‘What? Who?’

‘I can’t say, as I’d be breaking Mags’s confidence. But one thing I do knaw. I’m going to do all I can to stop it happening.’

‘What can you do, lass? Eeh, be careful.’

Betsy sat up. I’ll go to Dr Lange. But will he help? Why has he allowed this to happen?

Before she could answer Cook, a crying from outside the door drew her attention. ‘Eeh, Rosie’s awake, and probably wondering where she is. Anyroad, I’ve to go. Me other two’ll be in from school soon, an’ all. Then I’ve to go and take me turn sitting with me ma.’

‘By, lass, you’ve sommat on your plate. How’s your ma faring?’

‘I hardly dare think on it, but I’m afraid she hasn’t many days left. In one way, it’d be a blessing, as she’s suffering badly.’

The thought came that aye, her ma passing would be a blessing, as Betsy knew that the disgrace the court case would bring down on the family was something she never wanted her ma to witness. Oh God, help me. Aye, I knaw as I sinned, and I’m sorry. And I knaws as I’ve to carry on sinning, in me lying about what happened, but I have to. I have to!

Chapter Eleven

Mags tried to turn over, but couldn’t. Something was holding her limbs so that she couldn’t move. Nor could she open her eyes or cry out, as her mouth was clamped shut – by what, she did not know.

Fear encased her. She struggled, but the restrictions around her body didn’t budge. Panic gripped her. She couldn’t breathe.

‘Calm down. If you do, we’ll release you. But you can’t attack us as you have been doing. If you’re quiet for a while, we’ll take the plaster off your eyes. Then, maybe, the one from your mouth. These were a punishment for your violence. But the straitjacket will remain on for a while. Everything depends on how you behave. It’s all up to you.’

The horror of what they’d done to her seeped into Mags. She wanted to kick out at the woman who had spoken. She didn’t know how long she’d been here, only that each time she’d surfaced from a drug-induced sleep, she’d fought with all her might against those trying to restrain her.

When she’d awoken the first time after arriving here, she’d found herself in a cell-like room with green-painted brick walls and a thick wooden door. The only light had come from a very high window that she couldn’t reach to see out of. And apart from the wooden structure that held the mattress she lay on, there was only one other thing in the room – a bucket that stood in the corner near the door. To Mags’s dismay, she realized this was for her toilet use.

The cries of the insane haunted her day and night, until at first she’d welcomed the injections, and the blessed peace they’d given her. After a while, though, her head had begun to ache, and she wanted an end to it all.