Darling Girls

The narrative returns to the childhood timeline. After being informed that Amy was never at Wild Meadows, the girls were driven to the police station and interviewed in separate rooms. Norah realized that nobody except for Miss Fairchild and the three girls had ever seen Amy. However, after thinking, Norah realized that Scott had definitely seen Amy before; however, Scott denied all knowledge of Amy. Norah also realized that Dirk had seen Amy; he let her ride the horse.

Around lunchtime, the sisters met with a social worker named Genevieve. While Alicia and Jessica interacted with Genevieve, Norah eavesdropped on the officers’ discussion and learned that at least one of them was suspicious of Miss Fairchild and believed the children. An officer came into the room with the doll bearing Amy’s name; it was taken from Miss Fairchild’s basement. The officer asked if the girls were referring to the doll when they spoke of Amy. The girls vociferously denied this suggestion, and the officer revealed that Dirk claimed never to have seen a girl named Amy but reported seeing the three girls playing with a doll.

The narrative returns to the present. The sisters pace back and forth on the porch of the pub, worrying that Miss Fairchild will press assault charges against Norah. The sisters disagree as to whether the child found under the house is Amy. Alicia claims that the body implicates Miss Fairchild much more than it does the three of them. Detectives Patel and Hando, who have overheard this conversation, confirm Alicia’s suspicions that Miss Fairchild is blaming the sisters—particularly on Norah, given her history of violence. Detective Patel wonders why the sisters did not initially tell them about Amy, and Jessica protests that they had, but they hadn’t been believed.

In the childhood timeline, the police clearly doubted the children’s story and explained away their testimony by emphasizing that the girls all had a history of trauma. One police sergeant, Max, believed their story but was unable to corroborate it, as there was no evidence of Amy at the house, and Dirk and Miss Fairchild stood by their stories. Another obstacle came from the fact that nobody knew where Amy could have come from, as no children were reported missing.

In the present, Norah thinks about her troubles as she sits in the back of the pub. Ishir joins her for a while. He asks if Norah finds it strange to return back to Port Agatha, but Norah does not blame the town for her past and believes it is good to return without having to worry about being separated from her sisters. Ishir admits his feelings for her, which she reciprocates. For the first time in a long time, Norah feels happy.

As the three sisters head to their cars, a man in a baseball cap emerges from the police station. Jessica recognizes him as Dirk; he has clearly just been interviewed by the police. Jessica introduces the other sisters to Dirk, who clearly doesn’t recognize them after all these years. However, Dirk’s smile vanishes and he becomes nervous once he knows who they are. Jessica confronts him about lying to the police about Amy, but Dirk continues to deny that he ever saw her.

Just as the sisters get into the car, Zara comes running from the pub and stops them. Alicia starts to feel suspicious of Zara, as she has asked more questions than seem reasonable. As they leave, Zara gets into her own car rather than entering the police station as she claimed she would, and this sets Alicia on edge.As the three sisters head to their cars, a man in a baseball cap emerges from the police station. Jessica recognizes him as Dirk; he has clearly just been interviewed by the police. Jessica introduces the other sisters to Dirk, who clearly doesn’t recognize them after all these years. However, Dirk’s smile vanishes and he becomes nervous once he knows who they are. Jessica confronts him about lying to the police about Amy, but Dirk continues to deny that he ever saw her.

Just as the sisters get into the car, Zara comes running from the pub and stops them. Alicia starts to feel suspicious of Zara, as she has asked more questions than seem reasonable. As they leave, Zara gets into her own car rather than entering the police station as she claimed she would, and this sets Alicia on edge.

The sisters have another video call with their lawyer, Anna. Jessica tells her that after they gave their statements to the police as children, they were taken to a respite home instead of back to Wild Meadows. Because the sisters refused to be separated, they were placed in a group home and were forced to undergo weekly mandatory counseling. They never learned whether Miss Fairchild was investigated any further. The sisters eventually began to internalize the adults’ mistaken belief that Amy wasn’t real, as everyone told them to ignore the evidence of their eyes and ears. Now, Anna speculates that if the body does turn out to be Amy, it will be evidence of a huge mistake by the police in Port Agatha.

The narrative shifts to the first-person narrator in Dr. Warren’s office. The narrator continues her story of John, relating that after puberty, she noticed John’s gaze began to linger on her body, and he would follow her into the basement during her punishments and sexually assault her. However, the narrator’s anger was directed toward her mother; the narrator blamed her mother for not protecting her from John.

When the narrator turned 15, she became pregnant. The narrator dreaded John’s reaction when he found out, but she was also delighted by the opportunity to further torment her mother. One morning, the narrator revealed her pregnancy to her mother and John. John reacted with anger and called the narrator a series of sexist slurs. Anticipating that John would evict her from the house, the narrator had already made plans for surviving on her own. However, John locked her in the basement for months, and she only occasionally received food and water from her mother, who refused to speak to her at all.

Upon hearing this, Dr. Warren reacts with shock.

The narrative returns to the primary present-day timeline. Anna tells the sisters that they can identify Amy by the six toes on one of her feet. Anna also knows why Dirk might have lied for Miss Fairchild; A Port Agatha police officer informed Anna that investigators were speaking to known sex offenders in the area, one of whom is Dirk.

The sisters discuss the case among themselves. Alicia notices that Jessica seems flat, unemotional, and dazed. Alicia receives a call from a woman named Sonja, who is Jessica’s business manager, and hands the phone over to Jessica. Jessica speaks with Sonja in a disengaged fashion, then ends the call and offers no explanation to her sisters. Just then, Meera shows up to the cabin, to Alicia’s delight. After introductions, Alicia takes Meera into her bedroom alone so the two of them can talk. After only a few moments, Meera draws Alicia toward her and kisses her.

After Meera and Alicia retire, Jessica also decides to go to bed. Sonja just told her that she had received a half-dozen complaints about missing pills, and now Debbie is threatening to go to the police as well as the media. Jessica overhears an argument coming from outside the cottage and recognizes the voices of Dirk and Miss Fairchild. Dirk is accusing Miss Fairchild of lying to him, and she denies this. Jessica angrily throws open the door and demands to know what the two of them are doing there. Miss Fairchild says that Dirk requested to talk to her in that location and claims not to have known the sisters were there. She asks if Jessica knew that Dirk was a sex offender; Jessica confirms she learned this fact from her lawyer. She angrily refuses to answer Miss Fairchild’s additional questions but immediately feels guilty due to the lingering, ambiguous feelings from her childhood. Miss Fairchild exploits this by telling Jessica that she supports her and knows about her pill addiction. After a moment of hesitation, Jessica allows Miss Fairchild to hug her and realizes that all she ever wanted was a mother.

In her bedroom, Norah anxiously faces the prospect of making the explicit and degrading video that Kevin is trying to force her to send. Norah remembers a conversation with her therapist and realizes that she often uses sex to maintain control because she never had any control during her childhood. In distress, Norah strips and starts to prepare to film the video, but she begins to cry. Unable to calm herself, Norah puts her clothes back on and heads outside the cabin just in time to see Jessica hugging Miss Fairchild.

Alicia and Meera kiss passionately and eventually begin to remove each other’s clothes. However, as they begin to have sex, Alicia starts to cry. She rolls away from Meera and tells her that she cannot do this. She thinks that allowing their bond to progress this far is a mistake because she believes herself to be incapable of an adult relationship. Just then, Norah knocks on the door, telling Alicia to come out because there is an emergency.

After summoning Alicia and Meera, Norah runs back outside and breaks Miss Fairchild and Jessica apart. Miss Fairchild calls her a “violent little thug” (296) and tries to get Jessica to admit that she wanted to be hugged, but Jessica doesn’t respond. Norah tells Miss Fairchild that the sisters will get justice for Amy, but Miss Fairchild scoffs, claiming that Amy is a fantasy and that the bones are not Amy’s at all.

Norah demands to know how Miss Fairchild knew that they would report Amy to their school on that particular day. With a delighted gleam in her eye, Miss Fairchild claims that Jessica told her what they were planning, and she also asserts that Jessica always informed her about the sister’s plans. As she walks to her car, Miss Fairchild delivers a rhetorical question, saying that if she really was a child killer, why had she not killed them when she’d had the chance?