The bell rang and they trudged back to class. Mum had come in for reading. She’d been doing it every week since she found out about Jaden. She said it was to make sure Max’s reading was on track, but he knew she was keeping an eye on him. It was annoying because he could look after himself. The principal was watching out for him now and the teachers were too, and he had Lily Moon for a friend, which was good because she was tough. Whenever they ran into Jaden, she glared at him and he walked away. ‘He’s scared of me,’ she would say. But Max reckoned it was Lily’s dad that Jaden was scared of, because Mooney was frightening—all the kids thought so.

Mum had brought Suzie with her to reading, and Miss Myrtle gave Suzie colouring-in to do. Mum wanted to hear Max read first, before she listened to other kids.

‘Can’t you listen to someone else first today?’ Max asked, as Mum sat down beside him. He could smell cigarette smoke on her jumper, mixed with the sweetness of her perfume.

‘Come on, Max,’ she said. ‘Let’s just get started.’

He couldn’t concentrate because he was thinking about Leon. Then Max realised—it hadn’t been Leon driving the car.

Mum was getting impatient. ‘Come on, Max. Try a bit harder.’

‘Mum,’ he said urgently, ‘Lily and me saw Leon’s work car at recess, but it wasn’t him driving.’

Mum’s brow furrowed and she shrugged. ‘There are lots of people who work for Parks.’

‘I think it was Kurt,’ Max said. ‘I think Kurt was in Leon’s car.’

Mum looked bothered then. ‘Couldn’t be. You must have got it wrong.’

But the more Max thought about it, the more certain he was. ‘Kurt shouldn’t be in Leon’s car, should he?’ Max said.

‘No,’ Mum replied. She stood up and tugged her phone from her big pink handbag. ‘I’ll call Fergus. Even if you’re wrong, he should know.’

She went out of the classroom, and Max sat staring at his book instead of reading. Why would Kurt be driving Leon’s car? How would he have got it? And where was Leon? Why had he let Kurt take his car?

When Mum came back, her face was white, even under all her makeup. She went to Miss Myrtle and they had a quiet talk. Miss Myrtle glanced at Max, then Mum came over and said she was leaving.

‘What did Fergus say?’ Max asked.

‘He said thank you, and that he was going to look into it.’

Max knew she wasn’t telling him everything. She was giving him a fake smile to make him feel good, but he could see tightness in her eyes. ‘Is Leon okay?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know. I’ll tell you later.’

‘No. Tell me now, Mum.’