‘There are bones in the wall,’ she says, her voice expressionless. ‘Bones. Down there. At the bottom. In the wall.’ She takes a deep, shuddering breath and speaks fast. ‘And that’s not all. The angry man. The man in the mall. The one who killed you. That’s my dad.’

49

The angry man was Dad.

And Joe’s bones were in the wall.

My dad. My dad, who became so furious, so easily, but who had, for all my life at least, been careful never to hit anyone. My dad, who had nevertheless ruled our house by making us all terrified of him.

My dad, who had always been hiding something.

My dad, who had always wanted to move away from this town, but who wasn’t strong enough to go without us, for all he pretended to be hard.

My dad, who ran away when Sasha found out her baby was a boy.

My dad, the angry man in the mall. My dad, the killer.

If these bones were Joe’s, then he had been right here, in this room, all along. Every time we’d sat in here, we had been beside his body. I’d written the words I HATE YOU ALEXANDER BROWN on the panel that hid the evidence, and that panel was leaning on the bench now. I had written that I hated my dad on the very thing that had hidden his crime for twenty years. There was so much unravelling around me that I didn’t know what to deal with first.

The body. The body was the thing. I looked at Troy, relieved beyond belief that he was an adult, that he would be able to work out what we needed to do next.

‘I’ll get Dad,’ he said and, much as I had disliked Piet Henry on the two occasions I’d met him, I was glad that he was nearby, that Troy could get the authorities to deal with this.

My dad. That part was impossible. I couldn’t think about it properly. Not yet.

I looked at Joe and realized that everything was ending. It was happening fast and it was out of our control. I didn’t think it mattered what happened next; I was almost certain that when he left today he was never coming back.

Troy left the room. Joe and I looked at each other.

‘No,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to go! I don’t want to go. I need to stay. I didn’t want this! I want to stay, Ariel! Help me stay!’

‘I don’t know how,’ I said. ‘And I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. I can’t bear it.’

‘I love you, Ariel.’

‘I love you, Joe. I’m sorry I didn’t see you this summer. I wish I’d come every day.’

‘Shh. I wanted you to live. I’m glad you did. It makes me so happy.’