‘What have you done to your boots, Mr Stubbs?’ With his hands clasped behind him, Shaun closed in on Marcus. It was like watching a cat stalk a bird.

‘My boots?’

‘They’re a mess.’ Stopping in front of him, Shaun stared down at Marcus’s feet. ‘The toes are all hacked up. Like you’ve been kicking a pipe.’

‘I didn’t.’

‘No one else has boots like this.’

‘I didn’t!’

‘Mr Stubbs, I don’t have any respect for vandals. But I do have respect for people who own up.’ Though Shaun’s voice made me cringe, I couldn’t drag myself away. Like everyone else on the parade ground, I was mesmerised. ‘Owning up takes courage. It’s the people who don’t accept responsibility—’

‘I didn’t!’

‘Yes, you did!’ Shaun’s bellow made me jump.

‘It was Jake!’ Marcus suddenly swung around and pointed. ‘It was Jake’s idea! He said if we used all the water, we could go home!’

Jake was invisible from where I was standing. But I could hear his tetchy voice. ‘That was a joke, stupid.’

‘It was not! You said we could go home! I wanna go home!’

‘You’re not going home, Mr Stubbs.’ Shaun’s tone was flat. ‘You’ll stay here and face the consequences of what you did.’

I didn’t want to see what happened next, so I plunged back into the bathroom and spent about ten minutes testing taps and packing up my tools, making as much noise as possible. I’d had enough for one day, even though the day had barely begun. I hadn’t eaten breakfast and neither had anyone else.

‘Ms Ayres?’ Warren’s voice startled me. I looked up to see him in the doorway. ‘Can we come in?’ he asked.

Jake and Marcus were skulking behind him. Marcus looked upset. As I rose, Warren added, ‘These two gentlemen will be cleaning the bathroom today. But they’ll need the right equipment. Can you show us where it is?’

‘Uh…yeah.’ I stooped to pick up the toolbox.

‘I’ll take that.’ Warren grabbed it. ‘You’ve got enough on your plate.’

‘Thanks.’ If he chose to carry my tools, I was happy to let him. Jake’s scornful smirk didn’t worry me. I was long past being goaded or embarrassed by kids like Jake—though I did get annoyed when the salacious little shit wouldn’t step aside and let me out. We did a kind of dance on the threshold; I could tell he was being deliberately obstructive. ‘Oh! Sorry,’ he said, but he wasn’t fooling me. I knew what he wanted.

He wanted me to squeeze past.

‘Back off,’ I warned him.

Behind me Warren asked, ‘What’s up?’