I give Cal a drink of juice when we get indoors. “Goodness, you look hot!” I say as I pull him close. “What have you been up to?”
“Football. It was great, Mum. Mikey’s got a proper goal in the garden.”
“Brilliant! Why don’t you go and have a quick wash and I’ll make lunch.”
He disappears upstairs and suddenly shouts: “Mum! Why is my stuff all over the floor?”
I’d forgotten about his room. I run up. “Sorry, love. I lost something and had to turn the place upside down to find it. I was going to tidy up before you got home.” I help him sort out his toys, sitting on the floor beside him.
“Where’s Dad?” he asks, his voice muffled as he leans his face against his bent knee. And I wonder if Liz has said something.
“Work, lovey. He’ll be back soon. Perhaps he’ll have a kick about with you at the park. Did you have a good time in Brighton with him the other day?”
“It was all right. Bit boring, really. We had a McDonald’s, though.” And he glances sideways at me. He knows my views on Big Macs.
“Well, the odd one can’t hurt. Did you see anyone you knew?”
“Only one of Dad’s friends. He just had a coffee.”
“Oh, that was nice,” I say quietly, making a tower of the Legos. “Pass me some yellow bricks, will you? Who was that, then?”
“Spike. He was nice. He had green hair and amazing tattoos, Mum. There was one of a dragon flying up his arm.”
Spike. I clench my fists to stop myself from shouting.
“Wow! And what did Spike have to say?”
“Boring stuff about money. Oh!” And his seven-year-old face crumples.
“What?”
“It was supposed to be a secret. Dad said he wanted to surprise you. Will he be cross?”
“No, lovey. You know I don’t like surprises, anyway.”
* * *
—
Liam looks done in when he finally comes home from the police station and sits at the table.
“They’ve released me while they continue their inquiries,” he says. “Did they make much mess?”
“What do you think?”
“I’m really sorry, Dee.”
“Never mind that. They’ll be back.”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“Oh, shut up. I don’t want to hear any more of your crap.”
His head goes down again.
“Look, this isn’t my fault,” he mutters. “Someone wanted to teach Pete Big Bollocks a lesson and decided to plant drugs on him so he’d be arrested and the festival canceled.”
“Are you joking? Did you tell the police that?”
“？’Course not. I’m not stupid.”
“No, that’s right. You’re really smart. Getting involved in a criminal scheme that could put you in prison was a brilliant idea.”
“It wasn’t my idea,” he says. The big boys made me do it, rings in my head.
“But you were part of it.”
“No, not really. I just mentioned someone who might be able to help. That’s all. I swear. I heard they wanted to buy a hundred ecstasy tablets and hide them in Diamond’s jacket or something. But it all went wrong.”
“No shit. The girl was in a coma for nearly forty-eight hours, for God’s sake.”
“That idiot Ade must have nicked some and given them to her, showing off. No one was supposed to take them—the police were meant to find the drugs and close the festival down.”
“You seem to know a lot for someone who wasn’t really involved.”
Liam gets up and pulls a packet of biscuits out of the cupboard.
“Liam!”
“I’m starving. Look, they talked about it a bit in the pub, that’s all. When it was in the planning stages.”
“Why didn’t you talk them out of it, then?”
“I tried. . . .” And he crams a pink wafer in his mouth. “Look, don’t blame me. This is all Ade’s fault.”
“Will they trace the drugs back to you?” I whisper.
“Me? No. I told you—I just gave them a name.”
“Spike’s name. You went to see him, didn’t you? And took our son.” I forget to whisper and the name echoes round the room.
Cal put his head round the door. “Sorry, Dad. I forgot it was a secret.”
“Not to worry, mate. Why don’t you get back to your game? We’ll be in in a minute.”
I sit and watch him. Thinking, thinking. The police won’t go away now, will they? They’ll push and push until something gives.