And with similar cockiness to Bruno, he thought, with a grin, That would have been their big loss!

A boy also in a red jacket, about Bruno’s age, jumped down from a Defender that had pulled up in front of them. A young girl, similarly dressed, was disgorged from a Mini. Both entered the gates.

Turning to Bruno, who was unclipping his seat belt, Grace said, ‘Go for it, speak your mind. Tell them what you think they should be teaching you!’

The boy hesitated, frowning. ‘Really? You think so?’

‘Sure. Be brave. Remember, fear kills more dreams than failure ever can.’

Bruno looked puzzled. ‘Dreams? Is there any point in dreaming anything? Look at my mother.’ He shook his head. ‘The teachers aren’t worth it. But is anything in life worth it?’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘My mother had so many dreams, but they were all shattered and there was no way to put the pieces back together. Life sucks. School sucks.’

Before Grace could respond, Bruno opened the door, climbed out and slammed it behind him. Without looking back, he strode towards the school gates, ignoring two other pupils who were also approaching them.

Grace sat still, watching him until he had disappeared. Life sucks. School sucks. He wondered again, as he had constantly ever since discovering that he had a ten-year-old son, what kind of bizarre upbringing Sandy had given him to jade him and make him so cynical.

He was clearly bright, bright as hell.

Dangerously bright.

Heartbreakingly bright.

But Bruno’s unpredictability worried him. The child psychiatrist, Dr Orlando Trujillo, who they’d taken him to see, told them he thought it was just a phase Bruno was going through. Still adjusting to the loss of his mother, to relocating to a new country, that it was his way of putting a defensive shield around himself.

Grace hoped Trujillo was right. He wasn’t sure what else he and Cleo could do, other than looking for a different school for advanced children. But would even that be the right thing? This school here had a terrific reputation.

It was ironic, he thought, as he drove off, rain starting to fall, his focus starting to return to Eden Paternoster and the briefing meeting in half an hour, that he’d always held the view that well over ninety per cent of crimes were committed by people who had suffered terrible childhoods – alcoholic or abusive parents, broken homes. That was exactly Bruno’s upbringing, too. A drug addict, single-parent mother.

They needed more advice, and quickly, if they were to avoid Bruno not being allowed back to the school again after the end of this term. He resolved to get home early from work and talk it through with Cleo. Maybe try to have a heart-to-heart with Bruno – if the boy would be willing to open up even a fraction.

33

Tuesday 3 September

At 8.45 a.m. Roy Grace sat with his assembled team in the conference room, for the second briefing of Operation Lagoon, having just completed a brief management team meeting.