I lay awake a long time that night beside my sleeping son, doing the frightened arithmetic of it.

If I was caught, I would lose the job, and losing the job meant losing the roof and the wages that kept Theodore fed.

If Christopher was capable of what I now believed him capable of, I might lose a great deal more than that.

I was one woman, with no money and no allies and a baby who depended on me for everything, setting myself against a wealthy family and a licensed physician who had already shown they would kill to get what they wanted.

By every sensible measure, I should have packed my bag and taken my son and disappeared, and let Raymond Winslow’s fate be Raymond Winslow’s fate.