Gemma. Coming in from the bathroom.
‘What’s going on? Who the hell is that?’
He turned to see her pointing, her expression a mixture of puzzlement and worry.
Scott turned to his son. ‘Daniel, go to your room, please.’
‘Dad, I—’
‘Now, Daniel. Please.’
‘Scott,’ Gemma said again. She was still staring at the occupant of her sofa. ‘What’s wrong with him?’
‘Daniel,’ Scott said.
Daniel sloped off to his room. As he went, Scott held up a finger to Gemma, advising her to wait a moment. After Daniel’s bedroom door had been shut, Scott closed the living-room door too.
Gemma had moved closer and now had a hand to her mouth. Her gaze was locked in disbelief and horror on the unwanted guest.
‘Scott, who is this? What’s wrong with him? Is he drunk? A druggie?’
Scott went to her, put his hands on her shoulders. ‘Gemma, listen to me . . .’
Her eyes searched his face, and he could see fear there now as the truth began to seep in.
‘What?’ she said. ‘What?’
‘He’s dead.’ He felt he should offer more, but all he could do was repeat himself. ‘He’s dead.’
Gemma glanced at the unmoving figure. ‘I don’t understand. What do you mean, he’s dead? Why have you just put a dead man on our sofa?’
Scott struggled to find the right answer. It was such a simple concept and yet so difficult to do it justice with mere words.
‘Oh, God, Gemma . . .’ He began to cry.
‘Scott, stop it!’ she yelled. ‘Explain this to me! What the hell is going on?’
‘He . . . he attacked me. When we got out of the lift. And . . . and Daniel . . .’
‘Daniel what? What about Daniel?’
‘Daniel was trying to protect me. He came to my rescue, and . . . and . . . and he killed him.’
‘Killed him? What do you mean, Daniel killed him? How did he kill him?’
‘He didn’t mean to. He grabbed him. By the neck. And that was it. It wasn’t his—’
‘Scott, stop. You’re going too fast. I don’t understand any of this. Why . . . why did you bring him in here?’
‘He’s . . . I don’t know . . . I thought maybe . . .’
‘Thought what?’
‘I don’t know. I panicked. It seemed the right thing.’
‘How? How could it possibly be the right thing? What were you thinking?’
She pulled away from Scott and moved closer to the body. She started to reach a hand out towards the man’s face, then withdrew it.
‘You’re sure he’s dead?’ she asked.
Scott simply nodded. He could tell she was in no doubt of it herself.
Gemma took a deep breath and let it out again. ‘Then there’s only one thing we can do. We have to call the police. You need to explain to them exactly what happened.’
Scott shook his head. ‘I can’t.’
‘What do you mean, you can’t? The man is dead, Scott. We have to tell someone.’
‘It’s not that simple.’
Something dawned on Gemma then. Her face changed, filling with dread.
‘Why?’ she asked. ‘Why isn’t it that simple, Scott? You said the man attacked you, and that Daniel saved you. He did attack you, didn’t he?’
Scott hesitated. ‘Kind of.’
‘Kind of ? What does that even mean? What happened, exactly?’
