Page 21 of Darling Girls

‘I don’t understand what you mean.’

Scott sighed. ‘Do we have to do this every time?’

Norah sighed back. ‘If you keep asking me about things without specifying what you mean, then yes, we do.’

‘Are you settling in?’ he said slowly, as if Norah were the dimwit.

‘I guess,’ she replied equally slowly.

‘School’s okay?’

‘Fine.’

‘Do you have any concerns that I can help you to resolve?’

That one was easy. Norah was completely confident that Scott was incapable of resolving any concern she might have. ‘No.’

‘Right then.’ Scott ticked a couple of boxes on his form. ‘I’ll make a note that the placement is working out well.’

‘I didn’t say that,’ Norah said.

But Scott was already on his way to the door, like he was in a big hurry. Fine by Norah. Except a few seconds later she heard him talking to Miss Fairchild in the hallway.

‘I’ve got another one, if you’re interested,’ she heard Scott say. ‘About the same age as these two. A respite case. Her grandmother, who’s been raising the girl, has been taken to hospital.’

‘A respite case?’

‘Short-term. A few weeks or months. It’s her first time in foster care and she’s had a fairly stable upbringing, no trauma that we know of, so she shouldn’t give you any trouble.’

Miss Fairchild didn’t respond for a couple of seconds.

‘You’d prefer a traumatised child?’ Scott asked in disbelief.

‘Of course not.’ She sounded irritated at the suggestion. ‘I just want to help the kids who need it the most, that’s all.’

‘Well,’ Scott said, ‘respite money is quite good. But I can give it to someone else if you’re not interested . . .’

‘I’ll take her,’ Miss Fairchild said. Money, of course, trumped everything.

But when Alicia arrived a few days later, Norah started to wonder if Miss Fairchilddidwant a traumatised child. Because this time, there was no honeymoon period of adjustment, no demented smile or declarations that she was safe at Wild Meadows. Rather, it seemed like Miss Fairchild hated Alicia on sight.

10

ALICIA

By midnight, Alicia was wishing she’d got up and left Jessica’s house when Norah had. She was dog-tired, weary with emotion, aware that they were making the two-hour drive from Melbourne to Port Agatha early the next morning. And still her sister droned on. Jessica had prepared a list of possible questions, each one written in a different colour, and she had been pacing the floor for hours, running through ‘parameters’ around what they should say to ‘protect’ themselves.

‘But if we don’t tell the cops everything,’ Alicia said, ‘how will they figure out who the bones belong to?’

Jessica threw up her hands. ‘I don’t know. But with Norah’s criminal record, I’m not prepared to take that chance. What if we become suspects? What ifshedoes?’

Jessica was right to be cautious. Alicia wasgratefulfor her caution, because it allowed her to think beyond it, safe in the knowledge that Jessica wouldn’t let them do anything stupid. But the fact remained, there was more to what happened to them when they were children than even they knew. Alicia didn’t want to do anything to put them in danger, but what if this was their one chance to get to the bottom of it?

‘Are you really ready to go back there, Al?’ Jessica asked.

‘What do you think?’ Alicia said. In the twenty-five years since she’d left Port Agatha, Alicia hadn’t gone anywhere near the place. She could barely bring herself to say its name aloud.

‘I’m off to bed,’ Phil said, poking his head in.