‘And what about my regulars? Who will look after them?’

Lucy shrugged. ‘They chose this bed to lie on, so that’s their problem. Unless …’ She raised a cautionary finger. ‘Unless there’s a way we can help them too.’ She paused. ‘What does “Maggie” mean?’

Sister Cassie looked bemused. ‘Isn’t it a name? Short for Margaret?’

‘Yeah, but it’s a name I’ve heard used twice in the last couple of days … on both occasions in reference to you.’ Lucy paused again, but the ex-nun merely shrugged. ‘The girl who attacked you yesterday night. You said she called you a “stiff-arsed virgin bitch” and said that she would “take you back to fucking Maggies”. And then, not four or five hours ago, the same girl referred to you as a “Maggie slut”.’

Sister Cassie looked even more baffled. ‘I honestly have no clue. Obviously, a disturbed individual, who—’

‘None of this “disturbed characters who don’t know what they’re doing” crap.’ Lucy grabbed her by her wrists. ‘Listen to me, Sister … it’s vital that you help me. Otherwise, your regulars are going to find there’ll be no one to tuck them up at night for quite a few months. What does “Maggie slut” mean?’

‘How could I possibly know?’

‘Because I had a thought earlier on. It’s got to be in reference to what you are, or what you once were. That girl I spoke about, she and her sister spent some time in a Catholic care home … when their father was in prison.’

‘But that had nothing to do with me. My students were O Level and above. There were no special needs, no children with any kinds of problems that I … oh!’ Her expression changed, as if something remarkable had just occurred to her. ‘Oh, my word … Maggies.’

‘Yes?’ Lucy prompted her.

‘Bless my soul. I’d never have … oh, but it can’t be that.’

‘Can’t be what?’

Sister Cassie’s eyes, previously clouded with pain and misery, had suddenly cleared. ‘The term Maggies might refer to Santa Magdalena.’

‘Santa …?’

‘Santa Magdalena.’

Now, it was Lucy’s turn to look bewildered. ‘I’ve never heard of it.’

‘It was a childcare community operated by the archdiocese. On the outskirts of Crowley. If memory serves, the children used to refer to it as St Maggies.’

‘Take you back to Maggies,’ Lucy said slowly.

‘I only visited occasionally, but it was run by my own order,’ Sister Cassie added. ‘The Carmelite Sisters.’ She looked sad. ‘Rather a pejorative term for some very hard-working women … but they would most likely have been the “stiff-arsed virgins” that this ungrateful girl referred to.’

‘You say the kids used to call it St Maggies?’

‘That’s my point. It’s been closed for ten years at least. It’s no longer used for anything, but the buildings are still there. Some kind of dispute is raging about who owns them—’

‘Where is it?’