A breath, and she peered through.

Nothing.

Despair like a slap.

Nothing.

‘Let’s try the other building,’ she murmured, as soon as she reached Ed and Hessa, not letting them speak.

She heard a sigh from Hessa, a deliberate silence from Ed.

Very carefully, they crept towards the grey brick building.

This building was more solidly built, Casey could tell in the gloom. No creaking corrugated iron here, but solid construction, carefully done. No windows, and only one door: unyielding, padlocked closed. Casey tried to listen, but silence filled her ears.

‘I’m going to pick the lock,’ she whispered.

‘There could be guards here too.’ Ed spoke quietly, a hand on her arm. ‘There could be anything in there.’

‘I know,’ she whispered. ‘But the other barn is a workshop. This one . . .’

‘You’ll get us all killed.’

The trees rustled around them, the breeze inquisitive.

‘We have to, Ed.’ It was Hessa’s voice.

Casey felt him drop his hand, step back. ‘Go on then.’

Picking the lock took only took a few seconds, and Casey stepped back and pushed open the door.

The women stared at her.

Maybe fifteen of them, some still half-asleep, peering up from the floor. A few of them looked terrified, flinching away as the door swung open. For a second, there was complete silence.

‘My God,’ Casey whispered. ‘My God.’

In the half-darkness, she could see that most of the women lay on rows of thin mattresses, wrapped in dirty sheets. As Casey gazed around, they began to sit up, some climbing to their feet, others cowering away. They weren’t all women, Casey saw. Several of them were young girls.

And almost all looked pregnant.

‘Please,’ said Casey pointlessly. ‘Please don’t be afraid.’

The girl lying nearest to the door was fourteen, maybe. She had big eyes, and a nose that had been broken once, many years ago. This girl hadn’t moved as Casey walked in. She just stared up, blinking in the light, her expression quite unreadable. She was pregnant too, Casey saw. Six months, maybe. And past fear, it seemed.

‘Hello,’ said Casey. ‘Hello.’

The words dangled in the silence. Hessa stepped past Casey, and kneeled down beside the girl.

‘Hello,’ she spoke in Bengali, ‘my name is Hessa.’

The girl stared back at her, jaw clenched. Hessa tried again. ‘Are you all right?’

Silence.

‘Who brought you here?’

Nothing.

‘What is your name?’

The girl’s eyes flicked away.

Hessa turned back to Casey, with an expression of despair. ‘What can I say to her? What do we do?’

Casey stared round the room, tried again. ‘Romida? Are you here? Romida?’