“But what if she is?”

Sitting next to her on the bed, Joy felt Noreen stiffen as her patience thinned.

“Whatever you’re thinking of, you better put it out of your head. It won’t work. All you’ll do is get us into trouble.”

“You don’t know that,” Joy said, her own anger rising.

“Yes, I do.”

“You haven’t even heard what I’m thinking of.”

Noreen leaned forward, rested her elbows on her knees, her hands over her eyes.

“Go on, then.”

Joy couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s like Mary said. George is the weakest of them. And he has a soft spot for me and Mary. We can use that.”

“How?”

“Let him think I’m sweet on him. See if I can put notions in his head.”

Noreen took her hands from her eyes, turned to look at Joy. “What sort of notions?”

“That he could have a life away from the other two. Sure, Ivan and Tam treat him like dirt. They treat him near as bad as they treat us. Maybe I can put it into his head to leave and go out on his own and take me and Mary with him. That I’ll be his wife and Mary will be his daughter. But a real wife and daughter, a real family, not like it is here.”

“And then what?” Noreen asked.

“Then we leave him. As soon as we’re out of here, me and Mary can go to the police and tell them what’s been going on.”

Noreen’s laughter crackled like old leaves as she shook her head.

“Oh, you’re an awful stupid wee girl.”

“Why?” Joy asked. “Why am I stupid? Why wouldn’t it work?”

“Because they’ll never let him go. Even if you could talk him into it, Ivan and Tam would put a stop to it. They’d kill him before they’d let him go, you and the child along with him. Me too, probably.”

“Not if we keep it a secret,” Joy said. “If we sneak away in the night, they wouldn’t—”

“And what about me? They’d have me buried out in the fields before the day was over.”

“No, I’ll get help, I’ll tell the police to come and get you out.”

“I’d be dead long before you even called them. Sure, they’ll come after you and George and the child. They’ll kill us all. Can you not get that into your head? We’ll all be dead before you can set one foot out that door.”

“We have to try, for Mary’s sake.”

“We have to live,” Noreen said. “That’s all that matters.”

Joy knew the words on her tongue were a mistake, but she spoke them anyway.

“You want to stay here, don’t you?”

Noreen’s eyes hardened. “Don’t you dare say that.”