Кара Хантер - Close to Home

‘Something about Daisy?’

‘No, boss. About Leo .’

***

‘How are you doing?’

Leo glances up at me and then down again. He’s wearing a Chelsea football shirt that’s too big for him and a pair of shorts. He has scabs on his knees and all down one leg. Derek Ross is sitting next to him on the other side of the table and Sharon is in the adjoining room, with her lawyer and the video feed. In her sundress and white shrug she looks like she’s just popped in on her way to a regatta.

Everett passes a can of Coke across to the boy and smiles. ‘Just in case you’re thirsty.’

‘Now, Leo,’ I begin. ‘I’m afraid I have to ask you some questions and some of them might be a bit upsetting. But if you do feel upset, I want you to let us know, OK? Do you understand?’

He nods; he’s playing with the ring pull on the can.

‘You remember the firemen who came to your house to put the fire out?’

Another nod.

‘When there’s a fire like that, the fireman in charge has to make a report, to find out what happened.’

No reaction.

‘Well, they just sent me a copy of that report. Shall I tell you what it says?’

He won’t look up, but the can suddenly buckles and the ring pull comes away.

‘It says they don’t think the petrol bomb came in from the towpath after all. They thought that at first, but now they’ve realized they were wrong. It’s all about how the window broke, apparently. It’s a bit like those cop shows on TV. Finding all the bits of glass and putting them back together.’

‘ CSI ,’ says Leo, still looking down. ‘I’ve seen that. And Law Order .’

‘That’s right. That’s exactly what I mean. Anyway, after doing all that clever stuff the firemen now think the fire started inside the house. And they know which room it was, because they found petrol there. They didn’t find it anywhere else. Just in one room.’

Silence. It’s all so horribly like Jake. The evasions, the refusal to look at me. My desperation for him to explain what he did; his inability to tell me anything that made sense. And his distress. Because he knew I was never going to understand.

‘Do you know where the fire started, Leo?’

He shrugs, but his cheeks are flushed.

‘It was in your room, wasn’t it?’

Silence. Derek Ross glances across at him, but then nods at me. We can go on.

‘Do you remember,’ I say eventually, ‘the day we first met? After Daisy disappeared. You told me you liked the fireworks at the party. Do you remember that?’

He nods.

‘Is that what they looked like, Leo? You got woken up by the noise outside and when you looked out of your bedroom window you saw the petrol bombs go off in the garden, and you thought they were fireworks?’

Silence again.

‘Shall I tell you what I think happened, Leo? I think you saw that one of them hadn’t gone off, and you went downstairs and picked it up and brought it into the house, leaving the back door open. I think you got some matches from the kitchen and went back upstairs. And I think you lit the bomb up there, and that’s how the fire started.’

His face is very red now. Derek Ross leans across and puts a hand gently on his arm. ‘OK, Leo?’

‘Can you tell us,’ I say, ‘what happened after that? Did you hear your mum calling for you?’

His voice is very small, so small I have to lean forward to catch it. ‘She was downstairs.’

‘But you didn’t try to go down? Were the flames too big?’

He shakes his head.

‘Weren’t you frightened? Didn’t you realize you could get hurt?’

A shrug. ‘They wouldn’t care. They only cared about Daisy. Not me. They wanted to give me back.’

I sense Everett looking at me. She knows as well as I do what I have to do next. Even though I hate myself for doing it, even though I can’t predict the damage I might be causing.

‘Leo,’ I say gently, ‘do you know what the word “adopted” means?’

He nods. ‘Daisy told me. She said I wasn’t really her brother. She said that was why no one loved me.’

Two large tears well in his eyes and start slowly down his cheeks.

‘That was a mean thing for her to say. Were you having an argument?’

He nods.

‘Was it the day she disappeared – is that when she said it?’

‘No. It was ages ago. In half-term.’

So around two months ago. About the time Leo started acting up. About the time he started lashing out. Small wonder. Poor little sod.

‘Do you know how she found out?’

‘She was listening. They didn’t know she was there. She was always doing it. She knew lots of secrets.’

I gesture to Everett. Her turn, now.

‘Tell us about the day that Daisy disappeared,’ she says softly.

More tears, silently welling. ‘I was angry at her when she ran away and left me with those boys. I shouted at her.’

‘So you had another argument? What did she say?’

‘She said she had another brother. A real one. She said Dad had a proper son he was going to see instead of me and he didn’t need an adopted one any more.’

‘Did that upset you?’

His eyes are down. ‘I knew they didn’t care.’

I can see the distress in Everett’s eyes now. There’s more pain in this room than one small boy can withstand.

‘So what happened when you got home?’ Everett says eventually. ‘Did you see Daisy?’

His eyes flicker up to her face. ‘It was like I said. I didn’t want to see her. I don’t know what happened. I had my music on.’

‘Leo,’ I say, struggling to keep my voice steady. ‘You told us just now you were really angry at her. Are you sure you didn’t go in her room when you got back? We’d all understand if you were still angry – she said some really mean things to you. I’d be upset if someone said those things to me. And sometimes, when people get angry, someone gets hurt. Are you sure that didn’t happen to Daisy?’

‘No,’ he says. ‘It was like I said.’

‘You got angry at school, didn’t you? With one of those boys who were bullying you. You tried to put a pencil in his eye.’

Leo shrugs. ‘He was hurting me.’

‘And didn’t something else happen, the day before Daisy disappeared? When you were at the Connors’ house, trying on each other’s costumes?’

Leo flushes. ‘I didn’t mean it.’

‘Mr Connor told us that you hit Daisy. That you went for her with some sort of wizard’s wand.’

‘It was a sorcerer. Wizards are for kids.’

‘But that’s not really the point, is it, Leo? Why did you want to hit her?’

‘She’d been saying mean things about me. The girls were laughing.’

‘So – did that happen again the day of the party? She said mean things again, and you got angry again, and you hit her? Did she fall over perhaps and hit her head? I’d understand if that’s what happened. So would DC Everett. So would Derek.’

He shakes his head.

‘And if something like that did happen to your sister,’ I continue, ‘I’m sure you’d be really sorry. Sorry and sad. And the natural thing to do would be for you to go to your mum and tell her. I’m sure she’d want to help you fix things. Is that how it was, Leo?’

I can only imagine what’s going on right now in the room next door. But I don’t care.

Leo shakes his head again. ‘She’s not my mum. Daisy’s not my sister.’

‘But did she help you – did your mum help you fix things after your argument with Daisy?’

‘I told you. I didn’t see Daisy. She was in her room.’

Everett and I exchange a glance.

‘So it was like you said to start with,’ I say. ‘You got home and Daisy’s music was on, and you never saw her again.’