‘You’re hurting me,’ I said, trying to pull my arm out of her grasp. She held on, dug her nails in harder.

‘Do you realize how difficult these past few weeks have been for me? Do you think it’s been easy, trying to get Clarabelle to see sense? To make her understand? To …’ She shook her head and trailed off. Tears glittered in her eyes.

I didn’t reply. For a split second I wanted to tell her I knew the truth: that I didn’t care any more, that she had stolen me and Emma, and I knew she was crazy, but the words died in my throat.

‘Answer me!’

‘No,’ I said, ‘I didn’t know.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘Liar! There you go, lying again. Of course you knew. How could you not? How could you miss it?’

‘I, I’m sorry. I—’

‘Enough. Be quiet. I’ve had enough of your filthy lies.’

Without another word she hauled me off my chair and dragged me out of the room. I tried to pull back but she was too strong. She dragged me down the stairs so fast I nearly fell. At the bottom, she turned sharply, pulled me along the hallway and forced me to my knees in front of the under-stair cupboard.

I realized what all the banging had been about; she’d taken all the cleaning equipment out of the cupboard. It filled the floor space outside the kitchen. Cloths and bottles and the tin that held the key I’d used to get into her bedroom – all of it had been pulled out – but the light was on in the cupboard, the door open.

She seized the back of my neck and yanked my face up to hers. ‘You push and push and push. Is it any wonder I snap?’

I blinked and forced back tears.

‘Answer me!’ She shook me so hard my neck cracked.

‘I try to do everything you ask but it’s never enough,’ I said, surprised by my own words.

She rolled her eyes and laughed. ‘I’ve done everything for you. Everything, and this is how you repay me? By lying and going behind my back? Well, I’ve had enough. You need to be punished. I should have done this a long time ago, when I first saw the signs.’

‘What signs? What are you talking about?’

‘Signs of evil. Signs you’re taking after Olivia. Signs you need to be brought back in line.

‘Grandfather was good at discipline. Far better than me. For once, I’m going to practise what he preached. You’ll thank me for it in the end. If I don’t beat this evil out of you, I’ll need to—’