“I love you,” he says again, waiting for her reply, her assurance, his hands still on her neck.

Maybe he means it. Maybe things will be better, this time.

She has missed her chance anyway.

“I love you too,” she says.

Sarah

It had been almost a week, and still there was no note from Veronica, no request for a meeting, no judgment about Amelia. It felt to Sarah as though she was trapped again, in that tiny room, with no knowing when she might finally escape. All week she had been probing Amelia for clues about Veronica’s behaviour towards her – had she been told off, singled out, given anything different or extra to do, had she ‘played’ with any different teachers? But highly perceptive Amelia seemed oblivious to any change, and David said that Veronica had communicated nothing to him at the classroom door.

She knew it was all part of Veronica’s manipulation. This is exactly how she wanted Sarah to feel – controlled, powerless, just as she had always been. Too weak even to stand and reclaim Eliza. The thought of this ate away at her, and on Thursday, she took the afternoon off, collected Harry from David who was appreciative of the extra time to prep the museum’s new exhibition, and arrived at pick-up still without a plan exactly, but with a definite attitude. Veronica looked suitably unsettled to see her, but after a brief adjustment of her face, she smiled warmly.

“Can we have a word?” Sarah asked, just as warmly, as she leaned into the classroom door and Amelia flung herself into her arms.

“Of course. Just give me a moment.”

While Amelia ran off to the playground, Sarah waited by the door. Veronica slowly saw the other children out of the classroom, then spent forever pretending to sort papers on her desk, before finally returning to her.

“Come on in,” she smiled then, at last, and together, Saranveronica entered the classroom. “How strange, for us to be parent-teacher instead of classmates.”

“Strange indeed,” agreed Sarah. “I never would have pegged you as a teacher actually.”

“Nor would I,” Veronica laughed.

Harry wriggled on Sarah’s hip. She placed him on the floor and wished Amelia was there to entertain him so she could concentrate on the woman in front of her, but she could multitask. She could, in fact, do anything. “Do you enjoy it?” she asked, stroking the fingers of Harry’s hand as he hung off her leg. “It’s a career for you I mean, is it, you treat it, professionally?”

Veronica eyed Sarah carefully. “Of course.”

Sarah stared just as pointedly back. Then, “I’ve been waiting to hear about this meeting,” she said abruptly. “I thought it was urgent, you said, to identify if there was anything you needed to report? About Amelia?”

“Oh, yes,” said Veronica. “Yes it is.”

Sarah waited. A long pause. Was Veronica scrabbling? Or enjoying the calm before the kill?

“But actually,” said Veronica finally. “Over the past week I’ve been noticing more that…”