Page 38 of Better the Devil
The boy smiled, pleased with this. Pleased that he’d got it right. Pleased that he’d taught this silly man something useful.
‘Do you know a dog called Goldie?’ Tyler asked.
The wee man didn’t answer. He didn’t giggle. Didn’t look up. He just focused on the bricks, and on the abstract, not-even-remotely castle-shaped object he was building.
‘Jack?’ Tyler leaned down a little, trying to catch his eye. He held his own yellow and orange model out for the boy to see. ‘Do you know a dog like this? A dog called Goldie?’
He didn’t answer. Not at first. Not out loud.
Eventually, though, he nodded.
‘Does it belong to a friend of yours?’ Tyler asked.
The boy shifted around on his knees, like he was going to get up and leave. The lure of the LEGO proved too great, though. He settled back down and shook his head.
‘Whose dog is it, then?’ Tyler pressed.
Jack’s voice, when it came, was a whisper. ‘I’m not ’upposed to say about it.’
‘Who says?’
The boy swallowed. Glanced around. Said nothing.
‘Your mummy?’
No response.
‘Your daddy?’
‘My daddy’s in Heaven,’ Jack told him, so matter-of-factly that Tyler didn’t quite know what to say.
The boy looked around them again, then leaned in and cupped a hand to the side of his mouth, so only Tyler could hear.
‘Victor.’
‘Oh, right.’ Tyler quickly recalibrated, the details of the family dynamic rearranging themselves in his head. ‘Victor says you’re not supposed to talk about the dog?’
Jack nodded. He didn’t look happy about it, but he nodded.
‘That’s a shame,’ Tyler told him. ‘I’d love to go and meet Goldie for myself.’
‘No!’
The shout caught Tyler by surprise. Jack jumped to his feet. The castle model wentkrishas it fell to the floor.
‘You shouldn’t go to see that dog. You’re not ’upposed to.’
‘How come?’ Tyler asked.
Jack had another look around. This time, he leaned in so his mouth was right next to Tyler’s ear. His voice was a shrill, scratchy whisper.
‘Because that’s the bad man’s dog.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Hamza stood at the podium,sweaty hands gripping tightly to the sides as he looked out across the sea of expectant faces.
Ben had just had time to whisper an instruction to picture them all naked before Hamza had been forced to take his place in the centre of the stage.
