Anna didn’t look away from me when she answered.

“His name is James,” she said.

“And I’ll explain everything when you get here.”

Chapter 5: The Daughter at the Door

Claire arrived forty minutes later.

I heard the car pull up outside and had to stop myself from going to the window.

I sat at the kitchen table with my hands flat on the surface and waited.

Anna had used the time to tell me small things — that Claire worked as a school librarian, that her husband’s name was Tom, that her two children were eight and eleven.

She offered these details carefully, like she was building a bridge one plank at a time, giving me something to hold onto before the harder thing arrived.

The front door opened.

“Mum, I came as fast as I — “