Boyd had virtually vibrated with rage the entire way back to CCHQ after Amanda's and Rachel's cuffs were slapped on. The other girls, like Sapphira, had been transported to the hospital while Adam's corpse had been bagged up; a lucky escape if one were to ask Boyd. Spence had shoved Amanda into an interrogation room while Stella had escorted Rachel to another. Boyd just stood behind the two-way glass, gaze shifting between the two women while Grace quietly made notes beside him.

"How can she sit there looking like we're the evil ones, Grace? This sadistic bitch spent almost three decades abusing her kids, but we're meant to be the bad guys? The fuck is wrong with her?"

"Well, she's clearly got her own version of morality and believes herself above those around her. She's been running her family like a cult since her husband's accident and has all the usual traits of a cult leader. She's proven herself adept at psychological manipulation to control her daughters and influence those around her. In fact, she manipulated Diana Bridgeman with such skill that she had her entire family totally isolated from the outside world before she'd pulled them out of school or even finished adopting Mary. Wisely, she had Adam act as her enforcer; he might have been extremely volatile, yet he still obeyed Amanda because she's the authoritarian one. Not all cults are large and focused on pulling in followers, Boyd."

"Right, so she's a sadist who gets off on feeling powerful."

That wasn't quite what Grace had been saying, but she never got a chance to correct him because Boyd had stormed into the interrogation room clutching a file and expecting her to follow. With an exasperated sigh, she did. Last thing Grace needed was running damage control if Boyd went nuclear.

Years hadn't been kind to Amanda Callaghan, wrinkles were deep and her body skinny, people likely would have guessed her to be in her mid sixties rather then mid fifties. A spiteful little woman inside a spiteful little body. She glared at them as they took their seats as though daring them to say a bad word to her, but Boyd dared – oh, did he dare.

"I'm Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd, and this is Doctor Grace Foley. The time is-" He glanced down to his watch. "-16:51pm. So, Amanda, where the hell should be begin?"

"Do not bring Hell into this." She snapped, not that Boyd cared.

"Nah, that's your job, isn't it. I mean, you carefully crafted a living hell inside your house just to torture five innocent little girls as a hobby. Let me guess, that's all their fault and anything Sapphira says is a lie?"

"I've done God's work and you will speak to me with respect."

An almost comically loud laugh escaped his thin lips while Grace chose to observe quietly. "Oh, see now, that's where we're going to have issues, because I don't respect you. Also, if you could just point out where in the Bible God said to torture children, that would be great. I thumbed through and didn't spot it. I can get a Bible brought in if you don't know the exact passage."

"Lucifer's demons always hide behind trickery and sarcasm."

Boyd huffed. "I have my moments, but I'm not a demon; I'm an appalled policeman. We've got forensics in that little prison cell of yours and a blacklight had that place light up like Christmas. Elizabeth had to be unchained, while Abigail has broken arm." He shuffled in his seat. "It's a spiral fracture, do you know what that means? Of course you don't, let me explain; someone twisted Abigail's arm behind her back with such force that the bone splintered. It looks like a corkscrew. Maybe God should have used that seventh day for beta testing instead of putting his feet up, because people like you have to class as an mistake."

If looks could kill Boyd would have dropped down dead. Her harsh words wouldn't work on him though and her enforcer was cooling in a body bag.

"I valiantly serve my Lord to save my daughters' souls, to absolve them of their sins." Each word dripped with poison. "You murdered my son. My precious baby boy."

Boyd's head tilted to one side. "Hmm, 'precious baby boy' she says, yet hasn't shed a tear for him. You couldn't care less about Adam – probably why he ended up a total fucking nutter. The only real act of God today was us getting to him before he raped Sapphie." Amanda's mouth opened to spew more nonsense or taunt him for his feelings regarding Sapphira like Adam had, but the gray-haired man simply carried on talking as a file was flipped open. "You know, while my team was going through all the Social Service records – and there are a lot – they noticed you'd actually singled all five girls out." Glasses were pulled from their home in Boyd's top pocket and settled onto his nose. "Most people want infants, that's normal, but there's a tendency to avoid ones who come from violent backgrounds. I don't know why, Grace probably does. You and John didn't do that. You specifically requested to foster all of them after learning their backstories. Now, I think John did that because he was a good man who truly wished to give them a loving home, but your reason wasn't so … altruistic. No, felt the need to punish them for supposed sins. What could they have possibly done I wonder. Elizabeth – or Hannah, that's what you were calling her – it doesn't matter, her name was Chantal at birth. Not my favorite name, but it certainly didn't class as a sin. However, her mother was a drug addict with an extensive history of petty theft. Sapphira's mother was only fourteen when she had her; didn't bother naming her, just gave her up for adoption – not that we can blame a girl raped by a priest. Claire Mortimer was a brave one though, she publicly accused that man and got him thrown out of the priesthood. He was arrested three years later for sexually assaulting a thirteen-year-old, but you probably don't care about that. All the trauma caught up to Claire in the end and she killed herself." Boyd's tone was unrelenting, it came as a constant barrage of facts Amanda couldn't hide from and he'd not slow down until he'd finished. "Next is little Nadine, and fuck, did she not get off to a good start. Her mother had an affair with her brother-in-law ending two marriages and causing her to have a total breakdown that ended in her trying to drown Nadine in a fountain." A page was flipped in the file. "Abandoned in a hospital, that one sounds rather open and shut, right. But Keeley only ended up there because her parents were trying to escape security after they realized they'd been scamming old people for who knows how long. Then there's Mary, or Lola since we're giving the girls their real names back, we all know her mother stabbed her father and aunt to death." Boyd cast off his glasses then leaned back in his seat with a hard expression. "Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not covert. Thou shalt not kill. Those are the real reasons you targeted these girls, isn't it? They're guilty of their parent's sins."

Amanda childed: "My work is just. Every day I've fought to save their souls from damnation. I don't expect you to understand; you're just a man who has been thinking with his penis and hasn't noticed a succubus twisting his mind."

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

"I should think the message is clear. Am I not speaking English?"

"It sounds like you're speaking raging bitch. Do you honestly think claiming you did it all for God is going to make all of this go away? Come on, what is your real excuse for all this, hmm? You come from a long line of war criminals or something?"

Grace had been about to attempt soothing tensions but Amanda started to chuckle almost maniacally which had doctor and cop instinctively lean away from her.

"I pity you, Superintendent Boyd. You're going to burn in hell because you've welcomed Jezebels into your life with open arms."

"I can't do this!" Boyd shot to his feet. "She's off her tits on sacramental wine or some shit. You don't have to admit your a monster, we've got the evidence to prove it." Brown eyes turned to the two-way mirror. "Spence! Chuck her in a cell."

Then he stormed out almost ploughing into Spence as he went. He didn't think, didn't speak, just marched back to his office where he slammed the door shut. Hands found their way into his hair as he paced in a tiny circle.

Since she knew her friend all too well, and knew he'd need someone to calm him down, Grace valiantly ventured into the office that could have quickly descended into a mini war zone.

"There isn't any getting through to her, Boyd." She told him softly. "Amanda Callaghan has convinced herself so completely that everything she does is basically decreed by God. She's got so much self-belief she honestly thinks she can do no wrong."

"That's shit, Grace." He snapped while still pacing. "Religion is a smokescreen. There's no higher power behind her actions, she's just a sadistic bitch."

"Boyd, you need to calm down. We still have to interview Rachel and your personal feelings can't seep over into this more than they already have. Sapphira is safely at the hospital with her sisters. You're not responsible for her kidnap, and your rage shouldn't affect how we conduct interviews with her mother."

"They were children!" In a single moment of explosive anger, Boyd slammed his fist through one of the glass panes in his office door causing the blind to flutter violently and his hand to come away stained in blood. "Fuck!"

Quickly, Grace pulled an unused tissue from her pocket and wrapped it around Boyd's knuckles to stem the blood.

"This is why I told you to calm down," she chastised. "All right, you go ask Eve to patch you up and I'll interview Rachel with Stella. Try not to bleed to death in my absence."

Without much other choice, Boyd stalked across the office, through the doors and into Eve's lab; getting a white coat on first had been a bit tricky. Everything Grace had told him was right, of course, and at least the shattering of glass had helped to calm him. Eve hadn't been too pleased at being the one to fish fragments of glass out his cuts and bandage him up though; she was a forensic genius with her own body farm, not a school nurse there to disinfect wounds.

Eve's irritation went mostly ignored though, Boyd was much too lost in his thoughts while he stared down at the chessboard floor. There had always been anger issues when it came to Boyd. From the outside it often looked as though he simply wasn't a nice person, but in reality it came down to a passion for justice and a incapability to properly express his emotions. Maybe he should have put more effort in with that therapist way back when. Amanda Callaghan was just one of those people who got under his skin all too easily.

"How exactly did you manage this?"

That sucked him out of his thoughts and back to the world around him. "A window got in the way of my fist."

"Hmm, is that right? I hear that's becoming an epidemic, windows just have no spacial awareness." Eve secured the bandages around Boyd's knuckles then began to clean her things away. "There, all done. Try not to have any other arguments with glass, would you?"

"I'll do my best. Thanks, Eve."

"I'm assuming this is because of the girl, because of Sapphira Callaghan." He remained silent but Eve hadn't needed an actual answer. "Boyd, I saw you two when she came to see her sister and Donovan Padmore. That wasn't a policeman and a grieving girl. I mean, you were cradling her. I'm not going to bother judging you about age or anything like that, but you can't let any feelings you might have jeopardize the case."

A dull laugh escaped the gray-haired man. "Grace practically said the same thing, but she did judge."

"She's a wise woman, you should listen to her."

With that Eve left him alone so she could dispose of bloody cotton wool and get back to her actual job. Precious seconds ticked by while Boyd thought quietly to himself and tried to ignore the stinging in his hand. Getting involved with Sapphira had, from a professional standpoint, been the stupidest thing he could have done, but it wasn't as though he'd planned to start caring about her; that had crept up on him when he'd least expected it. By that point he knew Grace and Stella must have been a reasonable way into the interview with middle sister Rachel, and that it likely would have been best for him not to interrupt. So, with a painful hand and parting words of thanks to Eve, Boyd trudged back to the observation room to see what the two women could get out of Rachel.

~X~

"Why do you feel Sapphira is at the centre of everything?" Asked Grace calmly. "Did she do something to you?"

Rachel scoffed. Frankly her whole attitude was reminiscent of an arrogant teenager, but even Stella could see that was just a front for the fear inside.

"She abandoned me! Everything always had to be about her when we were kids. She was the pretty one, she was Dad's favorite, always needed to have Mrs Bridgeman's attention. Then when she saw an out she just ran and forgot about the rest of us. Adam couldn't get her out of his head – he never looked at me like that."

Stella's head cocked to one side. "He took revealing photographs of her while she was asleep, clearly without her permission. We found them in his bedroom. He was your brother and you wanted him to take those pictures of you?"

"You wouldn't understand."

Grace nodded. "Maybe not entirely, but I can try it. Things weren't easy at home, we all know that, and then your big sister saves herself and never looks back. You worked so hard to be a good daughter and little sister, but always felt like Sapphira overshadowed you, even after she'd run away. That must have felt very unfair." Rachel's cracked lips fluttered but not a word slipped free. "You should know she did everything she could to get Social Services to help you and your sisters, but without any real evidence, Sapphira wasn't believed. She didn't abandon you, Rachel, she did everything a sixteen-year-old girl could do."

"Yeah, right."

Grace leaned forward a little, she could feel Boyd's eyes on her even with her back to the two-way mirror.

"We know what happened today, so let's talk about the day Sapphira ran away instead. Elizabeth was acting strangely when they were sent to the shops. Had she seen something or … perhaps it was that someone else had and they'd told her." Silence lingered for a few moments so she prompted again. "This isn't about Sapphira, this is you. This is your turn to tell us what really happened. Did you like Donovan Padmore?"

Rachel shrugged. "He was okay. Weirdo would play crappy jazz music sometimes."

"How did he end up inside the house the night before?" Stella questioned. "Was he invited?"

"… I don't know. I only now what Mary told me. Something happened in the bathroom and Saph got chucked out into the backyard all wet. I think he showed up after that. We – me and Elizabeth – were changing the beds upstairs and we heard an argument, but I thought it was Mother and Adam."

"But it was actually her and Donovan Padmore? Everything is all right, Rachel." Grace assured. "You're mother can't touch or hurt you ever again. You're free of her. This is a safe space."

While Sapphira's trauma had left her feeling constantly guilty, Rachel's had turned into rage that she wore like a second skin; shedding it would be no easy task. With a little more encouragement from the two women, they finally got Rachel speaking again.

"The raised voices stopped as soon as they started, so I didn't think anything of it. Mary came upstairs to help us and Mother sent us to bed for the night early. The – the next morning I woke up to Elizabeth and Mary muttering. They didn't know I was awake. Mary said Adam did something to Saph's friend and that he'd gone to sleep on our kitchen floor covered in red paint. I thought she'd made it up."

"So Mary saw the murder. Did she and Elizabeth tell you or your sisters after that?"

Rachel shook her head. "No. Elizabeth told Mary she couldn't tell anyone, especially Mother. Like I said, I thought it was just some story, but then half of us got sent to the store, me and Mary weren't allowed in the kitchen and Adam was on edge. I thought that, if I told Mother what Mary had seen I'd -" She trailed off lamely.

"That she'd be pleased with you. That she'd be proud." It hadn't been a question but still Rachel nodded to the psychologist. "That's perfectly understandable. There might have been five of you girls but it was very lonely in that house, wasn't it? You just wanted your mom to love you like every child does. So, you told her and then what?"

"She told me to never talk about it again made me mop the kitchen floor with Mary. She called Adam and kept pacing around the house."

"Hold on." Stella's brow furrowed. "You and Mary cleaned up the blood?"

"It had been wiped but there were streaks of red everywhere. I – I don't want to talk about it anymore. Leave me alone. Go away."

To be honest, Grace hadn't expected to get quite so much detailed information out of Rachel. That girl needed a proper therapist to help her work through her anger in a healthy way. Unfortunately, since the abused had become the abuser, she'd likely be doing that from prison in the years to come. Of course, Grace tried to coax her back into a calm state where they could continue, but Rachel rebuffed them at every turn until they were forced to terminate the interview. Stella quietly escorted her through to the cells while Grace went to speak with Boyd. If Amanda refused to talk, Rachel had reached her limit and Sapphira hadn't ever known what happened the night of the murder to begin with, Elizabeth was the only person with the missing pieces and doctors likely wouldn't let police in until the following morning.

"Does she seriously think Sapphie was just selfish?"

"Yes and no. I've read her medical report from when her mother tried to kill her and I'm of the opinion Rachel suffered some sort of brain damage because of it. Then you've put her in a tumultuous environment where every day is spent stepping on eggshells. Elizabeth and Abigail seemed to be non-entities at home, they existed but didn't have much presence outside of punishments. Mary being the youngest was who actually got Diana Bridgeman's attention which made Rachel jealous. Then you've got Sapphira. She's exceptionally beautiful, smart and managed to make friends with someone outside the house. Rachel's loneliness eventually turned to hate for her older sister. Add to that the fact Sapphira managed to escape the abuse, Amanda's indoctrination, and you can see why Rachel would think Sapphira was the selfish one. That hate has been fueling her for years now, it's a coping mechanism."

"A coping mechanism? Really?"

"Boyd, not everyone who gets abused becomes an abuser. Those who do usually end up that way because of learned behavior."

"You said that already."

"Yes, and I'm saying it again. Rachel isn't like Adam though. She's conformed to Amanda's way of thinking and Adam's violence as a way to protect herself and due to Amanda's brainwashing. It's like Stockholm Syndrome; she's identified with her captors as a method of staying alive."

A long sigh escaped the suit-clad man. Rachel was still just a kid; she'd only been eleven when the murders had taken place and surely couldn't have known her tattling would cause Mary's death. It hadn't been her fault and Boyd was all too aware he couldn't blame a child for not understanding the consequences. Hell, he'd hardly thought anything through at that age.

Adam and Amanda were officially off the streets, killers had been caught and young women rescued; Boyd could live with that. They'd interview the sisters at the hospital the following day and hope the missing pieces fell into place. That Adam had killed Donovan had been confirmed but they lacked the why, as well as when Mary had died or how the fire had started remained to be seen.