Rochelle met Paula’s gaze. ‘He pushed my arm onto the barbecue.’

‘Did our Dr Lang treat this burn?’

Rochelle shook her head. ‘I never come to the doctors at this place. My husband does. And I bring Brody here when he’s sick. But I go to other medical centres if I really need to.’

She made sure she moved between doctors, never seeing the same person twice, to avoid anyone noticing the string of suspicious injuries.

‘This …’ Rochelle looked down at the scar on her arm. ‘This was because I told him I didn’t want to have another baby.’

‘Is Brody his son?’

Rochelle nodded and then scrunched up her eyes, squeezing tears away. ‘Look, he never hurts Brody. Never lays a hand on him. Please believe that. Please believe I would never let him hurt Brody.’

Paula reached out to put her hand on Rochelle’s arm. ‘I believe you.’

‘But no way I want any more kids with him. That’s why I have injections every three months.’

‘Depo-Provera?’

‘Yep. Those. He searches through my stuff, so if I tried taking the pill, he’d find them.’

‘But with the injections he doesn’t have to find out you’re using contraception.’

She nodded, then pulled her jacket back on, started wrapping the scarf around her neck again. This woman was used to finding work-arounds and survival tactics.

‘No, no, please don’t go yet,’ Paula said. ‘For one thing, I want to send you for some tests to make sure you don’t have other damage from—’

‘Better not,’ Rochelle interrupted. ‘Then he’d know you’d seen my neck. I’d pay for it.’

‘Rochelle, please wait.’

‘Dr Kaczmarek, I know what you’re going to say. I should leave. He’s dangerous.’

‘He is. Clearly. I’m worried you could be—’

‘Look, I’m handling this the only way I can. Main thing is he doesn’t hurt Brody. Trust me about that.’

‘You don’t have to put up with it.’ Paula reached for the pamphlets on domestic abuse, women’s refuges, support services.

‘Forget that stuff. It’s no good to me.’

‘I can’t let you leave here without—’

‘No. You don’t get it.’ Rochelle’s voice, fractured and hoarse though it was, came out with a steely edge Paula had not heard before. ‘I tried leaving him—couple of times. I did all that stuff they reckon you should do.’ She waved her hand at the pamphlets Paula was holding. ‘He tracked me down every time. The last time, this happened.’ She indicated her healed collarbone. ‘And the thing is, I’d never leave without Brody.’

‘Of course not. No one would suggest—’