‘And you spoke to the police?’

‘I told them everything I could remember. Did they speak to you yet?’

‘Are you upset that he’s dead?’ he said quietly. She could see a flicker of something behind his eyes as he stared at her. It was the thing that was missing when he smiled. A little wickedness maybe.

Could she trust him and tell him the truth? There was something about him that commanded it. Even though she could feel his dishonesty with every movement of his lips, she still couldn’t lie to him.

‘No, I don’t think I am,’ she said quietly. She felt excited as she said it, as if she was telling him a big secret. Another secret that they shared.

‘I told you that you would be safer now.’ He smiled. She couldn’t help thinking of it as a confession of some kind, a nod to some action he had taken, just for her.

‘So you’re off to college next year?’ he asked, changing the subject, breaking the invisible string that she felt pulling her towards him sometimes.

‘After the summer is over, just in the city,’ she said, wishing he wouldn’t keep mentioning the fact that she was at school.

‘And you spend your summers on the beach or in the garden?’

‘We usually go abroad to do charity projects in underprivileged countries, but we can’t this year because of my dad’s surgery.’

She felt stupid as she said it; it was her parents’ thing and she just tagged along.

‘That’s very noble of you and your parents.’ He smiled that dead smile again, something else behind his eyes. Something dark that made her regret her momentary loss of composure.

‘They do most of the work.’

His face lightened again and it was as if that last slip of his mask had never happened.

‘You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. Anyone with eyes can see that you’re not like other girls. I bet you’ve got really big plans for your future.’

She didn’t know how to respond to that comment. He was still squinting and looking straight at her. Was this another case of her not understanding the subtext of what someone was trying to say?

‘I don’t really know what I want to do.’

‘Must be nice to have a future. Mummy and Daddy looking out for you, making sure nothing bad happens. Well, Daddy wasn’t there the other night, was he? I was the one who kept you safe. I was the one who made sure that man didn’t hurt you.’

After a few moments of staring, the corner of his mouth broke into a side smile. He smacked his hands on his knees and went back to the lawn-mower. He looked at her as he started the engine again.