Simon Lelic - The Child Who

Daniel glowered. ‘Step.’

Leo held his thumbs against the catches of his briefcase. ‘Step,’ he repeated. ‘Sorry.’

‘He said…’ Daniel shuffled slightly straighter in his seat. ‘He said he’d pay for someone better. Said he’d get a loan if he had to.’

Slowly, Leo nodded. ‘What about your mother? What did your mother say?’

The boy just shrugged.

Leo hesitated. ‘And you? What about you?’

Daniel looked down. ‘You’re here, aren’t you?’

Leo almost smiled. He pressed and the catches clicked. ‘Let’s get started, shall we?’ He took out his pad and his pen and set them beside him on the bed. He was about to close his case again when he remembered. ‘I brought you something,’ he said, digging beneath a clutch of papers. ‘Here,’ he said and he held out a box no bigger than a soap dish. Inside was a Subaru Impreza, exactly to scale apparently and far too expensive for what was in essence a child’s toy. ‘They didn’t have one in white, I’m afraid. Just the rally version.’

Daniel eyed the car. He eyed Leo and his outstretched arm.

‘It’s fine. I cleared it on the way in. Take it, it’s yours.’

‘What for?’

‘You like cars, don’t you? I thought you’d appreciate it, that’s all.’

‘What do I have to do? I’m not doing anything for it.’

Leo, for an instant, could only stare. He glanced towards the guard outside the door, who was watching the exchange but without expression.

‘It’s yours, Daniel. It’s a gift. You don’t have to do anything for it.’

The boy raised a thumb towards his teeth and gnawed for a moment at the nail. Then, with something like a swipe, he plucked the car from Leo’s hand. He clawed open the box and lifted the toy to the tip of his nose. He turned it, studied it.

Leo waited. He set about fastening his briefcase.

‘Thanks.’

Leo raised his head. Daniel looked anything but grateful. He looked suspicious, rather; sceptical. Leo, though, smiled. ‘You’re welcome.’

‘We can’t just ignore it.’

‘I’m not ignoring it.’

‘It won’t go away, Daniel. We have to address it.’

‘I don’t want to talk about it, that’s all.’

The boy was running the car up and down his thigh. Leo was pleased with how his gift had been received but was beginning to wish he had waited until the end of the session before giving it. Although perhaps it would have made no difference. The boy was looking for a distraction and the car was simply the closest thing to hand.

‘Look, Daniel—’

‘Just tell them. Can’t you? Like he said. Just tell them that I did it and that I’m sorry.’

‘I will. That’s just what we’ll say. But there are ways of saying it. There are ways of explaining it. All I’m asking is that you help me decide how we do that.’

‘Me? How am I supposed to help? Aren’t you supposed to tell me?’ Daniel turned the car onto its roof and flicked one of the wheels.

‘Okay. Fine. Then it’s my decision that we will consult with a psych—’

‘No!’

Leo recoiled. He looked at Garrie, who lifted his chin. Leo, with a hidden hand, held him off.

‘You only need to talk to her, Daniel. Just to start with. There’s a woman I know and she’s really friendly. You’d like her, I know you would.’

Daniel, this time, said nothing. Leo eased himself forwards.

‘It wouldn’t mean anything. Not unless we decided we wanted it to. No one would even know. Honestly, Daniel, I really think—’

‘I said, no!’

Daniel stood. Leo did too. Garrie entered the room and the three of them, for a moment, were cowboys waiting for the draw.

Leo lowered himself onto the bunk.

‘It’s okay, Garrie. Really. We’re fine. Aren’t we, Daniel?’

The guard, beside the boy, was a behemoth. Daniel would have barely outweighed one of his arms. The boy showed no fear, though. At this – the prospect of a confrontation he had no chance of winning but could at least comprehend – he did not flinch. But then whatever emotion was holding him up seemed suddenly to subside and he dropped his eyes to his toy. He sat.

Leo busied himself until Garrie retreated – not quite to the corridor, this time, but far enough that he was out of Daniel’s eye line. Leo closed his pad and clicked his pen, then shut them in his case and shifted himself further onto Daniel’s mattress. He hooked one ankle over the other and set his hands in his lap.

‘You’re right.’

The boy looked up.

‘I’m rushing things. I’m sorry. We don’t need to decide anything right away.’

Daniel’s eyes narrowed and Leo hurried on.

‘Why don’t we go for a walk. You could show me round. What’s outside?’

Daniel shrugged. ‘Grass, mainly.’

‘I’d like to see. Will you show me?’

‘It’s just grass. And anyway they follow you like you’ve just walked into Asda with a sack.’ He gestured with a glance towards Garrie. ‘Three of them do.’

Leo met Garrie’s eye. ‘Three of them?’ The guard looked away.

‘I get three. The others just get one. Except for Stash. He’s eighteen. He’s… he’s scary. He gets three like me.’

‘I see,’ said Leo. ‘Well.’ He searched the room for inspiration. ‘What else, then? Is there anything else we could do?’

‘There’s a games room.’

‘A games room? Terrific. Why didn’t you say so? What do they have?’

Daniel looked blank.

‘What is there? In the games room? Darts or something?’ There wouldn’t be darts. Christ, Leo.

‘There’s board games. Monopoly but they’ve taken all the money. And table tennis.’

Leo set his feet on the floor. ‘What are we waiting for then? Table tennis. It’s been a while but I think I remember how to score.’

Daniel shook his head. He slumped.

‘What? What’s wrong?’

‘I’m rubbish. I can’t do it.’

‘Nonsense. It’s fun. Come on, I’ll show you how it’s—’

‘No!’

Leo sat down again, on the edge of the bed. He waited for the seconds to soothe the air.

‘There’s a PlayStation.’ Daniel’s words were a mutter.

‘A what?’

‘A PlayStation. You know. Computer games. I never get a go but we would if you told them we had to.’

‘Told them? Told who?’

‘The others. The bigger boys.’ Daniel looked down.

‘Fine.’ Leo stood. ‘The PlayStation it is. You’ll have to show me. I probably can’t even remember how to hold a joystick.’

Daniel, briefly, gave Leo a look that would have suited Ellie.

‘On your feet, then,’ Leo said. ‘Lead the way. I mean…’ Leo turned to Garrie. ‘Assuming it’s okay?’

The guard, finally, showed he could smile. He stepped into the corridor. Daniel went next and Leo trailed, his gaze on the boy’s narrow shoulders. At the door Leo stopped. ‘Wait,’ he said, thinking: sod the jury. He turned back into the room. ‘We might get hungry.’ He reached for the plate of sandwiches.

He paced.Sitting was out of the question. He felt like a nervous father – or a father soon to be. Although that was probably down to the surroundings: the off-the-peg void of the public-institution canteen. There was nothing to distract him, that was the problem. No one either, not even behind the counter. If Leo had not been alone, he would have busied himself with at least a pretence of looking busy. As it was he simply paced, his shuttling between cutlery and condiments interrupted only by a glance, every ten steps or so, towards the door.

He would have liked to prepare her. He had briefed her on the telephone barely twenty-four hours ago but a dozen things had occurred to him since that she would, he was sure, have found useful. Things, more to the point, that might prove useful to their case – and that Karen, without forewarning, might overlook. It would be Leo’s fault: if an insight were bypassed that should have been signposted; if the answers that Daniel gave were to the wrong questions – or if the boy, at the last, failed to answer at all. Karen, though, had been insistent. That’s fine, Leo. That’s all I need to know. She had made her own way here and would have been making her way straight home again, had Leo not pleaded for a first-impressions debrief before she left.