What possible reason could anyone have to do this to a child?

‘You didn’t explain to Charlotte what had happened?’

‘Ms O’Brien said I couldn’t tell her. She said it was for big girls only, and that if I told Charlotte it would be done to her too. I didn’t want it to happen to Charlotte, so I’ve never told her about it.’

Why would Ava do this to Amelia, but not Charlotte?

‘When this happened to you—when you first woke up—had any other part of your body been hurt or damaged?’

Amelia wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands, then sat on them. ‘No.’

‘At another point in time, did someone hurt your hands or remove your fingernails?’

Amelia’s hands flew up to cover her face as she deterior­ated into deep, wracking sobs, the sound of her wailing calling her mother to her from outside the room.

‘Stop! Stop!’ Mary MacDonald flung open the door. ‘What are you doing to her?’

Jake stood up, plucked his phone from the table, and stepped away from the howling Amelia. ‘Amelia is doing her absolute best to help with my enquiries, Mary—she insisted on it.’ He looked at her, willing all his sympathy for Amelia to be present in his eyes. ‘You should be so proud of her.’

Mary sat next to Amelia, wrapping both arms around her tightly. ‘I am. Now please go.’ She found one of Amelia’s hands, held it tightly, then began to rock her daughter, humming.

Stepping into the corridor and closing the door behind him, Jake was greeted by a tableau of Charlotte standing with her back against the wall crying quietly, and Evelyn comforting her by gently stroking her upper arm. Murphy stood a few feet away looking unsure.

‘Charlotte?’ Jake said.

She lifted her head.

‘Are you all right?’

‘I’m fine. I just hate hearing Amelia suffer so much.’

‘You grew up in the same environment as her,’ Evelyn said, ‘and you never carry on like this. Amelia’s just being over-the-top as usual.’

Jake stared at Evelyn, wondering how she could be so unmoved by the sounds of grief pouring through the door. He could have interpreted her lack of sympathy as professional detachment, but that wasn’t it.

Although he was no psychologist, even Jake could recognise the signs of post-traumatic stress disorder when they smacked him in the face. The question was, why couldn’t Evelyn Kelly?

*