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‘Dad, please. Not the sarcasm. Not right now.’
Joseph is so surprised – so shocked and outraged by his son’s response – that he laughs. ‘My God,’ he says. ‘What is going on here? What is happening inside that brain of yours?’
‘Look, I said I’m sorry. It was a dumb thing to do, but Drew won’t say anything, I guarantee it. Our focus should be on where we go from here. I realize this must have spooked you, but I’m not flaking out. You can trust me – and my judgement. I’m not going to let you down.’
‘I hope you’re not just saying what you think I’m hoping to hear.’
‘I swear to you, Dad.’ He massages his neck, grimaces. ‘You haven’t told me about last night. Is it done?’
‘Yes, it’s done.’
Max frowns, holding his father’s gaze. ‘So where is he now?’
‘It’s best you don’t know.’
‘And my clothes? My trainers?’
‘Burned,’ Joseph says. ‘Gone.’
‘What about the car?’
‘Back at your grandmother’s place.’
‘What do we do with it? There might be traces of the guy’s blood. His DNA.’
‘I’ll deal with that on Monday, when everything reopens. Best thing you can do, in the meantime, is stay here, keep out of trouble and resist the temptation to blab about this to anyone else.’
He searches Max’s face for any sign of dissent. Then he says, ‘I need to ask you something. And I want a one hundred per cent honest answer.’
‘Sure.’
‘Do you really have no idea who this guy is?’
When Max begins to respond, Joseph holds up his hand. ‘Don’t just say the first thing that comes into your head. We’re in trouble, here, you and me. We’ve a lot of work to do to dig ourselves out of it. This may get much worse before it gets better, and if we can’t even be honest with each other, we’ve no hope. So think about your answer first. I only want the truth.’
‘Dad,’ Max says, his gaze wandering to the wall. ‘I have absolutely no idea who that guy was.’
Joseph’s heart breaks, then – because he knows without doubt that his son is lying. Even worse is the realization that if Max can lie to him about something so fundamental, perhaps the good-hearted boy he knew before Claire’s death somehow died alongside her.
He shudders, expelling that thought as forcefully as the bile he vomited up last night.
There’s a way back, he thinks.There has to be.
‘And you found nothing where he fell?’ he asks. ‘No car keys, no wallet, no phone?’
‘I already told you. More than once. None of that stuff, I swear.’
‘Look at me, Max.’
As Joseph stares into his son’s eyes he feels, for the second time since Friday night, like he’s looking at a stranger. Briefly, he considers confronting Max with the wallet. But admitting that he searched the boy’s room will obliterate trust rather than reinforce it, and he’s not ready to do that just yet.
‘OK,’ he says finally. ‘Let’s leave it there. But remember what I said: stay at home, keep a low profile, and for God’s sake steer clear of Tilly and Drew. You think you can do that?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Is there anything else you want to tell me? Anything at all you think I should know?’
Max shakes his head. No longer a stranger. More like a scared and exhausted child.