55. Alicia

NOW

"She lied," Miss Fairchild said. "She said Amy was with a good family. All these years, I've pictured her, living with them. Being loved by them. But she lied."

"Who lied?" Patel asked, looking exhausted, though it was barely nine in the morning.

"My mother."

"Wait," Zara said, confused. "Are you talking about me? I was living with a good family."

Alicia was as lost as Zara, and so were the cops, apparently. Miss Fairchild looked stricken, her lip trembling, her face wet with tears. She looked small, suddenly, like a child. It was shocking, seeing her in this light. Alicia had to remind herself not to feel sorry for her.

"What happened to the baby?" Miss Fairchild asked suddenly. "Did the body give any hint as to…"—she winced—"how she died?"

"The coroner reported a flat depreciation at the back of the skull consistent with a blow or fall," Hando said.

Miss Fairchild shuddered. Her hand went to the back of her own head, and fresh tears poured from her eyes. Patel and Hando exchanged a look.

Patel came and sat beside her. "You know, we've been asking these girls about their upbringing at Wild Meadows. But they're not the only ones who grew up in that house, are they?"

Miss Fairchild shook her head, her eyes cast down, her lips pressed together.

"I'm sorry," Hando said, "but I'm going to have to clear the room of everyone except Miss Fairchild."

"But we need to hear this," Alicia cried.

"I understand," Hando said, meeting Alicia's eyes. He didn't look like the enemy anymore. "And you will. But we need to hear it first."

Alicia, Norah, Meera, Zara, Bianca and Rhiannon filed out of the meeting room and back into the foyer, which was too small to contain the six of them as well as the intensity of their feelings—not to mention the questions that remained.

"We need to bring Scott Michaels in," Alicia heard Hando shout to someone. "Dirk Winterbourne is in room four. And can you arrange for Zara to come back in later this afternoon to give a statement? Her parents too."

"Okay, I need more information," Zara said. "I am Amy—and you thought I was the body under the house?"

Alicia shrugged. "We thought it was possible."

"May I ask why?"

"You may," Alicia said. "And we will explain everything. But there's someone who I think should be with us for this. Someone who will be very glad to see you again."

She looked at Norah, who nodded in agreement.

THE OFFICE OF DR. WARREN, PSYCHIATRIST

"What did you do after John and your mother took Amy?" Dr. Warren asks.

"I walked into town and waited until morning. Then I intercepted Troy on his way to school, and I told him everything. We ran all the way back to Wild Meadows. She greeted me at the door."

"Who?" Dr. Warren asks.

"The woman I would never again call my mother."

Dr. Warren can barely contain his delight.

"She seemed nervous. I knew immediately something had happened.

"‘Where is she?' I cried. ‘Where is she?'

"She tried to put her hands on my shoulders, but I threw them off. Her eyes were full of tears. ‘Where is who?'

"I began to scream. I screamed so loud and for so long that I must have blacked out. It was a mercy, because those few minutes of being unconsciousness were the last ones moments I can remember when I wasn't in pain."

"She pretended Amy had never existed?" Dr. Warren asks.

"Only because I had Troy with me. To make me look crazy. But later, after he left, she told me that some ladies from the church had come for her. She said they'd taken her to a good home."

"And you believed that?"

"After everything that had happened, I didn't think my mother would have stood by while John killed my baby. But it turns out that's exactly what she did."

Dr. Warren closes his eyes for a moment as he takes this in.

"The reason I became a foster mother was because I was looking for a replacement for my daughter. But it was never the same. None of the girls were Amy. The trauma of it all… it sent me mad, I guess."

A knock at the door.

"Time's up," comes a voice from outside. There's a buzz, and the door opens. The guard enters to escort me back to my cell. "Let's go."

Dr. Warren stands too.

"I'll see you in court," he says, and then the door clanks closed between us.