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‘What happened? Did they see her?’
Joseph cringes, holds a finger to his lips. He struggles up, checks the hallway and closes the bedroom door. ‘No. I got there just in time.’
‘Where’s Drew now?’
‘Keep your voice down.’
‘Where is she, though?’
‘In the Honda,’ he mouths.
Max stares at him, wild-eyed. His fists clench and unclench. ‘Dad,’ he says. Then his shoulders slump. He sits on the edge of the bed and puts his head in his hands. ‘This is exactly what I worried might happen. You get involved in something and the next minute you’ve taken over. You can’t keep shutting me out. You’re going to make a mistake, get us both caught. I wanted to protect you from this, not drag you deeper into it. We’ve got to get Drew out of there.’
‘I know,’ Joseph says. ‘We will.’ He sits back down beside his son, stares at the carpet. ‘Haveyoutoldmeeverything?’
‘Of course.’
‘You’ve missed nothing out?’
‘No.’
‘In the woods, Friday night, you never found anything? Anything that would have identified that guy?’
‘No, I already told you. Multiple times. I swear to God.’
Joseph nods, squeezes Max’s shoulder. Then he gets off the bed, limps into the ensuite and returns with the Montblanc wallet. ‘I wonder what God would make of this.’
Max stiffens when he sees it, inhaling sharply through his nose. Watching his son’s reaction, Joseph decides to go all-in. ‘Last night I checked the car, went over every inch. It looks the same as it always did. No dents. Not even a scratch.’
‘I told you. He—’
‘Yeah, I know. It was dark, he fell, you drove over him – and then his wallet bounced all the way from Jack-O’-Lantern Woods to here, where it landed inside your footstool.’
‘Dad, you don’t have to—’
‘Did you know he knew Erin?’
‘Absolutely not.’
‘I’m meant to believe that’s just a coincidence?’
‘It was just some random guy, out walking in the woods.’
‘Max—’
‘It’s the truth.’
Joseph indicates the wallet. ‘Like this was the truth? For God’s sake, I can’t be clearer. If you aren’t honest with me – and I mean total honesty – there’s only one outcome. You just gave me a kicking for shutting you out, and rightly so, but it’s about time you took your own advice. Otherwise, as you say, both our lives are over.’
Max sucks in a breath, puffs out his cheeks.
And then Erin calls up the stairs, asking for any requests from Mr Wu’s.
‘Think about it,’ Joseph says, opening the bedroom door. ‘Let’s talk after dinner.’
The food order arrives within forty minutes. In the kitchen, Joseph pulls lids off plastic containers and empties prawn crackers into a bowl.
As usual, Erin’s ordered far too many dishes. ‘I thought Drew might drop in,’ she explains, removing the foil from a bottle of Sancerre. ‘You know how she has a sixth sense for barbecue spare ribs.’