She said I’d lose you.

JESSICA: I have poured all of my love into us

And it’s all fake.

I’ve poured my love into a void.

I trusted you.

My God. I’m pregnant.

Simon!

Richard?

Who are you?

SIMON: I was ten.

You know me—

You know who I am.

You’ve lived with me all this time.

JESSICA: God what about the missing Pritchard boy?

Tell me you didn’t go near him.

Oh God. Did you /—

SIMON: [wounded to be asked] No.

He tries to touch her but she hits him away.

JESSICA: Don’t you come near me.

You murdered a baby.

You!

Tell me what you did,

Tell me.

I want the truth.

SIMON: [angry and distraught] You want to know what I fucking did?

Okay then—you want to know it all?

My job was to hold him down.

Restrain him.

Take his little body and keep it still

So they could do it to him.

And I held him down

Restrained him so he couldn’t get away.

He can’t move, and I hold him down hard.

To get it right.

When he cries I don’t stop.

I tell him to ‘be quiet’.

That’s my job to hold him still.

And there are rocks for us there, rocks for us to hit his soft tiny head with,

And it only takes two hits to stop the crying,

But there are more hits than that.

Because we all know how to hit, all us boys,

We all know about hitting, and it feels good.

To do it.

We’re all glad that it’s quiet now.

Glad the noise of crying has stopped.

I held him down, and I liked that I was

Stronger than he was.

For once, I was stronger.

And I remember the feeling afterwards.

Knowing that the other boys

Liked me.

And I liked it.

So Jess

You know everything.

Are you happy now?

JESSICA:—

JESSICA leaves.

SCENE SEVEN

ANDY’s office in the city.

JESSICA barges in.

JESSICA: You know my husband.

And my husband has been keeping secrets from me.

ANDY: I can’t talk to you about any of my clients.

JESSICA: Oh I think you can.

I’ve caught the train up here to your glamorous office especially to talk to you.

ANDY: You’ll have to leave.

JESSICA: Before we were married he did something terrible and—

Well I never knew anything about it.

ANDY:—

JESSICA: This terrible thing,

He’s famous for it

ANDY: Go on.

JESSICA: It’s not a little thing either it’s something big,

Isn’t it Andy? /

ANDY:—

JESSICA: Why was I not told?

No-one told me,

Not him, not the government.

Not you.

ANDY:—

JESSICA: Jessica Fontaine,

Although it’s all just fiction really isn’t it?

I’m Simon’s wife.

Or am I Richard’s wife?

ANDY:—

JESSICA: I want to know.

Know why—

Tell me why. /