I came up on the shack like a ninja and burst through the door. My father was huddled in a sleeping bag on the floor, a neat cluster of empty beer cans and an open bottle of vodka beside him. He looked up at me and his eyes held little surprise.
He’d been expecting me.
* * *
Harry
So this was what it was like to be arrested. Rhys had often described his wayward younger years to me, but I reckoned that London police stations were nothing like the rural shithole I found myself in now.
For starters, the place was deserted. Aside from me, two plain-clothes officers, and desk sergeant, there were no other souls to be seen. I had no idea what had happened to the dozen officers who’d converged on the farm.
And no one seemed likely to tell me when I was the one answering the questions.
“Tell me again,” the male officer said. “What are you doing on Whisper Farm?”
“Working,” I said. “I rented a room through Airbnb. The receipt is on my phone. I already gave you the passcode.”
I’d done that as a distraction, remembering a conversation I’d overheard Rhys and his friends having years ago when getting picked up by the police had been their regular weekend party trick.“Give them everything they don’t need. Keep ’em busy while you get your story straight.”
The useless data on my phone had kept the CID officers occupied for a couple of hours, but I’d yet to figure out the second part—the explanation for the first real gun I’d ever laid eyes on, and just why I’d felt the need to claim it was mine.
Yeah, that’s right, because it had been clear from the start that the detectives knew full well that I was lying through my teeth.
“Why are you protecting Jonah Carter?”And I had no answer for them, because it wasn’tJonahCarter I was trying to protect—it was the rest of them. Even without whatever was between Joe and me, I couldn’t live with the fear I’d witnessed in Emma and Sal when the police had thrown Joe to the ground.
“Not my boy.”
“Not again. We can’t lose him.”
I hadn’t known about the gun at the time. From what Emma had said up to that point, I’d imagined a haul of fake number plates or some knocked-off designer gear. If I’d seen the shotgun beforehand, would I have done anything different? Pondering it was a welcome distraction from my fate if the detectives began to take me seriously, but I wasn’t any closer to an answer to that either.
The police called a timeout on the interview and I was led to the front desk to make a phone call. Lacking any better ideas, I called Rhys, but he didn’t answer. So I called the farm.
Sal answered. “Joe’s not here,” she said before I could ask. “He’s out looking for his father. I’m so sorry, Harry. We’ll fix this, I promise.”
I glanced around, mindful of the desk sergeant, and turned my back on him. “That’s okay. I’m sure it will work itself out.”
“If it doesn’t, Joe will step up.”
“I don’t want him to step up.”
“I know, sweet boy, but if you think he’s going to let you do time for his father’s mistakes, then you don’t know him at all.”
I closed my eyes to the hopeless gravity of it. My heart knew that the police weren’t going to charge me for possession of a firearm. Joe’s panic when I’d claimed responsibility for the gun had highlighted me as bait, and the detective who’d brought me in had been shrewd enough to see it.Iknew they wouldn’t charge me, and the detective knew it, but Joe didn’t. And he couldn’t deliver his father, he’d put himself in the frame, and I was getting the impression that the younger Carter scalp would do if Jonah couldn’t be found. “Listen, Sal. They can hold me for twenty-four hours without charging. Tell Joe to do what he can with that time. Right now, that’s all we can do.”
There wasn’t much else to say. If Sal knew that I’d put myself forward as a distraction, I couldn’t tell, and I hung up with mixed emotions. One day I’d understand the instant bond I’d had for this family, but today wasn’t that day.
I was towed to a holding cell and given the worst sandwich in the world and a bottle of water. The CID detectives informed me that they’d be back for me later, but when an hour stretched to two, and then three, I began to wonder if something had happened.
Chapter Eighteen
Joe
The eerie peace of the moors was shattered by my father hitting the side of my van. He took the impact and rolled with it, letting momentum correct his equilibrium before he turned his bland gaze on me.
“Do you think throwing me around is going to change anything, son?”
“Does it matter what I think?” I spat. “If you gave a fuck about me, we wouldn’t be out here.”
