Triumph Over Adversity 3-in-1 Collection. Casey Watson

social workers had gone to the house, accompanied by a police officer, who had done just as Gary had predicted – arrested both husband and wife on suspicion of assault and wilful neglect.

      ‘And, as luck would have it – well, I suppose that’s one way of putting it – it turns out that Gerri Hinchcliffe had a previous conviction,’ Simon Swift explained, ‘and it was for a similar offence. That was a key piece of evidence. And, luckily – well, in terms of the amount of paperwork involved, definitely – she didn’t even try to deny it. In fact, she laughed,’ he continued, glancing at Gary, to whom he’d obviously already told the tale. ‘She said – let me see if I can remember it right – yes, she said, “It was only f***ing water. How could I ever harm her with f***ing water, for f***s sake? You can’t do me for her being a gullible little cow!”’ He cleared his throat and grinned, then. ‘Nice, eh? And, of course, fortunately, yes we can.’

      ‘So Imogen made a statement to you okay, then?’ I asked. This had been my major concern, that when it came to it, and faced with having to speak to complete strangers – and in what would feel like very intimidating surroundings, however ‘cosy’ they made the places where children had to do such things – she would simply clam up and be unable to get anything out. But it seemed I didn’t need to worry.

      ‘Indeed she did,’ Simon reassured me. ‘Which made everything all the more straightforward. Gerri Hinchcliffe has been released on bail, but Imogen’s dad was released without charge pretty much straight away, and was able to reassure her that she wasn’t in any trouble. He really didn’t have a clue – that was immediately obvious. And his wife had certainly covered her tracks very well. Anyway, he asked her to leave his house that same day, apparently. Which I believe she has now done. Along with her cats.’

      And their many rosettes and trophies, no doubt. I shook my head. ‘I can’t believe such cruelty,’ I said. ‘Well, I can, obviously. We see it all around us, after all. But to treat a defenceless child like that and laugh about it – and to social services? It beggars belief, doesn’t it? And to have everyone fooled by her – incredible to think she could take everyone in so convincingly. That’s what really gets me. I mean, I’ve never heard the nan do anything but sing her praises!’

      ‘Not any more,’ Gary corrected. ‘And the poor woman’s really quite traumatised, as you can imagine. As is the grandfather. Because they were completely taken in by her, every bit as much as their son was. Which at least makes his own ignorance a touch more credible, I suppose.’

      Simon nodded. ‘And it’s far from unusual, I’m afraid. If I had a pound for every case I’ve seen where the guilty party has been able to do something like this entirely under the radar – entirely without anyone suspecting a thing – then I’d be a very rich man indeed, believe me. But we’re dealing with someone with profound emotional problems. This is a woman who’s something of a narcissist. Someone whose own mother abandoned her at a very young age and has, in the main, been brought up in care – a succession of children’s homes, by all accounts. And though, superficially, she’s quite charming, and seems to have done okay for herself, this is a woman for whom the word “empathy” might as well be written in Mandarin; someone who uses and abuses as a default. And we all know how it works, I’m sure –’ He glanced around the room and he was right. We all knew exactly what he was talking about. ‘These people are often very charismatic and independent-minded, aren’t they? They certainly don’t wear a badge saying “avoid at all costs”, do they?’

      And also shrewd. Imogen’s father, cuckolded and left and hurt as he was, would have been an obvious target. Was she holidaying alone on one of his coach trips when she snared him? ‘So what will happen to her now?’ I asked, managing to feel only marginally less forgiving of her. Though, given her background, I knew I should, I still couldn’t forget what she’d done to Imogen.

      ‘She’s been charged and she will be prosecuted for cruelty and neglect. And if she doesn’t exactly learn the error of her ways, we can at least hope it will deter her from striking up any new relationships with men who have children to consider. We’ll obviously let you know how things progress, but as far as Imogen is concerned this period is over and we’re going to be working with the family to get her life back on track. And – hopefully – that will feed into progress with her speech therapy.’

      I was just about to ask if there was anything in particular that I should or shouldn’t be doing with Imogen in the light of recent developments, when the meeting was interrupted by a knock at the door.

      It was a delicate knock – one that immediately said child rather than adult – and, had anyone been talking, we might not have even heard it.