Page 77 of Darling Girls

They didn’t talk at all on the way to school. Not one single word. What they were doing felt too important. They needed to focus.

Norah walked with her head down, sombre and stoic, like a prisoner on her way to death row. Jessica fought tears, and occasionally shed them. As Alicia walked alongside them, the idea that they could be separated today finally settled upon her chest. The last couple of years hadn’t been happy, not at all. Compared to her life before that, with Grammy, they had been a nightmare. And yet. At least she’d had these two – her sisters. As Norah said the day Alicia found out Grammy had passed away, it wasn’t nothing. On the contrary, Alicia realised now, it waseverything.

‘Should we go to our lockers?’ Jessica asked, when they got to school.

Norah shook her head, pointing towards the principal’s office. ‘Let’s just get this over with.’

They had to wait for Mr O’Day for nearly twenty minutes. He was on the phone, and from where they sat in the small reception area, they heard every word of his side of the conversation. It might have been interesting had it not been about funding for new sporting equipment. Mr O’Day had been the PE teacher before he’d become principal and he made no attempt to conceal the fact that he didn’t have much interest in any other subjects, or anything about education in general.

Finally, he ended the call and ushered the girls into his office – a small brown room with white venetian blinds and a framed picture of Shane Warne on the wall. Opposite his L-shaped desk was a cabinet filled with sporting trophies.

He only had two seats for visitors, so Alicia remained standing.

‘I’ve got five minutes before I’m due to judge the year two art show,’ he told them, with a glance at the clock on the wall. ‘So, what’s this all about?’

Mr O’Day didn’t make it to the year two art show. Instead, he called the police, and the rest of the day’s appointments were cancelled.

Two police officers arrived at the school promptly, and joined them in Mr O’Day’s office.

‘Hello, girls,’ the older cop said, pushing Mr O’Day’s chair towards Alicia. He had white hair and kind eyes. He sat down on the corner of the desk. ‘My name is Sergeant Grady, but everybody calls me Max. This is my colleague Constable Hart.’ He pointed to the other cop, who was young enough to be his grandson. ‘You can call him Robbie. I understand your names are Norah, Jessica and Alicia?’

They nodded.

‘It’s very nice to meet you. Your principal tells me you’ve asked to speak to us – is that correct?’

‘Yes,’ Norah said. ‘Our foster mother is abusive.’

‘That is extremely concerning.’ The sergeant’s bushy eyebrows knitted together. ‘You did the right thing by coming to us.’

It was probably part of his standard spiel, but Alicia couldn’t help but find it affirming. They’d done the right thing! Alicia couldn’t remember the last time someone had told her that.

‘We’re worried about Amy,’ Jessica said.

‘Amy?’ Max glanced at his colleague briefly. ‘Who is Amy?’

‘She lives with us. Miss Fairchild adopted her six months ago. She’s two.’

‘I see. And you’ve witnessed your foster mother being abusive towards her?’

‘Yes,’ Alicia said. ‘And it’s getting worse.’

Norah sat forward. ‘We’re worried something could be happening to her right now!’

Max held up a hand. ‘We’ve already sent a car to Wild Meadows. Our officers will probably be there by now. We can get a message to them to check on Amy’s welfare.’

He nodded to Robbie, who left the room. As Alicia watched him go, relief mingled with heavy dread at the idea of the police car pulling up to the door. She could picture Miss Fairchild’s polite, concerned face covering up her white-hot rage at being questioned like a criminal.

‘Is this the first time you’ve reported the abuse?’ Max asked, when Robbie had gone.

‘Yes.’ Alicia felt a pull in her chest. ‘We should have reported it earlier but . . .’

‘What’s important is that you’ve reported it now,’ Max said. ‘Unfortunately, I’m going to need you to tell me a little bit more about the abuse. I know it might be upsetting, so take your time. Mr O’Day is waiting just outside in case you have any questions or are uncertain about anything.’

‘Well,’ Alicia said. ‘Yesterday was what brought it to a head.’

‘All right,’ Max said. ‘Let’s start there.’

‘We arrived home from school to find Miss Fairchild in the pool. Amy was in the pool too, but her head was underwater. We ran all the way from the gate, which would have taken nearly a minute and her head was under the whole time. She did the same thing to Jessica when she was a child. It’s a punishment for not loving her enough.’