Julie Shaw - Hidden Sin - When the past comes back to haunt you

‘Just the way he was, Mam. We all thought so. Just the way he looked and the way he acted. I dunno.’ He spread his hands. ‘He just seemed sort of professional, you know? Not someone you’d expect to see in The Sun. He stuck out like a sore thumb. But in a good way,’ he added, leaning down to grab a mug of tea.

Brian was properly listening now. This was what he had been afraid of as well – of his son being taken advantage of by some fly-by-night agent. Of him being exploited in some way. Joey wasn’t exactly naïve but he was definitely still a bit wet behind the ears. And you heard about it all the time, didn’t you? ‘Well, did he have a name, this guy?’ he asked. ‘And did you see him, Nicky?’

‘See who?’ Nicky said again.

Joey shook his head. ‘He couldn’t have done. But his name was Macario.’

‘Macario?’ Brian said. ‘Odd name.’

But ringing a bell, strangely. And soon not at all strangely, with Joey’s next, damning, utterance. ‘Yeah, it is, isn’t it? But he said I should call him Mo.’

The name hit Brian like a physical whump in the chest. And he didn’t need to look to know the colour would be draining from Christine’s face. And when she spoke it was little more than a whisper. ‘Mo?’ she said. ‘You sure ? A big man? A black man? Definitely called Mo?’

Joey nodded. ‘Massive dreadlocks.’ He fluffed up his own substantial head of hair to illustrate. ‘Like, huge .’

Brian felt cold, despite the tea, which was now scalding his hands. ‘Why?’ Joey asked, smiling happily. ‘Do you know him?’

Brian didn’t dare look at Christine, because he knew his mask might slip. Masks tended to do that when long-buried secrets threatened to come out.

‘Think I’m thinking of someone else,’ he finally plumped for.

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