Page 81 of The Vanishing Place
Anya shook her head again.
“But he kept you chained up?”
The child gave another expressionless nod—no anger, no nothing—and Effie had to bite into her tongue.
“And the woman,” Morrow continued, as if they were talking about the weather, not about child abuse. Not about the cruel sickness that festered in Effie’s family. “The woman is Tia, your mum?”
Another nod.
“Did you live with your mum?”
A nod.
“Was there anyone else who lived in the hut with you?”
She shook her head.
“Did your mum ever hurt you?”
Anya shook her head again and Effie let out a breath.
“And what about Four, did he ever hurt your mum? Did he ever punish her for anything?”
Anya stilled, and the quiet gnawed through Effie’s stomach.
“Was your mum scared of Four, Anya?”
The girl didn’t move, didn’t blink, and Morrow glanced at her colleague, a thousand words caught in a single glimpse.
“When you left the hut,” asked Morrow, “was your mum alive?”
Anya shook her head.
“Your mum was dead?”
A nod.
Then the girl’s hand slipped into Effie’s, and she curled her fingers around Effie’s thumb.
Effie caught the detective’s eye and frowned at her, pleading, but Morrow kept going. She had to keep going.
“And your mum’s body,” said Morrow, “it was on the floor next to your uncle’s when you left?”
Anya nodded.
“You’re sure?”
The girl frowned, then she nodded once, slowly, as though her muscles had jammed and she had to unstick them.
Morrow took a breath, her expression unreadable. “Anya, did someone kill your mum and your uncle?”
Anya nodded.
“And did you see the person who hurt them?”
She nodded again.
“Was it a man?”
