‘Don’t worry. I’m sick of police work myself at the moment. I’ll just take a quick look at his collection, and then I’ll get off home.’
Hannah went through to Daniel’s room. Almost every inch of wall space was covered in Adam-9 posters. He had an Adam-9 duvet, an Adam-9 lamp, and Adam-9 pyjamas draped over the bottom of his bed. On a cheap desk were Adam-9 toys and precariously balanced stacks of Adam-9 comics, books and DVDs.
‘Wow,’ she said. ‘You really are a fan, aren’t you?’
‘I’m the biggest fan in the world. I bet Tilly would like to see these. Could she come and see them one day?’
‘I hope so, Daniel. I really hope so.’
‘We could talk all day long about it, and we could watch all the episodes again and again.’
‘She’d love that, I’m sure.’
Hannah wandered around the room, savouring the moment and what it meant. She paused at the desk. Idly, she picked up a scroll of wallpaper onto which Daniel had been drawing with crayons.
‘Let me guess,’ she said. ‘An Adam-9 story, right?’
‘Right!’ Daniel answered. ‘I did it this week. It’s the longest one I’ve ever done. Mrs Collins said it’s my best work yet, and she gave me another gold star.’
Hannah started to unroll it. The final frame of the story was revealed first. It showed a figure with a very long arm, its fingers fastened around the neck of another figure.
‘Is that Adam-9?’ she asked.
‘Yes. He can shoot out a long metal arm from his briefcase.’
‘I see. And this is the baddy?’
‘Yes.’
‘And who’s this?’ She pointed to a third figure.
‘That’s my dad.’
‘Your dad? Do you often put your dad in your stories?’
‘No. But he was in this one.’
Hannah noticed how Daniel’s mood had suddenly changed. How he had become less garrulous and more guarded.
‘And where are you?’
‘I . . . I’m not sure.’
She pointed again. ‘What’s this?’
‘That’s the lift. Those are the doors.’
‘The lift here? In the building?’
‘Yes.’
She unrolled the length of wallpaper a little more, travelling back in time through the story. The previous frame showed three figures again, but none of them looked like Adam-9. Two of the characters appeared to be fighting.
‘Who’s fighting here? Your dad and the bad guy?’
‘Yes.’
‘And this other person is you?’
‘Yes.’
‘No sign of Adam-9 yet.’
‘No. Not yet.’
‘He comes later, right? To rescue your dad?’
‘Yes. That’s what he does. He stops bad guys.’
Hannah kept unrolling and throwing out questions. There was a scene at the cinema, and then an earlier scene in which two characters stood next to a car.
‘Is this you and your dad again?’
‘Yes.’
‘Is it your dad’s car?’
‘No. We fixed it. I helped him.’
