But Oscar is growing more unruly, asking more and more questions. He’s no longer their little boy. He’s lost his way. Against Lily’s wishes, Edna arranges with Michael Denham for him to be sent away to boarding school. He resists at first, but eventually seems to realize there’s nothing left for him here. They see him off at the station.

And then Edna’s cancer returns to punish them. Why is it Edna that must suffer all the pain? What about her? Why should it be that Edna is dying while . . .

Lily goes on.

—

“I saw the whole thing. I was crouched down, naked behind that wine rack, ready to bolt the moment anyone saw me. But nobody did. I must have been there for hours. I was weak with hunger and frozen stiff. Even after they’d gone I stayed another hour or two. That’s when I heard it. The scratching. Like rats trapped in a box, scrabbling to get out. It was coming from behind the wall. I crept forward and listened. I could hear him on the other side, going at the wall with his fingernails. I must have made a noise or something, because he knew I was there. He called out for help, then he called out for his mum.” She marks the points off on her fingers. “Then he said he was sorry. Then he screamed.” Sally-Ann licks her lips. “I ran. Naked and dirty and bleeding, I ran all the way home and shut myself in the bathroom. I thought about going to the hospital, but in the end I just dealt with it myself.”

“That’s the scream you hear?” he asks.

Sally-Ann wipes the tears from her face and looks up, as though seeing him for the first time. “I think we’d better get on,” she says. She starts toward him.

He’s not ready. He needs a few more minutes to gather his strength and give himself a fighting chance. “Wait, Sally-Ann!”

But this time she won’t be distracted.

“Sally-Ann, you don’t have to do this.”

She crouches over him again. “I’m sorry, Adam, but we’re running out of time now. Oscar will be waking in the attic soon and wondering where I am. I have to get back to him.”

“Sally-Ann, wait! What are you going to do?”

“Time’s up,” she says, and leans in to haul him up by the arms.