As arranged, Nina visited Chris and Maria the following evening. Chris had already warned Maria of what had been said at school, and whilst in deep shock, she was perfectly understanding of the situation.

The kids had been sent to bed at eight, with Sally opting to go upstairs with Abigail and Sean even though she was allowed to stay up later. Although aware of Nina's presence in the house, and despite their desperation to chat with the social worker who had frequently been to their house over the past year, for once Chris and Maria refused to relent.

"It just doesn't make sense," Maria sighed, holding Chris' hand as they sat on their sofa. "I mean, if her mother had been part a religious cult for so long that Sally had never been to school, she must really believe in it. And then to hurry Sally to safety-"

"There's a lot that doesn't add up," Nina agreed. "I doubt we'll find out a lot of what's happened, given that Sally's our only link. But that isn't our priority; she is."

Chris nodded. "We can't focus on trying to find out why Mrs Parseri did what she did, other than out of love. It won't get us anywhere."

A silence dropped in the room. There was the faintest sound of crying, and as Maria stood up to go and check on the children, she noticed Sally standing in the hallway, a glass of water in her hand and tears on her cheeks.

"Oh, sweetheart." Maria reached out her hand to hold Sally's, and hugged her. "Come on, sit down." She guided the youngster to sit between herself and Chris on the sofa. "Are you alright?"

"You're talking about my mum," Sally told her, shaking as she sipped her water. "Which means she's here to talk about me." She pointed at Nina. "Who are you?"

"I'm from social services," Nina explained. "My name's Nina. I came to talk to Chris and Maria."

"Did you find my mum?"

"Not exactly, darling. Listen, I-"

"She's dead, isn't she? They killed her? She told them she wanted to go, that she didn't like what Rory was telling people to do, but he wouldn't listen to her. I wasn't supposed to hear but he was telling all the adults the end was coming, but when I asked my mum she said it wasn't true. The next morning we got up really early and ran away and ended up at Waterloo Road. She said I had to be a good girl and not make a fuss, so I didn't. Then she went back and they killed her because of me. Is Rory going to come after me now? I'm scared, I don't want to die. I like it here." Clinging to Maria, she began to almost scream her cries.

"Who's Rory?" Nina asked.

"He's the leader. Everyone does what he says, apart from my mum. It was him that killed her, wasn't it?"

"Sally, sweetheart, there's something we need to tell you." Taking a deep breath, Chris shook his head at Nina. "Rory's not going to hurt you. He might have killed your mum, we don't know for sure. But he's dead as well. So are the other people you lived with. I'm so sorry."

"Rory's dead?" Sally whispered, looking up. "Were- you know the people they found dead in the woods, that was on the news, is that them? My mum and Rory and everyone."

"I'm really sorry you had to find out like this," Nina told her. "But I've got a couple of things I need to ask you. Was your dad part of the group as well?"

"I don't have a dad," Sally told her. "It was just me and my mum. The only dad I've ever had is Chris."

A tear rolled down Chris' cheek as he heard this, and put a hand reassuringly on Sally's knee. "I'll be your dad as long as you want me to," he promised.

"We're pretty happy with how you're getting on here," Nina told Sally, "and as it seems you've got nobody else to look after you, and Chris and Maria have said they would like to look after you permanently, how do you feel about that?"

Sally's eyes widened. "You mean I can stay here forever?"

"Well, we'll give it a trial run and see how it goes, but possibly," Maria smiled. "Normally we only look after kids for a few weeks at a time, but we really like having you here, and the kids have really bonded with you as well. It's only if you want to, of course; if you're fed up of staying here Nina can sort out you living in a home with other children who are the same age as you. It's completely your decision."

"We understand this is a really big decision to make," Chris continued, "and even if you'd rather live elsewhere, you can still come and visit us whenever you like. You don't have to decide today; Nina will come back in a couple of weeks anyway."

"I don't want to go anywhere," Sally told him. "I've never had a proper family before. When I lived with my mum there were other children there too and they didn't like me because I didn't believe the same as they did, because my mum told me Rory was saying some weird stuff because he was on drugs or something. I believed my mum and I think she nearly got thrown out, but then we wouldn't have anywhere else to go so she and Rory went into a room and when she came out she said we were still staying. It wasn't like a family there, though. It was really weird and I didn't like it there."

"Well, I think that's settled, then," Nina smiled, standing up. "I'll bring some forms around in a few days that you'll need to fill in, but I'm happy to leave you for tonight. I think you need to spend some time with each other."

Chris nodded. "I'll show you out." He stood up and followed Nina to the door. "Thank you."

Nina shook her head. "Thank you."