‘That wasn’t his fault. The stupid dog went for him.’
‘That’s not what the owners said. They said he was just being playful.’
‘Daniel wasn’t to know that, was he? Whose side are you on, anyway? They got a new puppy out of it, didn’t they?’
‘And then there’s Ewan Rogers.’
‘Ewan was a bully. He deserved a good smack.’
‘A smack, yes. But a broken arm?’
‘I’ll ask you again: whose side are you on?’
‘Ours, of course. I’m just trying to show you what others will say. Can you imagine what will happen if this goes to court? They’ll all come out of the woodwork. They hated us at the old place. They were practically on the verge of forming a lynch mob. I thought we’d managed to escape from all that, and now . . . and now . . .’
The stress of it all became too intense and tears formed again. Gemma came to him.
‘Do you really think it would be that bad?’
‘I don’t know, Gem, I really don’t. Maybe that’s just a worst-case scenario. But even if they didn’t put him in prison, they’d probably want to put him somewhere secure.’
‘You mean like a mental hospital?’
‘I don’t know. But somewhere that’s not his home. Can you imagine what that’ll do to him?’
Gemma chewed her lip. She turned to look at the body again.
‘So what do you suggest?’
6
‘I don’t know.’
‘What do you mean, you don’t know? Why did you bring him in here if you don’t know?’
‘Like I said, I was panicking. I needed time to think. Talk it over with you.’
‘So now we’ve talked it over, what do we do?’
‘I still don’t know.’
They stood staring at the body, not speaking for a full minute.
‘Oh, God,’ Gemma said. ‘I can’t believe we’re doing this. I can’t believe we’re standing here discussing what we should do about a dead body lying on our sofa. Who the hell is he anyway, this guy who carries a gun around with him?’
‘That’s not all he’s got,’ Scott said. He knelt on the carpet and opened up the backpack. ‘Look at this.’ He showed her the money and the bags of white powder.
‘Is that what I think it is?’
‘Well, I don’t think it’s flour. He doesn’t strike me as someone who did much baking.’
‘Jesus.’
‘Yeah. And that’s another thing. This guy is no low-level druggie. He’ll have friends in low places. Friends who won’t take kindly to someone bumping him off. If they ever hear about what Daniel did to him—’
‘All right! Stop it, Scott! I get the idea. But I still don’t know what you think we can do about it. He can’t stay here.’
Scott went to the body and started patting it down.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Trying to find out more about him.’
One of the jacket pockets seemed full. Scott reached into it and pulled out a wallet and mobile phone. He opened up the wallet and took out a bank card.
‘His name is Joseph Cobb. Mean anything to you?’
Gemma shook her head.
Scott pressed a button on the phone. The screen flared into life.
‘It needs a passcode. There’s no way we’ll ever—’
He almost dropped the phone when it rang in his hand. The caller was ‘Timely Taxis’.
‘Who is it?’ Gemma said.
‘Taxi firm.’
