Page 106 of Darling Girls

‘Okay, I need more information,’ Zara said. ‘I’m Amy – and you thought I was the body under the house?’

Alicia shrugged. ‘We thought it was possible.’

‘May I ask why?’

‘You may,’ Alicia said. ‘And we will explain everything. But there’s someone who I think should be with us for this. Someone who will be very glad to see you again.’

She looked at Norah, who nodded in agreement.

THE OFFICE OF DR WARREN, PSYCHIATRIST

‘What did you do after John and your mother took Amy?’ Dr Warren asks.

‘I walked into town and waited until morning. Then I intercepted Troy on his way to school, and I told him everything. We ran all the way back to Wild Meadows. She greeted me at the door.’

‘Who?’ Dr Warren asks.

‘The woman I would never again call my mother.’

Dr Warren can barely contain his delight.

‘She seemed nervous. I knew immediately something had happened.

‘“Where is she?” I cried. “Where is she?”

‘She tried to put her hands on my shoulders, but I threw them off. Her eyes were full of tears. “Where is who?”

‘I began to scream. I screamed so loud and for so long that I must have blacked out. It was a mercy, because those few minutes of unconsciousness were the last moments I can remember when I wasn’t in pain.’

‘She pretended Amy had never existed?’ Dr Warren asks.

‘Only because I had Troy with me. To make me look crazy. But later, after he left, she told me that some ladies from the church had come for her. She said they’d taken her to a good home.’

‘And you believed that?’

‘After everything that had happened, I didn’t think my mother would have stood by while John killed my baby. But it turns out that’s exactly what she did.’

Dr Warren closes his eyes for a moment as he takes this in.

‘The reason I became a foster mother was because I was looking for a replacement for my daughter. But it was never the same. None of the girls were Amy. The trauma of it all . . . it sent me mad, I guess.’

A knock at the door.

‘Time’s up,’ comes a voice from outside. There’s a buzz, and the door opens. The guard enters to escort me back to my cell. ‘Let’s go.’

Dr Warren stands too.

‘I’ll see you in court,’ he says, and then the door clanks closed between us.

56

JESSICA

When Jessica opened her eyes, she didn’t have the luxury of the foggy, confused feeling that people in movies seemed to experience after waking up in a hospital. She knew where she was. She could feel the oxygen tube in her nose, she could smell the antibacterial soap, hear the hum of the medical equipment around her. She also knew that she’d brought it all on herself.

While her surroundings were not a surprise, the person at her bedside was. Phil. He sat on the side of the bed and brushed a strand of hair back off her face. ‘Hey.’

She wasn’t sure why she suddenly felt shy, seeing her husband of fifteen years sitting there.