Who has his hand cut off and dies?
Teenager Ellie Masters is orphaned after her prostitute mother and one of her johns are clobbered with a hammer, and the house set on fire. Calvin Carruthers, a detective investigating Ellie's mother's murder, takes an avid interest in her wellbeing. Ellie is sent to an isolated orphanage run by the sadistic Mrs. Deere, and her handyman, Tom Kredge. The day before Ellie arrives, one of the orphans, Ernest, attempts to escape, and is chased by Kredge, who cuts off his hand and leaves him to bleed to death.
After arriving at the orphanage, Ellie soon finds that Mrs. Deere runs it like a workhouse, and the children are forced to complete incessant physical tasks while she and Kredge split the monthly welfare checks. Harold Mullins, a social worker responsible for overseeing the orphanage, is easily swayed by Mrs. Deere and overlooks inconsistencies he observes in the house. Before Mullins arrives to inspect the orphanage and complete a head count, Mrs. Deere and Kredge retrieve the bodies of several deceased orphans from a basement freezer, and pose them in beds in the infirmary to appear as though they are ill. Also stored in the freezer is the body of Mrs. Deere's dead husband, whom she occasionally speaks to as though he is alive.
Ernest