Page 70 of Darling Girls

It was the humiliation, Jessica knew, that would upset Miss Fairchild the most. She’d always been so aware of how things looked. Jessica was much more interested in how they felt. And she knew this interaction did not feel good.

‘Okay,’ Miss Fairchild said, advancing on Jessica and Amy in a way that made Amy cower. Her little fingers gripped the back of Jessica’s neck. ‘Enough of this silliness. Let’s go.’

Amy flailed and kicked and cried as Miss Fairchild prised her away from Jessica. Jessica suffered the brunt of it, receiving several kicks, but she didn’t mind. It wasn’t Amy’s fault. Miss Fairchild wasn’t as forgiving when she was kicked.

‘Amy,’ Miss Fairchild said sharply. ‘That’svery naughty.’

It was the closest to angry she’d been with Amy since the girl had arrived. A bead of worry formed in Jessica’s chest – one that never truly went away.

Amy had been with them for six months when a car pulled into the driveway unexpectedly. Jessica and Alicia were sweeping the porch at the time.

‘Who is that?’ Jessica asked, squinting.

‘I think it’s Sandi,’ Alicia said. ‘My social worker.’

She sounded mystified. This was justified, as it had been more than a year since they’d had a visit from a social worker other than Scott. Miss Fairchild seemed similarly mystified when Jessica slipped inside to give their foster mother the heads-up.

‘But the place isn’t clean!’ she cried.

‘It is,’ Jessica said, unable to repress the urge to reassure her. ‘It’s fine.’

Miss Fairchild hesitated. ‘Not the basement.’

It was an odd comment. The social workers had never looked in the basement – at least, Scott never had.

‘You need to go down there,’ she said to Jessica. ‘Take the broom. It’s probably covered in dust.’

Jessica stared at her. ‘What?’

‘Go on. You can take Amy for company, since she loves you so much. Don’t come up until it’s spick-and-span.’

She dragged Jessica down the hallway and pushed her through the door leading to the basement. ‘There’s a light on a chain at the bottom of the stairs,’ she said, thrusting Amy into her arms. ‘Have fun, my darling girls.’

The door closed, plunging them into absolute darkness. Jessica was still reeling as she heard the latch. They were locked in.

Amy began to cry.

‘It’s okay,’ Jessica said, reaching for the handrail. ‘We’re playing hide-and-seek.’

Amy clung to her as Jessica made her way carefully down the stairs. She was warm and sweet-smelling and comforting in the dark. At the bottom, as Miss Fairchild promised, she found a chain, and pulled it. The light was a single globe, only slightly better than nothing. Only then did Jessica realise Miss Fairchild had forgotten to give her the broom.

What the hell are we doing down here?Jessica wondered. It didn’t make sense. She didn’t really believe that Miss Fairchild wanted her to clean the basement. Even given the surprise nature of the visit, the social worker would have found a clean house, well-looked-after kids – a vision of happiness, at least from the outside. Instead, she’d find two children unaccounted for.

‘Down,’ Amy said, wriggling to get out of Jessica’s grasp.

Jessica looked at the floor, trying to assess whether it was suitable for a toddler. As Miss Fairchild had said, itwasdusty. It was also cold. And mostly empty other than a pile of boxes beside an old bicycle. At the far end of the room was a single window that faced a brick wall and a mattress turned on its side.

‘Down!’ Amy said, louder now, and Jessica had no choice but to let her slide off her hip to the ground.

‘All right,’ she said. ‘But don’t sit, okay? We have to stand.’

Amy showed no indication she’d heard or understood as she toddled towards the bicycle. Overhead, Jessica could hear footsteps and the murmur of voices. Amy spun the wheel on the bicycle and rummaged in the boxes. Unlike Jessica, who was quite unnerved by being plunged into darkness, Amy seemed quite relaxed and happy.

‘Raaaaa,’ she said into the darkness.

She was holding a knitted lion she’d retrieved from a box. It was scrappily knitted – obviously homemade.

‘Lion,’ Jessica said. ‘Can you saylion?’