Chapter 10 — DANA OKORO

The investigator came to the hospital on Saturday morning at ten.

Her name is Dana Okoro and she is with the county division of child protection and she has a laptop bag with a broken zip.

She sat in the chair by the window and she did not open the laptop for the first fifteen minutes.

Okoro: Mr. Vance, I want to tell you what this is and what it isn't, because people usually assume the worst version.

Mark: Okay.

Okoro: There's an open investigation. It concerns Sophia. It's not a criminal matter — that's the police, and there's a separate file open with them regarding your sister-in-law. Mine is about whether Sophia is safe in the home she's going back to.

Mark: She's safe with me.

Okoro: Probably. I'm going to check. That's the job.

She asked me about the six days. She asked in order, the way I have written it above, and when I got to Tuesday she stopped me.

Okoro: Your sister-in-law asked you on Tuesday to take her to a doctor.

Mark: Yes.

Okoro: And on Wednesday she asked you to keep Sophia out of the back hallway.

Mark: Yes.

Okoro: Do you know what's in the back hallway?

Mark: Their rooms. Sarah's and Lucas's.

Okoro: Mr. Vance, do you know anything about your nephew's medical history?

And I sat in that chair in my daughter's hospital room and I realised that I did not.

I had lived with that boy for three months and eleven days and I could not have told her the name of his doctor, his school, or one single thing about his health.