‘Are you aware that Ms O’Brien was found near the girls’ home yesterday?’

‘Mum told me.’

Mary MacDonald looked surprised to suddenly be the centre of attention. ‘Well, I heard it from a couple of people down at the RSL when I went to get the takeaway last night.’

‘What did they say?’ Jake said.

‘That Ava O’Brien had been found murdered up at the old girls’ home.’

‘When was the last time you were there, Amelia?’

‘I haven’t been back since the day Mum came to get me. I never want to go back.’

And there it was. The first real suggestion that Ava O’Brien may have been in conflict with someone in Dunton.

‘And why is that?’ Jake asked.

‘It was horrible, that’s all.’

‘In what way was it horrible?’

‘It was freezing. And we were never allowed to go anywhere or see anyone.’ Tears began to well in Amelia’s eyes. ‘I just didn’t like it, okay?’

‘Surely you had friends while you lived there?’

‘I had a friend from there.’

‘Oh no, not another fight sweetheart?’ Mary smoothed one of Amelia’s pigtails.

‘I’m sure whoever it was, she’s still your friend.’ Evelyn decided to join the conversation.

‘Is that what Charlotte told you?’ Amelia almost spat at Evelyn. ‘I know she tells you everything.’

‘Amelia.’ Her mother admonished.

‘Charlotte Murphy?’ Jake asked.

‘They were the only two girls at the home at the end,’ Mary MacDonald answered for her daughter.

‘Can we take a step back, please? Amelia’—Jake paused until she met his eyes—‘you’re saying you haven’t spoken to Ava O’Brien in over ten years, but that you have kept in contact with Charlotte Murphy?’

‘Yes. I want to take a step back too.’

‘Okay?’

‘I get that you’re a cop so you’re here to talk to me about Ms O’Brien to work out if I was the one who killed her. Which I’m not, by the way.’ Amelia pointed at Evelyn. ‘But why’s she here?’

‘Ms Kelly is a counsellor accompanying me to interviews, to provide support if necessary.’

‘I know counsellors like her.’ Amelia seemed to expand somehow, becoming more solid as anger filled her eyes. ‘They’ve never been interested in helping me. They just like poking around in my brain for their own amusement.’

Evelyn opened her mouth to reply, but Jake held up a cautionary finger.

‘I have more questions for you, Amelia. You are an adult. You don’t have to answer them here—you can come down to the station and answer them there in a formal setting if you’d prefer.’

Amelia whumped back against the lounge. ‘Yes, Charlotte was my friend from the home. And yes, sometimes we talked about Ms O’Brien.’ She glared at Evelyn. ‘Happy?’

Jake could see why Kelly wanted him to tread cautiously in this interview. ‘Do you keep in contact with anyone else from the home?’

‘There were only the two of us at the end, like Mum said.’

‘Do you remember anyone else who lived there?’