Hospitals had a suspicious habit of being both desolate and hectic all at the same time; just another display of their constant duality. Birth and death, healthy and terminal, joy and sadness. While he didn't hate them, Boyd was no fan of hospitals so avoided them if he could. Still, they had three young women to interview meaning avoidance wasn't an option. He, Grace and Stella had headed over there while Spence had remained at CCHQ to finish paperwork and make sure everything was in order after Grace had quietly pointed out Sapphira's older and younger sisters might have felt more comfortable around women than a man they'd never met – Spence had been deterred, Boyd had not.

Doctors had informed them that both Abigail and Elizabeth were malnourished, dehydrated, littered with bruising at various stages of healing, and Elizabeth's ankle had been scratched raw by the leather collar and become infected. Abigail's spiral fracture had been placed in a cast but x-rays had revealed numerous bones on both girls had been broken before. Miraculously, Sapphira's injuries had looked far worse than they actually were; she'd escaped with mostly bruising, though two ribs were broken.

All three sisters had been placed into a single room with a policeman stationed outside to keep any journalists who fancied trying their luck out. Hopefully, being together would ease some of their worries and concerns because very little else was likely to.

They'd entered the room after meeting the doctor with Boyd at the head of the pack. Abigail slept by the window, but the eyes of both Elizabeth and Sapphira snapped to them the second the doorhandle had moved.

"Hi, Sapphie." Boyd had greeted as soon as they were all inside, a reassuring smile on his face before he turned to Elizabeth in the bed across from her. "Hello, Elizabeth. I'm Detective Superintendent Boyd. These are DC Stella Goodman and Doctor Grace Foley. We were wanting to get a statement from you all."

"About what happened yesterday or the fire?"

"Both."

Elizabeth nodded, she'd known they'd have to talk about it but that didn't mean she wanted to. Her dark eyes flicked up and down Boyd for a few seconds as she quietly evaluated him. So this was the man her sister thought she'd fallen in love with. Elizabeth had expected him to be younger and less grumpy, but she supposed he was handsome enough and, if he'd called Sapphira by that special nickname, then clearly he'd proven himself worthy. Seeing her sister light up had been a treat.

"You don't have to talk to all three of us if you don't want." Stella assured. "You're welcome to just speak to me."

"I don't mind. My sister trusts him-" she gestured loosely to Boyd. "-and I guess it doesn't really matter who I talk to, I have to talk to someone. Just don't wake Abigail up; she needs the sleep."

Five sets of eyes flicked to the teenager asleep by the window as they all quietly agreed to let her sleep as long as possible. Boyd seated himself in a chair by Sapphira's bed while Grace and Stella pulled two over to Elizabeth's. The statement about the previous day had gone just about as the team had expected and proven how resilient the Callaghan daughters all were at heart. Adam hadn't been able to accept Sapphira had escaped from under his thumb and, as soon as the chance had presented itself, he'd not been able to resist trying to reclaim her. That arrogance had been what had finally led police to him and his mother – as tragic as it was, some good had come from it. A more in-depth account of the abuse going on could wait, getting the bullet points was the team's main focus there and then. However, when questions had turned to nine years previous and the build up to the fire, Elizabeth had slowed down and grown despondent.

"Everything is fine, Elizabeth," said Grace. "You go as slowly as you need to. We can wait, I promise."

"I just – I can't remember how it all goes together. So much was happening."

"Rachel said she overheard you talking to Mary the morning Sapphie ran away, begin there."

Elizabeth nodded as Sapphira flashed her a reassuring smile. "I didn't know she'd heard us until later. Mary hadn't slept much, she'd kept waking me up all night because our beds were next to each other. She told me – told me that Adam and our neighbor had been fighting over Sapphie, then Adam had hit him and he'd fallen asleep on the floor. Mary had a good imagination for a five year old, but she didn't make things like that up. I told her to keep quiet about it." Brown eyes filled with worry. "I really did think Adam had just hit him. I didn't know he was dead."

"We believe you." Stella was quick to reassure when her head snapped up from her notes. "You're not in any trouble, we just want to understand exactly what happened."

"Go slow like they said, Elle."

A quietude lingered for a few moments while Elizabeth fidgeted with her hands in her lap. Words wouldn't ever convey the fear and panic she'd felt that day or in all the subsequent ones. To live at the mercy of murderers wasn't a trauma one could easily conquer.

Rachel hadn't lied, their mother had kept them out of the kitchen that day and sent the girls off to the shop for more cleaning supplies, so the team had assumed burning the house down hadn't been in the cards until much later. Elizabeth had been suspicious and anxious to the point she'd eventually just wanted to bolt; Adam would try assaulting Sapphira again sooner rather than later and Mrs. Bridgeman hadn't been any help.

"After Sapphie ran we were all locked in under the stairs. It was so cramped and dark, and we were in there for ages. Eventually Mother let us out and sent everyone to bed apart from Mary who had to stay put. There was arguing when Adam got home. None of us were really sleeping. Then everything went really quiet, like you could hear a pin drop quiet, and it stayed that way. I think I fell asleep because Mother shook me awake and made me pack some clothes for us."

"Do you know where Adam was during all of this?"

"No," Elizabeth shook her head as she reached for a plastic cup of water on the table beside her.

Boyd leaned forward in his seat across the room. "How did you all get out of the house? The car was left behind."

"Adam helped us all over the wall in the backyard so no one saw us. He stole a car after we'd walked a bit. My sisters were scared but tired, so they fell asleep. I pretended to be."

"But you were listening." Grace surmised. "That was smart. What did they say?"

A single shoulder shrugged. "Stuff I didn't understand. We went over a bridge after a while – it was dark, I don't know which one – and Adam threw something into the water. I remember him saying 'now nobody will know I killed them. I knew he meant Mary and our neighbor – I can't remember his name."

"Donovan." Sapphira supplied with a heavy heart which had Boyd flash her a comforting smile. "His name was Donovan."

After the escape from the fire, Amanda had bounced her family around London for a while until she'd managed to get her hands on a new house. That had lasted all of six months as they already knew thanks to Jade Mooney, but Amanda had gotten better control of her son after that.

The team decided they'd pushed Elizabeth enough for one day when Abigail roused from her sleep. There would be time for follow up statements and such, for the time being those women needed to focus on recuperating.

~X~

The awkwardness between himself and Sapphira before her kidnapping wasn't something Boyd had forgotten about. He might have been able to shove the thoughts away for a few days, but there wasn't any banishing them fully. While he'd wanted to visit Sapphira regularly, hesitancy had reared it's ugly head and left his visits tailored to be friendly but not overly eager; to be honest he'd felt like a teenager overthinking everything. However, while his team had been doing some of the less important Callaghan records, Spence had stumbled across something that really should have been resolved half a decade ago. Well, if Social Services hadn't dealt with it, Boyd would have to. That was how he'd ended up getting into a fight over a hospital parking space before he'd finally made it up to Sapphira's room expecting to see the trio of sisters chatting or reading quietly, instead he found Sapphira alone and napping. Boyd lingered in the doorway for a moment as he debated returning later to avoid disturbing her, but the green-eyed beauty soon put a stop to those thoughts.

"Shut the door, it's loud out there."

Maybe she hadn't been quite as wrapped up in slumber as she'd appeared. The door swung shut behind him as Boyd went to the ever-present red chair beside her bed. Though she kept her eyes closed, a gentle smile had settled on her lips. Thankfully, most of her facial bruising had started to fade and, despite pretending to sleep, she looked far less lethargic than the last time he'd seen her.

"Where are your sisters?"

"Abigail went for a walk and they took Elizabeth for a scan or something on her ankle. They had to cut some of the infected skin off. She'll be okay, doctors said it would heal well."

It was about time those girls caught a break.

"And what about you, Sapphie; how are you doing?"

Those lovely green eyes still insisted on staying closed and Boyd found himself glad because that meant she'd not caught sight of the stupid smile on his face.

"Better, I think. My ribs still hurt but my concussion is gone, so that's something. I've been enjoying dozing for the last half hour. I'm not used to being able to do nothing."

"Hmm, never underestimate lazing about in the middle of the day." That finally had those polished emeralds flutter open as a sweet laugh escaped her. "It's to be savored."

"Not for tinkering with that Bugeye gathering dust then?"

"How do you know about my Sprite?"

His brow furrowed a little. That car's production had ended a decade before her birth and, to his knowledge, she'd never actually been in his garage since it was so cluttered.

"Seriously?" She shot back. "I have eyes, I know how to look through a window. Besides, my dad was a mechanic and just loved showing me all the car magazines. I know a Mark I Sprite when I see one. Kind of hard not to recognize it with it's little buggy face and all. You know I like a classic car."

"I didn't know that, but in the interest of brevity, let's say that I did."

With a genuine smile, the sort which made his dark eyes twinkle, Boyd leaned forward causing the chair to squeak a little. Sun streamed in from the window on the far side of the room leaving Boyd with a golden halo around his silvery head.

"Hey, Sapphie, I wanted to tell you a couple of important things."

She pushed herself up on her elbows into a seated position as the conversation turned more significant.

"That Abigail is going to be taken back into care because she's seventeen? I already know that. We're not happy about it, but it's not like Elizabeth and I can take care of her properly."

"No," Boyd shook his head. "Not that. It's true and I'm sorry, but I wanted to tell you something else. Your mother and Rachel have been officially charged and are being held until their trials. I won't reel off the charges, but they're extensive. I get that coercion plays a big roll with Rachel, but she did help Adam and Amanda to commit several crimes. With a good lawyer she'll get a fair sentence and the psychiatric help she needs. Grace is writing up an extensive report to make it clear that Rachel needs help. Amanda can't ever touch you or your sisters again, I promise."

A long stretch of silence lingered while Sapphira mentally digested his words; part of her still hadn't quite come to terms with the fact Adam had been killed. Those bullets had gone straight over her head, if she'd dropped a split second slower they'd surely have killed her instead of him. Yes, Adam had been an evil monster who delighted in hurting women, but that wouldn't ever stop him being her brother. As very small children, she and Elizabeth had played many a game with Adam and been rather close to him; they'd all loved each other once. Amanda needed to be behind bars, that was the only safe place for her, but Sapphira didn't know about Rachel. That girl had always been an odd one, but she'd suffered just as much if not more than the rest of her sisters and surely didn't deserve to live out her days in such a place; perhaps a psychiatric facility would have been better.

"Okay," was all she eventually managed to say which had Boyd squeeze her hand comfortingly.

"The other thing is some good news. I don't know why you weren't told about it years ago, but I've about given up with Social Services to be honest. A few years before his accident, your father set up a bank account entirely separate from Amanda and added a new section to his will. That account has just under thirty thousand pounds in it -"

"Where the hell did my dad get that kind of money?!"

"No clue. He probably added what he could when he could for years." Boyd shrugged. "Now, the will states that all that money is to be split equally between his five daughters. It's not for Amanda or Adam, it's just for you girls when you each turn eighteen. I really don't know why you weren't told before you aged out of care. You should have had your share years ago." Sapphira simply continued to stare at him. "Now, because Mary passed, her share is split between the rest of you. That means you're father left you a little over seven thousand pounds, Sapphie." Her mouth fluttered open but Boyd continued speaking. "There's more. Donovan Padmore had no family or friends, and he didn't have much to begin with. However, what he did have, he left to you. Nine months before he died, Donovan made a will and listed you as the beneficiary. Most of it was destroyed in the fire and, had you been given your inheritance when you were meant to, it would have only amounted to about two thousand pounds. That said, Donovan had tried investing and, while it hadn't been going well for him back then, the investment paid off in the long run."

Confusion dominated Sapphira's face as she tried to slot everything into place. How her father had managed to squirrel away so much money without her mother knowing was beyond her, and Donovan had struggled to pay his rent half the time.

"What are you saying, Boyd?"

"I'm saying in the last three years that investment money has gone from pocket change to just over two hundred thousand pounds. Sapphie, with that and the money your dad left you, you could have your own place. You'd never have to sleep in shelters again or worry about food. I'd move Donovan's money quickly though, it's starting to loose value again."

Sapphira had run away from home with nothing but the clothes on her back, then she'd been stuffed into an underfunded children's home and forgotten about. She'd never once thought she'd inherit anything from her parents, especially money. As for Donovan, they'd been good friends, but to leave all his worldly possessions to the teenage girl next door sounded insane.

"Why would Donovan give everything to me?"

A tiny sigh slipped free from Boyd's thin lips. "Sapphie, you've said how good a friend he was to you, that he protected you and made you feel like a person. Donovan had no friends or family, his colleagues didn't seem to like him either. Have you ever thought that you were just as important to him as he was to you? He left all his assets to his best friend."

Tears trickled down Sapphira's face with a silent sorrow as it finally dawned on her that she truly had been loved. Her life had been filled with so much pain and heartbreak, but there had been good moments peppering it; no amount of evil could ever take those moments from Sapphira.

Part of Boyd wanted to envelope her in his strong arms, but his conversation with Grace still swirled around inside his mind and left Boyd rubbing at her shoulder comforting instead. The gray-haired man knew he'd never be good enough for one so kind and pure as Sapphira. That was him: too old, too unworthy. She'd only ended up with him because he'd taken her in, but she'd no need of that now his team had discovered just how much money she rightfully had. That much money would be life-changing for somebody like the twenty-five-year-old, it would allow her to have her own home and take her time looking for a proper job. Boyd could live with having just been a stepping stone if it meant she got to climb higher. She'd been part of his life, he chose to be grateful for that and would forever treasure the memory. He'd not fought and argued with her like his ex-wife, hadn't ditched her like Sarah, Boyd would just let Sapphira go on to better things. Valiant knight wasn't a term anyone would describe Boyd by – frankly; asshole, tyrant and irritable were most folk's go-to descriptions – but at least he'd leave Sapphira's life with her possessing a positive opinion of him.

He remained with her until Abigail returned from her walk and Sapphira had calmed down emotionally. He'd have to visit her a few more times to bring her stuff from his house and ensure she and her sisters had a plan, but then he'd fade from her life knowing she didn't need him. That was as close to truly chivalrous as Boyd would ever get. Thirty-two years; it was too much of an age gap to work even if Boyd tried. Shame, she'd cured his constant misery and reminded him there was more to life than just his work.