Eve starts the car. Grace was good to let her know; she couldn’t have managed so much of this without her. Somewhere along the way Grace has found it in her heart to forgive her and save their friendship. She should reach out to Melly in turn, it’s time she did. While Sorrel is playing with Noah after lunch she finds Melly’s number on her phone; they talk for an hour until the child psychologist arrives mid-afternoon and she has to go.

Dr Irving is a woman in her sixties with thick grey hair and eyes that tilt downwards. Sorrel stares at her silently.

‘I hope you’ll tell me your favourite games and then we can play them together.’

Sorrel moves closer to Eve; she doesn’t reply to any of Dr Irving’s gentle suggestions. In the end Dr Irving reads her a story, pointing out the pictures, though most of the time Sorrel’s eyes are closed.

Afterwards she walks with Dr Irving to her car, listening intently to her quiet voice. ‘This will be a long road. At the moment Sorrel is repressing all memories. When she recovers mentally as well as physically, she may start to get odd flashes, triggered by something in the environment perhaps. That could be very frightening for her. Be alert and stay with her. It’s always possible she could be overwhelmed by a sudden flood of memories, though in reality that’s rare.’

‘What should we do to support her?’

‘Give her space. Let the memories come if they do, but don’t seek them out.’ She pats Eve’s arm. ‘She’s doing as well as we could expect at this stage. I’ll see you next week.’

Later Eve tells Eric what Grace has relayed. Eric’s face darkens; he gets up and stares out of the window into the dark garden. ‘Sorrel would have been safe if I hadn’t worked for Paul and introduced the family. It’s my fault.’

‘Melly might have found me through Facebook like Grace did; Paul could have targeted us just the same. It’s definitely not your fault.’ She pours a glass of beer and takes it to him. ‘It’s not Melly’s either. She has suffered too, more than we know. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if I ask her and Izzy to come and stay with us for a while.’

‘You can’t be serious.’

‘Izzy told Poppy she can’t sleep in her house, too many memories. I doubt if Melly can either.’ She touches his sleeve. ‘Sorrel’s getting better. We can be kind, can’t we?’

‘Let’s see what Sorrel says.’

They’re having supper in the kitchen later when Eve mentions the possibility of Izzy and her mother staying for a while. Something flickers across Sorrel’s face.

‘Izzy?’ She sounds confused.