‘Yes. I was going to drive him back, but I need to head back out there right now. Once Max is processed, please give him a ride back to his address.’

‘You can’t wait?’ she asked.

‘I had to leave Kelly’s daughter in the care of a civilian.’

‘Alive then?’

‘And kicking. Badly bruised throat though, and probably in shock.’

‘I thought it was meant to be quiet out here in the country.’

Jake’s laugh emerged as a bark. ‘Ha! So did I. Are any of the CSI team ready to accompany me?’

‘I am.’ Another FSST officer stuck out her hand. ‘Constable Harris.’

‘Pleasure.’

‘Why did you need to leave the daughter at the scene?’

‘She refused to get in the same vehicle as her father,’ Jake said.

‘I can relate,’ Harris said, stretching her lips to bare her teeth.

*

Evelyn stood at the edge of the manor driveway survey­ing the CSI team in their puffy DNA-retaining outfits drifting through the misty vineyard like small white clouds in the dreary grounds. She’d refused to be transported to hospital, and also refused to sit inside with Charlotte. She wanted to wait out in the cold for Max to return so she could apologise to him for her father’s behaviour. Jake had pointed out that she had nothing to apologise for where her father was concerned, and that Max’s own father was equally guilty.

‘I want to make sure that he’s okay,’ was her only reply.

Jake could see she was struggling to stay upright. He wavered between sympathy for her situation and fury at the role she had played in all this.

‘Are you certain I can’t ask Charlotte to take you home?’

‘No!’

‘All right then. In that case, I need to speak with you.’

‘Can’t it wait?’

‘No.’ Jake led her several metres down the hill, halfway between the cluster of police vehicles and the CSI team.

‘What?’ she said as they came to a halt.

‘I could charge you as well, as an accessory,’ Jake said, hoping to shock her into focusing on his next words.

It worked.

‘What? But I never touched Ava or any of those children.’

‘You did break the confidence of your client, though, didn’t you? You told your father about Charlotte’s conversations with Ava. You told him Ava had started to worry about the past, about harm done to Amelia while she was in the home, wondering if someone needed to be told the truth about what happened. That’s what set this whole thing in motion–’

She gasped. ‘How dare you blame me for any of this?!’

‘But I’ve realised there’s no one I can report you to because you don’t belong to any professional association. In fact, you have no qualifications in counselling whatsoever, do you?’

Evelyn’s expression hardened. ‘I’ve read the requirements. It’s legal.’

‘But hardly ethical.’