'It was absolutely a wish for self-destruction. I saw that, plainly,' Tayrey confirms.

'I hope,' she says then, suddenly very grave, 'that I didn't make a very poor decision. That it wouldn't have been better to encourage the poor child to do just that. End all this, instead of thinking of freedom. The probabilities are...' she waves a hand, 'you know, I'm working on four different escape plans, but any one of them has only a sliver of a chance of getting to a success point, and that's with me spending every hour I have...'

There's an almost desperate look in her eyes now. 'Do you think I made the wrong choice?'