Wow-bloody-wow! National story! I can handle some flak from school and Kirsten for ten grand. I can afford a light field camera. Drop a grand at the mall. All new running gear, maybe a better laptop. Bet Kirsten will go sensible and make me save at least half for college …

The cab had just turned off South Rainbow and they were passing the lot of the big CVS. Harry had used Kirsten’s Lucky Cab account and given the 1680 Leaning Pines address, but he could hardly get out right in front of the Crokers’ double-wide trailer and start poking around.

‘CVS,’ Harry spluttered. ‘Drop me here.’

Harry wasn’t trying to be rude, but it came out that way and the dome-headed driver flicked bitterly at his sat nav. ‘It says sixteen eighty.’

‘My ma asked me to get some shopping,’ Harry lied. ‘I forgot. I didn’t mean to snap at you.’

The driver stopped sharp, and Harry stepped on to the kerb and pulled on a backpack bulked with his pro-spec Nikon camera.

The CVS had a couple of hundred parking bays, but it was mid-Thursday afternoon and the big pharmacy’s only customers were parked in a single row, keeping car interiors cool on the shady side of the building.

Harry pushed on sunglasses as he strode across marked parking bays. The CVS lot ended at a knee-height fence. Matt had mentioned the tire-repair place beyond, but it looked like the Tire Maxx franchise had been closed for years. The corporate logos had blown out of the tall roadside sign, the main glass door wore heavy chains and the sand-blown lot was strewn with beer cans and perished rubber.

Sweat trickled down Harry’s back as he upped to a jog. The dirty-blue trailer home came into view as he rounded a self-service car wash with a caved roof. The upbeat feels from Ellie’s call hadn’t lasted and Matt’s question resurfaced: How will I play it when I get there?

What am I hoping to find? Why not turn round, buy a Mars ice cream in CVS and go home? But it sucks being home alone … If Mum was alive, would she approve of this? Why do I want to do stuff to impress a mum who was never around much even when she was alive? Do I want to be a photojournalist, or have I been telling myself that for so long I’ve not considered anything else?

Harry’s train of thought got diverted at the far side of Tire Maxx. There was a blackened wall and a saucer-like crater, part filled with litter. The asphalt in the base of the crater had weird ripples, and screws and bolts stuck out, clearly having sunk in when the surface was molten. Harry took out his Nikon, taking time to snap the metal shards and cracks in the wall.