Page 26 of The Impossible Fortune

Kendrick fixes a laser cannon to his model. ‘No noise.’

Ron looks at Jason. Jason’s face gives nothing away.

‘So your dad’s taking a little break too?’

‘Yes,’ says Kendrick. ‘He took a case with him, and we waved from the front door.’

Say what you like about Kendrick, the kid knows how to lie. Ron tries a different approach.

‘Your dad can shout sometimes though, can’t he? Was he shouting last night?’

Ron looks at Jason again. Jason is drinking his beer without a care in the world.

‘Well, sometimes you shout too, Grandad,’ say Kendrick.

‘I don’t shout,’ says Ron.

‘At the television,’ says Kendrick.

‘Oh, at the television, yeah,’ says Ron. ‘You have to shout at the television or they won’t hear you. But no shouting last night? At home?’

Kendrick shakes his head. ‘I didn’t see anything or hear anything.’

Ron nods. The Ritchies are a family who refuse to grass, whatever the problem. And Kendrick is a Ritchie. An unusual Ritchie, sure, but still a Ritchie. Okay, change course again, Ron. ‘You know, when I go into my bank, Kenny –’

‘You have a bank?’ Kendrick asks.

‘Not the whole thing,’ says Ron. ‘Banks are a tool of the state.’

‘Okay,’ says Kendrick, nodding. ‘Like the newspapers and the water company?’

‘Exactly, good lad,’ says Ron. ‘Anyway, when I go into the bank, and I want to take money out for something, they always ask me what it’s for. Pay a builder, something like that.’

Ron sees Jason looking at him, wondering where he’s going with this.

‘So I tell ’em what it’s for, and then they say, “Has anyone told you to lie to us, or coached you into giving that answer?” So they know it’s not a scam, see?’

‘That seems a good idea,’ says Kendrick. ‘I’m glad they do that.’

‘Better safe than sorry,’ agrees Jason.

‘So can I ask you that question, Kenny? When you said, “I didn’t see anything or hear anything,” has someone, maybe in this room, told you to lie to me or coached you into giving that answer?’

‘No, Grandad,’ says Kendrick.

‘Even to protect me?’ asks Ron. ‘Uncle Jason didn’t tell you to say that?’

‘If Uncle Jason had told me to say it, it would have been “I didn’t see nothing or hear nothing.”’

Jason laughs and raises his bottle of beer at his nephew.

Ron is now being lied to by both of them. Which makes him think three things.

Firstly, something very bad has happened. Danny Lloyd isn’t a man to leave silently in the night, neat little case packed, thanks for fifteen years of marriage, here’s a handshake and I’ll see you around. Was there a row? How bad was it? Physical?

Secondly, he feels loved. He is being lied to for his own good, because Jason and Suzi, and now it seems even Kendrick, don’t want him to be hurt.

But mainly it makes him feel old. Ron used to be the one doing the protecting. His job was to protect Suzi and Jason, and now their job is to protect him. When did that happen? And now even his grandson is in on the game. When had Ron turned from a lion back into a cub?