Grace didn’t get the answer to her last question—why Ash?—that final piece of the jigsaw puzzle is still missing. Children are born barbarians, Eric had said, and need to be tamed. Melly had been powerless to tame anyone, but as Izzy said, they were all at fault; they didn’t notice anything; they didn’t have a clue.

The children huddle together as if watching for a sign, a wave, one last look out the window as the police van pulls away.

“She didn’t even say goodbye,” Sorrel says, sounding disappointed.

19. May

Melissa

“Do you want to know whether it’s a girl or a boy?” the ultrasound tech asks.

Melly holds her breath. Lina says that she knows it’s a girl anyway and the technician smiles. Little girl or boy, it doesn’t matter. A life that was conceived in fear is becoming itself, will be welcomed, cherished. Loved. The monitor glides over Lina’s swollen abdomen. The technician is checking the position, the reason for this late scan. The baby is overdue but not breach; despite the obstetrician’s concern, everything’s fine.

Melissa’s eyes fill. Her baby is in custody now, for at least fourteen years.

“Look,” Lina whispers. “The hands.”

She’d had to let go of Izzy’s hands. The staff at the secure unit in Bristol had been kind but precise, very firm. The gates had shut behind her; the high fence barred her view.

“See the face, she’s so beautiful.” Lina’s English is much better than it was. She can speak fluently; six months in the shelter has worked wonders. Lina retreats to her room to dress; Melissa waits in the corridor outside.

Izzy’s face had been shuttered when it was time to part; she could have stared at those lovely features for hours and still not understood. In the end there wasn’t much time to say goodbye. She’d put her arms around her daughter and Izzy had hugged her back. Melissa didn’t cry until she was outside the unit and then she couldn’t stop. Grace rescued her; she organized the overnight hotel in Bristol and met her there; they went back to the unit together the next day. Grace was with her in the youth court and later in the Crown court where Izzy was referred for sentencing. She came to the first meeting with the psychiatrist and counselors when Izzy’s program was explained. She held Melissa’s hand when the diagnosis of psychopathy was first discussed.

A couple walk down the corridor toward Melissa as she waits for Lina. Their heads are bent over a photograph; she can’t see their faces but the man has his arm around the woman and they are chatting softly, absorbed in the magic of the image. They don’t notice her sitting there, watching them; they will be thinking of nothing else except the birth of their tiny baby. They won’t be thinking of the child at three or thirteen; they have no idea at all of the complex life that will unfurl.

Visits to the unit are allowed weekly, more often once Izzy settles. Izzy’s detention worker told Melissa that Paul had been informed and wanted to see her, but Izzy refused. Melissa watches the man’s face as the couple walk past her, the love in his eyes. He looks kind, which is everything. The little baby will have a kind, loving father. Paul hadn’t abused his daughter, as it turned out, but he’d possessed her all the same, while ruthlessly excluding his wife. He’d dominated them both and manipulated their lives. Izzy’s rejection must have been hard for a man with his pathological need to control. For the first time ever, Melissa feels almost sorry for him. He’s been released on bail with conditions, pending a retrial for marital rape; the case isn’t due for several months. Melly needs the time to gather strength.