Page 58 of The Cut
‘I am truly sorry …’ The man was standing behind him, just a few feet away. ‘… For what we did to you at school.’
Max was removing the faded plastic posy on his parents’ graves, replacing it with a small spray of wildflowers. He stood and turned.
Dave Patel’s face was thinner now, drawn cheeks and sunken eyes. His skin was sallow. He looked like a faded copy of a man. ‘I’ve seen a few of your films.’ The German shepherd snuffled through the flower beds. ‘You’ve done so well for yourself … local boy made good.’
It had turned into an Indian summer, a very late burst of warm days and cool evenings, well into the end of September. Max had stayed on in Barton Mallet for a while. He had unfinished business. He swallowed, barely able to speak.
Dave filled the awkward silence. ‘I wanted to see her grave.’ His voice was soft and light, just as he remembered. ‘To finally pay my respects.’
Max gathered himself; it was time to finally face up to his guilt, time to lay all these ghosts to rest.
‘I …’ The breath came out, but no words followed; he didn’t know how to form them. ‘I ran away. I wasn’t very well. I knew the truth. I could have testified but I wasn’t capable … mentally. They wouldn’t have believed me … It’s me that should be sorry.’
Patel just stared blankly at him, waiting.
‘I was too frightened of him. I was paralysed.’ 326
Patel’s head dropped and he chewed his lip. ‘What’s done is done.’
‘But your whole life was stolen from you.’ Max was struggling to contain himself.
‘No, I’m still here. It’s Annie’s life that was stolen. And I couldn’t save her …’
The German shepherd padded over, wagging its tail. ‘He likes you.’ Patel took a deep breath, gathering himself.
Max focused on Patel’s eyes. There was a glaze of something there, the institution perhaps, a kind of blurring of the world.
‘I’m glad it was you who got to tell the story.’ Dave inclined his head.
Max smiled awkwardly. ‘We couldn’t have done it without your parents’ connections.’
‘There was no other way. The case against me was watertight. Davis saw to that.’ Dave’s eyes scanned the cemetery.
‘But now the truth will be out there.’ Max wiped the soil from his hands.
‘What will you do with the finished film?’ Patel was smiling now, a light blazing in his eyes as a gust of wind blew a confetti of leaves across the gravestones.
‘Karine Mickelsen has big ideas … The Cut will probably go to Cannes or Venice … I dunno …’ Max smiled sadly. ‘She’s spending some time with Dani, Lily and Nathan. It’s been … a bit of a shock.’ Max’s voice petered out as the scale of this whole thing finally began to hit home.
‘What will happen to Ben?’ It was extraordinary, but after all that had happened, there was a flicker of pity in Patel’s eyes.
‘The vultures are circling. I imagine the fraud case will take him down first, and after the banks and the creditors have picked at the carcass, it will be your turn.’ Max exhaled and drove his hands 327 deep into his pockets. ‘If you want to reopen the case, that is … you and the Maddocks?’
‘Oh, it’s a long road to justice and I’m too old and tired.’ Patel’s eyes scanned the cemetery. ‘And in the end, maybe your film will be enough.’
Max glanced towards the gate. A Vauxhall Astra was kangarooing down the road to a halt by the entrance. The door of the car opened, and a man stepped out.
Max’s eyes returned to Dave. ‘You know, I once thought this was about revenge, but it was something else. I did it for Annie, and I wanted to right the wrong I had done to you by not coming forward.’ In his peripheral vision, Max caught another little person, and his heart skipped a beat. ‘This was the only way I knew how.’
Max reached into his pocket. ‘Here … this is yours.’ A small plastic Hi8 video cassette tape with words scribbled in felt-tip pen.
Patel shook his head. ‘You keep it.’
A sad excuse for a horn sounded from the stalled Vauxhall at the roadside.
Max looked over. Brandon was standing in a full-length winter coat with Charlie in his arms, dressed as if they were going skiing.
Americans! Max looked back to Patel, but he was already gone.
He turned and walked towards the gates of the cemetery.
‘Nice motor … you cheapskate.’
‘Yeah, Charlie was helping with the stick shift.’ Charlie reached out his arms for a cuddle. Max picked him up and squeezed him hard.
‘What are you doing here?’ Max unzipped the sweltering puffer jacket and smiled at his son.
‘We missed you.’ Charlie pressed his hot cheek on to his father’s and Max inhaled his skin. 328
Brandon stepped in close and put his hand on Max’s shoulder. ‘So, wanna show me where you grew up then?’
Max swallowed and composed himself. He stood up and faced his ex-husband and took a deep breath.
‘Pfft! … Where on earth do I begin?’
Max glanced towards the Maddock Farm and the sound of dogs barking in the distance at the rescue shelter on Forest Hill.
Back across the cemetery, through the trees, he could see the chain-link fence around the perimeter of Barton Mallet Secondary School and the sprawling sports complex where the leavers threw their Pearls Before Swine.
The Cut with the bugle vine, and the Conker Lady’s house, the playground with the rusty witch’s hat and the broken swings, where they’d played at the Easter Wakes.
The tall tower of Blackstone Mill. No. Too many ghosts.
‘Well … have you guys eaten? … I do know a really good chippy.’