“It looked like a bomb, according to the bully’s mother. You should have seen her, Lily. One of those Botoxed bitches in tight designer jeans. Mutton posing as lamb.” Martin took another drink. “Of course, her husband makes a lot of money, so the police have to investigate the matter. They brought Ridley in and questioned him before I got there. Which is illegal, by the way. But Ridley, being his usual childish self, admits everything when they do. Apparently he can keep these crazy things he does secret for a time, but then he cracks and has to reveal all. They had a signed confession when I got there.” He downed the rest of his drink and gestured for another.

I watched Martin carefully. I knew he wasn’t lying; he was telling me what he believed to be the truth. In his mind, Ridley had been silly and childish, but not malicious. The other boy was a vicious monster, probably devil’s spawn. Ridley had never been cruel to me when Martin and I had been together, and I couldn’t view him as evil, but I knew that there was something wrong with him that his father refused to see. “I’m so sorry.” I touched Martin’s arm and he grabbed my hand and held it. “What’s going to happen to Ridley now?”

“The police can do damn all about it. He’s a minor, and the confession won’t be allowed in court. That’s what they get for listening to that lying little bastard who was bullying him. He’s a year older than Ridley, but he told the police that Ridley was older, and bullying him.” Martin was quiet while the barman poured another round for both of us. I quietly extracted my hand from his grip.

“But didn’t they check his ID?” I asked, before taking a tip from the fresh glass.

“They did,” Martin acknowledged wearily. “Ridley had a fake ID that says he’s twenty-one. The police were too lazy to bother checking whether it was real.” He caught my look. “Ridley had the ID so he could get into clubs. It’s not a big deal. I’m sure I had one at his age.”

That was how it always went. Martin would find a way to justify whatever his son did. Everyone else was picking on his boy. “Is Ridley still getting counseling?” I asked.

“He had counseling for months. He was just going through a phase then. He’s fine now.”

We regarded each other warily. I knew that there was only so far I could push Martin on this, but I needed to try anyway. “Martin, your son told Claudia he wanted to try heroin. He told her he would pay her a lot of money to buy it for him.”