Page 119 of Child's Play

‘I’m gonna take that as a no,’ he said, pulling the chair towards him.

The boy regarded him seriously, and Bryant guessed him to be ten or eleven years old with fair hair and clear hazel eyes, enlarged by the thick spectacles.

‘Is it appropriate for a middle-aged man to seek the company of an unattended child?’ the boy asked, seriously.

‘Blimey, bud, I only wanted to take the weight off for a minute,’ he said, trying not to laugh at the kid’s earnest expression, which was clearly still waiting for a response.

Bryant took out his ID. ‘I’m a police officer.’

‘So?’ he asked, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

‘So I protect people not hurt them,’ he explained.

‘I’m not sure the two are mutually exclusive. You could still be a bad man.’

Bryant shook his head as he put his ID back in his pocket. ‘Where are your parents?’

‘Speaking to the head judge of the general knowledge competition.’

‘Why?’ he asked, taking a sip of his drink as Serena and Jared came from opposite directions and met in front of the café counter.

‘They’re appealing the decision to remove a point from my score for a wrong answer which led to my loss of the competition.’

‘And was the answer wrong?’

He shrugged. ‘Yes and no.’

‘How can it be both?’ Bryant asked, watching as the siblings to his left appeared to engage in animated conversation.

‘I was asked who invented the loudspeaker. Their answer was Edward W. Kellogg and Chester W. Rice, but they are wrong,’ he said, imperiously.

‘How so?’

‘Johann Philipp Reis installed a loudspeaker in his telephone in 1861, some sixty-four years before Kellogg and Rice invented the dynamic speaker in 1925.’

‘And your parents are arguing this on your behalf?’ Bryant asked. He would have been mortified if his parents were arguing with judges on his behalf.

‘Yes, because they are wrong,’ he offered definitely. ‘At the very least they should accept that they made an error in the clarity of the question.’

Bryant really would have felt the need to laugh out loud had he not noticed Serena’s hand on Jared’s arm.

To the untrained onlooker it may have appeared that Serena was engaging in casual physical contact with her brother, but the trained eye could tell that her fingers were clenched, tense, her nails digging in.

‘So, what’s your view on what I’ve just told you?’ the boy asked.

‘Kid, I reckon you’re way too serious for your own good,’ he answered as Jared leaned in closely to his sister, said something into her ear before snatching his arm from her grip and storming away.

He watched the dismay form on the woman’s features as his phone began to ring.

The kid regarded him with irritation.

Bryant was sorely tempted to bob out his tongue before he answered the call but refrained. He really had just wanted to take the weight off.

‘Hey, Stace,’ he said.

‘Can’t get the boss,’ she explained. ‘But there’s something you need to know.’

He sat forward as the boss came through the doors from the great hall.