‘I’m sorry, Mum.’ She starts crying again. ‘I’m so sorry. I got to the car and his sister was there. She told me he had organised for her to pick me up. Then she drove me out into the country and that’s when she pulled a gun.’ The grief spills over. It’ll be years of therapy to undo the trauma of this single night. July had very strong feelings for Cormac. ‘She drove me to that house then kept me tied up in a chair. I thought I was going to die, I was certain she was going to shoot me. I was there for hours and she wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t say anything. She just stomped around the house. When the police came she was in the kitchen, looking out the window, watching the trees. Then the room exploded. The door smashed down and the room filled with smoke. My eyes were stinging. I heard her scream, then a thump as she hit the ground hard beside me, then they tackled me too and held me down.’

‘Shh,’ I say. ‘It’s okay. We can go through this later. Just rest now, July. It’s all over.’

I stay like that with her, holding her together as best I can, and soon enough she is dozing off in bed. Gabe is there too, holding her hand. Evan is in his seat, his eyes shadowed with dark rings.

My own eyes are warm, with an itch beneath the lids, as I focus on my phone screen. It’s 8:11 am. I open The Age newspaper app. The first story is about last night. I see an aerial photo of a house in the dark. It’s wrapped in police tape, with blue uniformed officers milling about, taking photos and laying out evidence tags. The title reads: Girl Saved in Late Night Siege.

The article mainly talks about Xanthe but also mentions her accomplice for the kidnapping, Nathan Schultz. It warns that he is on the run. I can imagine their wealthy relatives, deeply involved in the casino, like the uncle, whose net worth is reportedly in the hundreds of millions, seeing the headlines and calling in favours to keep an arm’s length from the kidnapping, the siege and the rest of it. Perhaps they’re already sending cease and desist letters, organising lawyers for Xanthe and Cormac’s defence. Or is it possible the black sheep of the family, the son and daughter of his ungrateful sister, will be cut adrift and left to fend for themselves?

I know Cormac will find a way to get a minimum sentence, even probation. They’ll produce an adequate excuse, drugs and trauma, then the rehabilitation will start. His Ted Bundy-like charisma will knock years off the sentence. A sympathy piece on 60 Minutes. Then they’ll be out and they’ll come after me again.