‘I went into the barn,’ her dad said. ‘And I saw what you’ve just seen. And I didn’t like it. I was a very silly little boy and I thought I knew best.’ He sighed and shifted on his chair. ‘I reached into the farrowing crate of my favourite sow, and I pulled out the barrier that separated her from her piglets.’

Bex felt a glimmer of respect for the ten-year-old that her dad had been. She’d wanted to do the same.

‘I pulled out the barrier,’ he said. ‘It was heavy for a child, but I did it. And I watched while the sow nuzzled her piglets. It was a lovely moment.’

Bex had a solid feeling in her stomach, as if her insides had turned to stone. The story wasn’t going to end well.

‘My father appeared. It frightened the pig. She heaved herself to her feet and spun round. But she fell.’

‘What happened?’ Bex whispered.

‘Her legs went from under her. She fell and crushed five piglets to death.’

The kitchen was too quiet.

There was a bump from behind and Bex jumped as if she’d hit an electric fence, but it was only Fenton bashing his way into the kitchen. He must have picked up on the atmosphere – he wandered nervously from Kirsty to Bex to her dad. Snuffling against their legs, trying to mediate.

Bex’s dad ignored Fenton and carried on. ‘And then I understood that sometimes you have to do things that might appear bad to those who don’t understand. To keep the piglets safe.’

‘He’s right,’ Kirsty said. ‘Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.’

25

Meg – Present day

Wednesday

‘Doesn’t Bex’s rape story strike you as odd?’ Fiona stood and leaned against my guest chair. ‘She gets raped, but instead of finding out who did it and bringing him to justice, she just goes back to her aunt’s and forgets about it.’

‘You can sit down, Fiona.’ I sat back and crossed my legs. A cup of tea would have been nice, but the man who’d dumped the bag in the woods had been brought in and I wanted to interview him. ‘You’re displaying an enviable faith in the criminal justice system,’ I said. ‘This was 1999. She’d passed out wearing a short skirt. You think the rapist would have been brought to justice? Have you seen some of the comments about Violet? There are people out there who think filming yourself in a bikini constitutes offering yourself up to be chopped into pieces and fed to pigs. Besides, Bex didn’t say she forgot about it. She tried to report it to the police but a bunch of dick cops rattled her and she couldn’t go through with it. So she did the most sensible thing: moved on. But then she realised she was pregnant, poor cow.’