significant finding was that the bones are older than we initially thought,’ she said. ‘The best estimate is fifty years. Certainly longer than twenty-five.’

Alicia had no words. Norah wiped her face with her palm. Everyone in the room looked stunned, with the exception of Zara, who looked quite . . . animated. It was jarring. Alicia was about to ask if she was all right, but Zara got in first.

‘Okay, so I don’t know if this is significant,’ she said, ‘butIhave six toes on my left foot.’

THE OFFICE OF DR WARREN, PSYCHIATRIST

‘So you disappeared into the night with the baby and a tin of cash?’ Dr Warren says. ‘How far did you get?’

‘Not even to the end of the driveway,’ I say. ‘Mind you, it was a long driveway. I was almost at the gate when I heard the engine of John’s car roar to life. There was no point in running, nowhere to hide. Within seconds, the headlights illuminated us. I turned to face them, as the car approached.

‘My mother was in the passenger seat. Her eye was swollen. John got out of the car and came at me like a train, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me so hard I dropped my bag and had to clutch Amy to keep from dropping her too.

‘“Where is my money?” he roared. His eyes were glazed with demented fury. Of course it was about the money. It would have hurt his pride to see me get away but ultimately it would have made his life easier. The money was another story.