Danny was by Callie’s side when the hands on his watch shifted to 2 p.m. The passing of the appointment seemed to calm him even more. He had made himself clear and his no-show would reinforce that. He was done. He squeezed Callie’s hand a little firmer. It was cool to the touch, just like always. Her eyes moved behind the eyelids. It happened a lot and Danny had convinced himself that it was how she showed she was listening.

‘I know what happened, Call.’ His voice sounded rough, standing out even in the white noise of a hospital ward. He looked around to make sure no one was paying him any attention. A young girl in the next bed over was the only person close enough to be of concern and she was in a similar state to Callie. Danny cleared his throat to continue.

‘All of it. I know about the messages, I know that some piece of … that a bad man tricked you. I don’t want you to feel bad about that, I don’t want you to feel bad about anything. This isn’t the first time he’s done it, OK, you’re not the first person he’s tricked. When you reached out, when you thought you had found someone you could trust, that was him too. I know that now. He made you do what you did. But he didn’t get away with it.’ Danny gently brought her other hand over to make a warm pile. ‘He’s dead, Call …’ He paused, like he might get some reaction, like this was the news Callie had been waiting for to wake from her slumber. ‘I killed him.’

A tear dropped from his eye and tumbled onto her arm before he could stop it. ‘And I’m so sorry. That it got to this, that it got this far. I wish … I wish I had known earlier. I wish I had been interested in anything other than myself.’ The tears came faster now. He didn’t want to let go of his daughter to catch them so they blurred his view and tickled his chin. There was nothing else he could say. He had been looking forward to coming here today, for the first time in a long time, seeing her face, telling her what he had done. He had almost been convinced that he had changed something, that he had made a difference. But he hadn’t at all. Callie was still asleep; her future was still uncertain. And the emptiness he felt seemed almost bigger.

He had changed nothing.

Chapter 13