Stella found it hard to meet Veronica’s eye. She tried to clean up after herself, but Veronica was always there first with her broom and dustpan, trying to make herself indispensable. She slept on a mattress in the kitchen floor. Stella asked her to come to church, but she said she preferred to spend her rare days off with her fellow countrywomen. When Gregory at church asked Stella to serve on the maid welfare committee, she answered yes immediately. It felt like the least she could do.

•

“Can I have my glasses, please?” said Stella. A ripple around the room that felt a little like laughter. “Why did you bring me here? Can someone tell me what this is about?”

A man’s voice, high-pitched and thin, cut in. “You don’t ask us questions, we ask you questions. That’s how this works.”

“What do you want?” She tried to keep her voice neutral, but it shook.

The same voice, amused. “Another question. You don’t understand, is it? Clever girl like you. Teacher some more. How come you don’t understand simple English?”

She tried to place his voice, then she realised why it seemed familiar: he was a stranger, but his voice was the same as the school bully, as the sadistic student leaders at her university orientation who’d made them crawl through mud. The voice of someone with power but not authority.

She stayed silent. Best to let him do the talking.

“Stella.” The same voice. “You know why you are here?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? Reflect on what you’ve done.”

It was disorientating not to be able to see them, or even how many of them there were. Apart from the spokesman, she could see blurs of movement just beyond the circle of lamplight. The room was not large, and sparsely furnished.

“Do you know who we are?”

“No.” She was getting tired of this, but the voice wanted to play games.

“Guess.” The hint of laughter, again.

“The police?” She knew that couldn’t be, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“Stella, you’re in the Internal Security Department. Do you know what that means?”

“I haven’t done anything.”

“Then why are you here? Stella, we can detain you for as long as we like, you know. You’d better think about why we’ve brought you in.”

“I don’t know.”

“Better think harder. Or are you saying the government makes mistakes?”

“Why don’t you tell me what you want?” She ground her teeth in an effort to calm down. Anger would be the worst thing. She had to stay in control.

“Tell you? Of course we can tell you. But it’s better that it comes from you, don’t you think so, Stella?”

“What’s your name?”

“Why do you want to know my name? You want to marry me, is it? Forget it, I know you’re desperate, teachers like you can never get married, too strict, frighten all the men away. All your life you’ve never had a boyfriend. You see, Stella, we know more about you than you think. We know everything.”