He would spend the rest of his life grateful that, for once, he had listened to it.

Chapter 5 — The Girl in the State Car

Three hours later, a white state vehicle rolled slowly through the prison gates, and a social worker stepped out first, and then, from the back seat, came the child.

Her name was Chloe, and she was eight years old, with pale blond hair and bright blue eyes and an expression on her small face that no child of eight should have had to earn.

It was not the expression of a frightened child, though anyone would have forgiven her for being frightened.