I chose my words carefully. ‘From what I’ve read, people like Hannah have no empathy, no conscience. I don’t know why she is the way she is, but she’s dangerous, Doug.’

‘Then we need to get her the best psychiatrist we can find! We can turn this around, I know we can. She’s eight years old … we can get her help, can’t we? We should never have cancelled that psychiatrist. Can we get another appointment? Maybe we could go private, get seen sooner.’

I closed my eyes, knowing I had to tell him the truth. ‘Doug,’ I said. ‘We can’t do that. We can’t let her talk to a doctor.’

His eyes shot to my face in surprise. ‘Can’t? Why?’

I had no choice but to tell him. I could barely look at him as I described how I’d made the phone call behind his back all those months ago, how I’d discovered Hannah in the kitchen, how she’d overheard everything, knew everything. ‘I’m sorry,’ I cried when I saw his horrified expression. ‘Oh, Doug, don’t look at me like that! I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what else to do. I was so frightened, I thought it would help, I needed to talk to someone.’

‘But, Beth, if Hannah tells anyone. If she tells … oh, Jesus, Beth, we’re in it up to our necks!’

I nodded. ‘I know.’

‘But what do we do?’ he asked.

‘We keep Toby with us at all times,’ I said. ‘We never, ever leave him alone with her. We’ll … just have to try to manage her, watch her …’

He sank back into his chair and we stared up at the ceiling, to where Hannah lay sleeping in the room above. Around us the night settled into the corners of the house, the darkness outside growing denser, the moon hidden now behind thick cloud. From somewhere in the fields beyond our street came the solitary scream of a fox, before it, too, lapsed back into silence.

The next day was a Saturday. When Hannah came down for breakfast Doug and I were already up and waiting for her. She froze in surprise to see us sitting at the table together. She turned to Doug. ‘I don’t want her here!’ she said. ‘She’s going to hurt me again! Don’t let her hurt me, Daddy.’

‘Hannah,’ Doug said, calmly. ‘Stop this. Stop right now. We know that you pushed Toby.’

Her eyes darted to me and then back to her father. She folded her arms. ‘No I didn’t!’

‘Yes, Hannah,’ he said. ‘You did, and I know you’ve hurt him before.’