In the Woods

Once the case is over, Rob is reassigned to the main detective unit. He’s filled with self-loathing at the way Rosalind manipulated him:

This was, in the end, the most hideous realization of all: Rosalind had not, after all, implanted a microchip behind my ear or drugged me into submission. I had broken every vow myself and steered every boat to shipwreck with my own hand. (566)

Rob attends Damien’s trial. He listens to Cassie’s confident testimony. When Rosalind takes the stand, she plays the victim—accusing Damien of threatening to kill her sisters if she broke up with him. She faints theatrically, forcing the judge to clear the court.

On his way out of the courthouse, Rob encounters Jonathan. He asks if Jonathan knew what his daughter was doing. Jonathan replies that he didn’t know. He only suspected. Jonathan, in turn, asks if Rob is Adam Ryan. Rob admits the truth. Jonathan says he and his mates had nothing to do with the disappearance of Peter and Jamie.

Jonathan discloses that the Devlin family is moving away. Rosalind has received a three-year suspended sentence. She is being sent to counseling, but her father doesn’t think it will make much difference. He’s sending Jessica to live with an aunt, out of harm’s way.

Damien is found guilty and given a life sentence. He’s placed with sex offenders in a high-risk unit. This means he won’t be abused by the general prison population and might actually get out alive after 10 years.

Rob’s own case is reviewed, and he’s demoted to the floater pool. Cassie transfers to the domestic violence unit while finishing her degree in psychology.

Katy’s ballet teacher calls sometime later to tell Rob she’s found Katy’s diary. It was hidden at ballet school to keep Rosalind from reading it. In it, Katy reveals Rosalind’s scheming behavior and threats. Rob doesn’t think finding it earlier would have made any difference in convicting Rosalind.

Rob learns that Sam and Cassie are engaged. He calls Cassie late one night to tell her he loves her. She doesn’t respond but fails to hang up the phone. Rob never figures out “whether Cassie thought she had hung up, or whether she wanted to hurt me, or whether she wanted to give me one last gift, one last night listening to her breathe” (587).

Rob goes to Knocknaree to see the progress on the new motorway. He arrives in time to see the last of the woods cut down. After a vivid flashback of a summer day spent there with his friends, Rob reflects:

I had become so used to thinking of the wood as the invincible and stalking enemy, the shadow over every secret corner of my mind; I had completely forgotten that, for much of my life, it had been our easy playground and our best-loved refuge. (589)