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Mac waited. This was something he needed to know.
Eventually, Gus continued, his voice strained and brittle, his eyes fixed on his hands, clenched into fists. “I wasn’t jealous.”
“What happened, Gus?”
Frustrated, Gus recounted, and in the process, relived. “We’re in Harmony and Curtis arrives. Not sure where he’s come from—people would come and go all the time. Anyway, he takes a shine to Theo…makes her stuff—skipping ropes, little carved animals, even a billy cart. Theo thinks he’s wonderful. Follows him around like a puppy.”
There was sweat beading on Gus’s brow. Mac didn’t interrupt.
“Curtis makes Theo a fishing rod and wants to teach her how to fish.” Gus flinched. “The river isn’t far, and Theo is so damn excited. He offers to take me too. I think my parents assumed I’d go. But I’m fifteen—I reckon I’m too bloody old to be taken fishing, so I find a last-minute excuse.” Gus’s knuckles were white. He stopped talking.
“And?” Mac prompted.
Gus started twice to speak. It was only on the third attempt that he got it out. “My mother finally notices I haven’t gone, tells me off, and sends me to drop some sandwiches out to them, and I…I find him on top of her. He was about thirty then. She was ten. He has one hand over her mouth and the other…” Gus shook his head.
Mac’s swallowed, speechless. He’d suspected something—but not this. This was worse than anything he’d imagined.
“There’s a fight. I grab his fishing knife and stab the bastard.” Gus right arm jerked, his muscles repeating the memory.
“Fuck.” Mac rubbed the back of his neck. “What happened?”
“There’s a lot of blood. It’s spurting. Theo is hysterical… For a while I think I’ve killed him…but, somehow, I haven’t. There are a couple of doctors at Harmony—they save him. And once he’s out of danger, Curtis is expelled from the community…me too.”
“Nobody called the police?”
“No…it’s not the kind of community that trusts the police. And my mother is afraid that I’ll be charged, and Theo will be taken away. The others are convinced that the government will use the incident as an excuse to take all the children into care. So nothing is said. Curtis can’t go to the police without what he did to Theo coming out, and I can’t stay because of what I did. The ancients send me to live with my grandfather over here, just in case the police ever get wind of what happened.” Gus shrugged. “He sends me to an analyst, and I haven’t stabbed anyone since.”
“And Theo?”
“She stays. She survives. Once she starts boarding school, it’s easier to keep in touch—she has access to computers and phones.” Gus grimaced. “We’ve never really talked about it. I don’t want to bring it up in case she just wants to forget, and she doesn’t raise it either.” He stopped. “My parents love us, Mac—they do their best. This was just a bad decision.”
“I’m in no position to judge anybody’s parents, Gus.”
“Men like that don’t stop,” Gus said quietly. “God knows how many—”
“He was arrested and charged yesterday… That’s why we needed to talk about this.”
“Charged? With what?”
“Indecent assault, rape… It seems he was identified by the scar he was so happy to display on air when he was telling the world how you stabbed him.”
Gus looked sick. “If we’d said something twelve years ago—”
“Doesn’t sound like you made that decision, Gus. It’s not down to you.”
Gus shook his head. “God, I need a drink.”
Mac pushed a cup of coffee toward him. “Look Gus, I want you to come work with me.”
Gus sat up. “I don’t need charity, mate. Just a drink.”
“It’s not charity,” Mac said evenly. “I need help. For one thing, I have to get all my assets back from the government—”
“I have to find Theo.”
“We can look for Theo,” Mac said. “I haven’t forgotten her, Gus, and I won’t. But you’re not going to be able to help her if you’re sleeping on park benches.”
“Things aren’t that bad, Mac,” Gus lied, knowing full well his medical debts alone would bankrupt a small country. He’d lost his insurance with his firm, and his chances of getting another job were slim.
