Harry wondered where Charlie’s parents had got to, but didn’t want to probe and upset her more.

‘I heard a cop say social services were coming to collect him.’

Charlie shook her head. ‘Ed’s a good kid once you know his quirks, but he gets emotional if there’s any change to his routine. He picked up a horrible stomach bug, but he doesn’t grasp that he’ll get better and can go back to school in a few days the way that a normal kid does. And Fawn loses her temper. Calls him dirty boy, locks him in the bathroom then drives off. And I am left – literally – cleaning up the shit.’

Harry took another half a step towards her.

‘I got pissed seeing you snoop around taking photos,’ Charlie told him, ‘but I’m not holding you hostage. Go if you want to. Snitch me to the cops and get your pretty bangs on the six-o’clock news.’

‘I’ll stay and talk if you want,’ Harry said gently.

Charlie gave a huge sob and pushed up from the table. She was muscly and Harry stumbled as she locked her hands behind his back and rested her cheek against his chest.

‘I don’t have a single real friend, Harry.’

‘You’ll be OK,’ Harry said, feeling awkward as he put his arms round her.

Charlie’s T-shirt had ridden up and Harry’s hand slipped in the small of her bare, sweaty back. Sobs shook Charlie’s body as Harry breathed her smell and felt a little turned on.

‘I’m such a freak,’ Charlie said, staring up with desperate eyes.

‘Beautiful freak,’ Harry said, and wondered where the hell that came from. He half expected her to recoil, but Charlie cracked a soft, flattered smile.

I want to kiss her, but that’s the last thing she wants right now.

Charlie sensed Harry’s awkwardness, peeling sweaty hair off her face as she backed up.

‘Sorry I put a gun to your head,’ Charlie said, wearing a doomed smile as she scratched one ankle with a dirty big toe.

‘Maybe it’s not that bad,’ Harry suggested. ‘You made the explosives a long time ago and you didn’t know JJ was going to steal them. Maybe, instead of hiding from the cops, go over to the house, surrender and tell them what happened. You’re a smart kid, you’ve never been in trouble before …’

‘Two flaws in your plan,’ Charlie said as she slumped in a plastic chair. ‘First, if I was covering my ass, the story I would tell is that JJ stole the explosives and that I knew nothing about it. It happens to be the truth, but will the cops believe me?