Page 81 of Darling Girls

‘Which child?’ Norah snarled. ‘The one who didn’t exist?’

Miss Fairchild’s cheeks flushed pink, and she cast a quick glance at the detectives. ‘The one buried under the house.’

‘Say her name,’ Norah said, stepping forward. Her fists were clenched and Jessica was grateful there was a table between her and Miss Fairchild.

‘Why don’tyousay it, Norah?’ Miss Fairchild countered. ‘You’re the one who’s been talking about her since you were a child. In fact,’ Miss Fairchild continued, ‘it really is the perfect crime, now that I think about it. You harm a poor defenceless child, bury her under the house and then claim she was my foster child. You always were the clever one, as well as the violent one.’

It happened so fast. Norah flipped the table, leaped over it and grabbed Miss Fairchild by the lapels. Alicia responded immediately, grabbing Norah by the shoulder and attempting to restrain her. Jessica tried to do the same, but her movements felt awkward and slow, like her body couldn’t quite keep up with her mind.

‘All right,’ Hando said, several moments after he should have. ‘I think that’s enough.’

‘She put her hands on me,’ Miss Fairchild said. ‘That’s assault.’

And there it was. They’d fallen right into Miss Fairchild’s trap.

‘Let’s go,’ Alicia said. ‘Cancel the burgers.’

‘I could never control her, you know, even as a little girl,’ Miss Fairchild said to the cops, as Jessica and Alicia each took one of Norah’s arms and pulled her towards the door. ‘Her sisters always covered for her. Clearly, they still do.’

Norah tried to wrench free of their grip, but this time her sisters didn’t let her go.

38

NORAH

BEFORE

The day they told the police about Amy seemed to go on forever. After hearing the news that Amy wasn’t at Wild Meadows, they were taken by car to the police station.

There, Norah, Alicia and Jessica were shown into separate rooms and asked to tell their stories again. They answered a seemingly endless number of questions. What did Amy look like? When did she arrive? What was her daily routine? What specific interactions with her did they remember? Norah couldn’t figure out how this information could possibly assist them in finding her, but after a policewoman offered her a chocolate bar in exchange for answering the questions, Norah decided to go along with it.

‘So no one saw Amy besides the three of you?’ the woman asked. ‘No one at all?’

It was shocking to realise that it was true. It was something she’d never considered before. They rarely had visitors. No friends. No family. And Miss Fairchild had been so reluctant to take Amy anywhere, saying that she needed to stay close to home in order to ‘bond’. The only people who ever visited the house were social workers, and the last time Sandi came Jessica had been told to take her to the basement.

‘Scott!’ Norah cried suddenly. ‘Scott saw her. Several times.’

‘Scott Michaels?’ the woman asked.

‘I don’t know his last name, but he’s my social worker,’ Norah said. ‘Awful guy.’

Norah waited for the woman to leave the room or make a call or tell someone, but she didn’t. Her expression barely changed.

‘The thing is,’ she said, ‘my colleagues have spoken to Scott, and to Sandi Riley, but neither of them had any knowledge of a toddler living at Wild Meadows.’

Norah shook her head. ‘Sandi never saw her because Miss Fairchild made Jessica hide her in the basement – but Scottdefinitelysaw Amy.’

Norah thought for a moment. Scott and Miss Fairchild were friends. He would lie for her. But Norah didn’t understand why he’d have to. And why was there no paperwork for Amy? Why would Miss Fairchild suddenly pack up Amy’s things the morning they’d decided to go to the police? It didn’t make sense!

The policewoman looked as frustrated as Norah felt. ‘No one else saw her?’

Norah shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘All right,’ she said. She put a hand on Norah’s, which perhaps was meant to be reassuring. Norah snatched it away.

‘Wait!’ Norah felt it in the back of her brain. ‘There was someone . . . Dirk! Dirk saw her! Dirk looks after the horses at Wild Meadows. He came to Amy’s birthday party to take back the horse I stole.’

The policewoman brightened at this. ‘Dirk Winterbourne?’