The bus ride home was torture. I kept getting delicious wafts of the cake. She’d wrapped it up in greaseproof paper and tied it with string, like in the olden days, but the smell was escaping and tormenting me. I’d promised myself another slice when I got in. At least Dad and I could have scrambled eggs on toast and some cake for tea. I wondered briefly what he would have eaten for dinner. A picture of the meal Maggie had made popped into my head. Rabbit. I’d eaten a rabbit and I’d liked it. Who knew?

A few metres before the bus pulled into the bus stop I saw Joshua Kemp and one of his minions hanging around near the garage. It snapped me back to the present. What was he doing hanging around Compton Mallow again? There wasn’t much here and even less on a Sunday afternoon. Maybe he was still stalking Farah. I hoped Kemp didn’t work out Farah’s connection to the library. The last thing I needed was him showing up there. I got off the bus and hurried home.

The curtains hadn’t been opened – that was never a good sign. I stepped inside and for the first time I noticed the smell. It wasn’t like majorly disgusting but it did make me sniff. It was somewhere between my PE bag and the kitchen bin when it needs emptying. It wasn’t nice. Maggie’s house had a completely different smell. And it wasn’t just the scent of cooking that seeped from her kitchen. There was an earthiness about the hallway, like nature shared the space. But that could have been the draughty front door. Maybe if I opened all the windows it would make our place stink a bit less?

I looked into the living room. Dad was crashed out on the sofa and the TV was on. The smell was worse in there. I switched the TV off, drew the curtains and after a bit of a struggle with the latch, pushed the windows wide open. There was an empty whisky bottle on the floor but no sign of any plate. That was his dinner then.

I picked up the bottle and he stirred, shielding his eyes from the light coming in through the window. ‘Bloody hell, Tom,’ he croaked. ‘Switch the light off!’

I laughed. ‘It’s the sun, Dad. No off switch.’

‘Where’ve you been?’

‘At my friend’s.’ I scratched my head and wondered how I’d explain the bag of food I’d come home with. I wasn’t ready to share my friendship with Maggie. He wouldn’t understand.

‘I called you.’ He took three attempts to sit upright, still shielding his screwed-up eyes with his arm.

I checked my phone. ‘Nope. No missed calls today. You rang yesterday when I was leaving the library.’

‘Yeah. Right. You okay? You’re okay aren’t you?’