Page 66 of Darling Girls

Motherfucker. How do I know you’ll do it after this?

Another swift reply.

You have my word.

Hisword? Norah wanted to reply and tell him exactly what she thought of his word. But what choice did she have other than to trust him?

They pulled into the car park of the police station. As they got out of the car, Norah noticed that Patel and Hando were crossing the street, holding takeaway coffees. Hando had spilled his and was wiping uselessly at a coffee stain on his white shirt.

‘Stupid lids,’ Hando said to them as they emerged from the car. ‘Don’t get coffee from that place. This is the second time it’s happened!’

Patel had also spilled her coffee, Norah noticed, but she didn’t mention it. She avoided looking at them as they made their way towards the doors of the station. Norah wondered what was eating her. She’d seemed fine last night when she’d escorted Miss Fairchild out of the pub. Perhaps, like Jessica, she was just tired.

Tucker, who must have been waiting in reception, opened the door as they approached and filed in with the dogs at their heels. For a moment, they stood in the foyer while Hando and Patel attempted to clean themselves up.

‘How is everyone this morning?’ Hando asked, grabbing some tissues from the front desk.

‘Tired,’ Jessica said.

Hando dabbed at his shirt with the tissues, nodding. ‘It’s always hard to sleep after hearing confronting news.’

‘I didn’t sleep well either,’ Patel said, accepting the box of tissues Hando held out to her. ‘I lay awake for ages. I just kept asking myself why you guys wouldn’t be honest with us.’

It was as if someone had entered the room carrying a machine gun. They all went silent. Movements became cautious and slow and wide-eyed.

‘What do you mean?’ Jessica said.

‘I mean,’ Patel said, ‘the fact that not one of you have mentioned her.’

In the silence, the dogs began circling uneasily, clearly noticing the change in energy. Norah shot a look at her sisters, who looked equally uncomfortable. ‘Mentioned who?’

Patel glanced from one of them to the other like a disappointed school principal. Finally she lifted her hands, then dropped them with a soft, disappointed exhale. ‘The fourth sister? The other girl living at Wild Meadows with you? The one we just learned about in this police report?’ Patel gestured to her laptop.

Silence. Alicia, Norah and Jessica exchanged a look.

The police were looking at them as if they were criminals. As if they’d been deceptive, or withheld something relevant, which they most certainly had not.

‘But whywouldwe mention her?’ Norah asked.

Patel blinked dramatically. ‘Seriously?’

Norah blinked back, indignant. ‘If you’d done your job properly, you would have found this report days ago.’

‘And if you’d read the report,’ Alicia added, ‘you’d know exactly why we didn’t mention her.’

Patel exhaled. They had her there.

Finally Jessica stepped forward, her inner boss-lady turned up to high gear. ‘And if you have any other questions, you’ll have to speak to our lawyer.’

31

NORAH

BEFORE

It had seemed like such a promising day. They’d trooped downstairs to find that Miss Fairchild had vanished into thin air. It was like a miracle. Norah felt like Kevin fromHome Alone. As they dressed for school, Norah was already fantasising about how life might be if it was just the three of them. She would take the master bedroom, she told her sisters. She was even prepared to go out and get a job.

Jessica, of course, was the one who warned her not to get too far ahead of herself. It was good advice, as it turned out, because by the time they got home from school that afternoon, not only was Miss Fairchild back, but there was someone with her.