Sammy jumped down from the bottom step and came into view. Attached to his head was a pair of gaming headphones connected to a PlayStation controller in his hand. Here was a man in his early thirties, wearing tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt, who still lived with his parents and played video games. Tomek imagined the man had multicoloured LED lights flashing above his computer screen and behind his headboard, and a wall of Pokémon toys and cards taking pride of place on a bookshelf.
‘Sammy, this is the police.’
‘Hi.’ Tomek smiled, giving a little wave.
He didn’t wait for a response, nor did he wait for an invitation, he stepped into the cramped doorway and gestured towards another room inside the house. ‘Shall we?’
‘Mum, what’s this about?’
‘I don’t know, darling. Why don’t you do what the man says and we’ll discuss it together.’
Tomek was reluctant to speak with Sammy with his mum present, but decided it would be the path of least resistance, and so he conceded. They moved into the kitchen, where Tomek rested against the counter beside the stove, and pulled out his notebook, crossing one leg over the other.
‘Is it Sammy or Sam?’
‘Sam’s fine.’
The man lifted his chest, but there was no amount of puffing that meant Tomek would take him seriously, not while he still had the headphones on his head.
‘I’ll keep this short and sweet,’ Tomek began. ‘I’m here to ask you a few questions about your relationship with Angelica Whitaker.’
‘’Lica? Why? What’s happened to her? She’s not been saying stuff, has she?’
‘What stuff would that be?’
‘Just… stuff.’
‘Care to elaborate?’
‘Not until I know what you’re asking about.’
‘It’s come to our attention that you were in a relationship together?’
‘Yes…’
‘How long for?’
‘About six months.’ The caution in Sammy’s tone was abundant.
‘Can you remember when it started? What month?’
Contemplation. ‘March last year.’
‘And six months would take you to September last year?’
‘When she got back from the end of her season, yeah.’
‘So she was with you throughout the season, when she was jetting around the world?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Did you see much of her during that period?’
‘We tried. She came over once or twice. But in the end it was difficult.’
‘I’m not surprised. Who ended it?’
‘She did. Said that we were in different places, that I weren’t mature enough.’ He wagged the remote control in the air as he said it, making it difficult for Tomek to disagree with her.
‘Of course,’ he said, keeping some of the sarcasm in his tone. ‘And how did you take it?’
‘Not very well, did you, Sammy?’ weighed in his mum, as she placed a hand on her son’s back. ‘Poor Sammy was stuck in his bedroom for ages. Didn’t want to come out, did you?’
‘Mum… he’s come to see me, not you.’
‘Right. Sorry, darling. You tell the detective, sweetheart.’
Sammy shot his overbearing mum an admonishing glare before turning back to Tomek. ‘I… I really liked her. I thought she was the one, but I guess it wasn’t to be. I’d talked to her about moving out and maybe moving in with her, picking up my life and moving closer to her. I was willing to do whatever it took to make it work, but she didn’t want any of that.’
‘She told you?’
‘Well, no, not exactly…’ Sammy set the controller down on the counter and removed his headphones. ‘But I guess that’s what she meant when she said we were in different places, we wanted different things.’
Tomek understood her reasons for breaking up with him, and part of him thought there was more to it than just a simple trajectory problem – a lot more. Perhaps it had been his immaturity, or the fact he had an overbearing mum who still hadn’t pulled her hand from his back.
But what he was struggling to understand was how the two had got together in the first place.
‘How did you first meet?’ Tomek asked.
