Alice knew enough to switch from Sandra to Cassandra, Kate thought. If anyone was going to get them out of there alive, it would be her.
‘You’re tired, baby,’ Alice pleaded. ‘You know you are. I can hold you tight, like we used to when we were scared. My arms are still strong. I can wrap them around you. Please, Cassandra, can I come down?’
‘You became so harsh, Alice.’ The words were delivered with hurt.
If the stress levels reduce, thought Kate, Sandra may come back.
‘I know I did, baby. But it was only pretence.’ Another sob from Alice. ‘It was a way of not being wounded.’
‘I didn’t hurt you.’
‘You did. I saw you with him.’
‘You saw us?’ Another lowering and softening of her tone. ‘You knew about your father and—’
‘I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. Listen, I’m coming down.’
‘You can’t. The cards didn’t predict it.’
‘They did. They said there would be a new beginning. You want a new beginning, don’t you?’
‘The room is getting darker, Alice. I don’t understand … I’m scared. I don’t know what’s happening any more.’
‘You don’t have to be scared. I’m here.’
Kate couldn’t believe what was happening, but she knew when to stay completely still. With the light shafting down from above, she felt the release of the grip around her neck before the knife dropped out of Cassie’s hand.
Adam wasn’t long in following Alice into the cellar, but it was Kate who reached over and picked up the knife.
‘Is this our new beginning?’ she heard Cassandra ask Alice.
‘Yes, baby. Everything will be all right now.’
LEACH, COUNTY WICKLOW
BY THE TIME Kate and Adam reached the centre of Leach, the whole village, including Billy Meagher and Lily Bright, was assembled, all trying to come to terms with the two dozen squad cars with blue lights flashing that had invaded them during the night.
Kate stepped away from the crowd to phone Sophie, happy to hear that Charlie was sound asleep in bed, oblivious to it all. She didn’t feel much like talking to anyone, not even Adam as he approached her. Instead of greeting him, she put her head down and turned away.
‘What’s wrong, Kate?’
‘It’s all such a bloody waste, how people get messed up. Did you hear them down there?’ Her voice cracked.
‘What – Alice and Sandra?’
‘They sounded like two desperate little girls.’
‘I heard them.’
‘Why do we have to fuck with each other?’
‘Look, Kate, you’re in shock. It can’t have been easy down there.’
‘She wasn’t a monster.’
‘I know she wasn’t. Alice said something to me earlier about the two of them.’
‘What did she say?’ She lifted her head and turned to look at him.
‘When she thinks back to them being in the woods, what she hears is the sound of laughter, the kind only children can make.’
‘I guess they found some happiness in the madness,’ she wiped the tears from her eyes, ‘but there is no “happy ever after” ending for Cassie or Sandra. Fairy tales are stories we tell our children. Real life isn’t always like that. The longer I do this job, the more I realise the potential for evil exists inside us all. Sometimes it wins. Mess a person up from the beginning, and there is no going back, no easy fix. The legacy debt has taken its toll. It has made her who she is no matter which mask she wears, and the harrowing part is, Adam, she knows that more than any of us. There is no get-out clause, not for her.’
‘This has really gotten to you, Kate. I’ve never seen you this upset.’
‘Don’t worry about me.’
‘The thing is, Kate, I do.’
She didn’t answer him.
‘What’s the prognosis for Sandra now?’ he asked, sensing she wanted to change the subject.
‘A life filled with one kind of therapy or another. Her other identity will come back and forth intermittently as the stress levels change. She might fool some people along the way, including the odd therapist, but there’s no going back for her. The wrongs can never be undone. It’s like you and your son, Adam. You can never get those memories back, the ones that for whatever reason never had a chance to be created, any more than Sandra can live a different life.’
‘That’s a bit harsh.’
‘Life is harsh.’ She drew in a deep breath. ‘Look, I’m not picking on you. God knows, I’ve made any number of mistakes myself.’
They took a step back as the squad car with Sandra Regan and Alice Thompson inside it sped past and away from the village, Kate staring long and hard after it.
‘Adam, do you know what I see when I look at them, particularly Sandra?’
‘What?’
‘I don’t see the darkness, or her multiples of self, I see a baby born with an innate instinct to survive, and the potential for so many wonderful things taken from her.’