The Good Samaritan

Laura follows Tony and Janine after they leave the End of the Line office. She watches them kiss in a car park before they drive off to collect Effie and Alice. Laura then tails all four to a movie theater in Milton Keynes. She buys a ticket for the same film and spies on the new family unit from a back row.

Seeing them together triggers a memory of a severe argument with Tony, who accused Laura of being “broken” by her past and incapable of real love. The fight prompted Laura to request her social services file. She remembers reading the psychological reports, which stated that she had multiple personality disorders, once broke a dog’s leg, and repeatedly bullied an older boy in a household where she was in foster care. The report concluded that she invariably viewed herself as a “victim,” recasting events when necessary to maintain this delusion. Convinced the file was full of lies, she hid it from Tony but compulsively retrieved it to reread.

In the present, Laura leaves the cinema early. She locates Janine’s car and uses a key to carve an expletive into the paint before driving away.