Page 71 of The Vanishing Place
She pushed Kyle away, but the damage had been done, the sedative was flowing through the girl’s veins. Lewis tried to take Effie’s arm, but she elbowed him away and wrapped herself around the girl.
“How could you?” she yelled. “She was just scared!” Effie thumped the ground with her fist. “How is she meant to trust me now?”
“She was attacking you.”
“Barely,” Effie shot back. “She’s exhausted. And I was handling it.”
“No.” Lewis looked at her, his face hard. “You were letting a child beat you, because you think that’s what you deserve.”
—
Effie still hadn’t spoken to Lewis by the time the police car dropped them off at June’s house.
Anya was asleep in the back seat, balled up under Lewis’s jacket. They’d had to stretcher her out to the river, to an open area where the helicopter had managed to land, then they’d been flown out.
Focus on the kid. Morrow’s words.Not the body. That’s our problem now.
Effie opened the car door and lifted Anya out; she was barely the weight of a four-year-old.
“I’ve put fresh sheets on her bed,” said June, appearing in the drive.
“Thank you.”
“How long will she be out?”
“Another hour maybe,” said Effie. “Kyle said she’ll be a bit foggy for a while.”
She followed June inside to the girl’s room, while Lewis waited in the living room.
“What happened?” asked June, nodding in Lewis’s direction.
“Nothing.”
“Sure looks like nothing.”
Effie tucked the girl in, her body still curled tight, as though even in sleep, she wanted to make herself small and invisible.
“I’ll stay with her,” said Effie, sitting.
June walked across to the bed and leaned in, kissing Effie on the head.
“I had a nice chat on the phone with that lovely friend of yours.”
Effie frowned. “Blair?”
“The very one,” said June. “Smart girl. She told me to hug you twice a day, and box you about the ears at least once.”
“Bloody Blair.”
“Oh.” June frowned. “And she said to tell you that Rimu has grown accustomed to Egyptian cotton.”
Effie rolled her eyes. “My dog.”
“Ah.” June’s smile widened. “That makes a lot more sense.”
She went to leave but stopped, turning briefly in the doorway. “And I agree,” said June. “It would never have worked with that Greg fellow.”
“Christ.”
