‘He’s still here, sometimes, but he doesn’t want to be.What does that mean?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You didn’t write this?’
‘Definitely not. Like I told you. It came in that box with the gun.’
Jansen flipped over the lid of the box. He examined the packing label.
‘This didn’t come through Australia Post,’ he said. ‘There’s no stamp.’
‘Right. It must have been a courier.’
‘Even with a courier there should be a bar code, or a QR code, or something. This hasn’t been paid for.’
Jansen stared at Jack, waiting for an answer. Jack looked blankly back.
‘Look, I don’t know. I wasn’t here when it was dropped off. Someone must have just left it out front.’
‘Right,’ said Jansen, nodding.
Jack was finding it impossible to read the other man. ‘Look, this is clearly some kind of mad set-up. I mean, someone obviously told you to come here, right? Who?’
‘I can’t share that information with you right now.’
‘Okay, but whoever told you to come here must have also sent me the gun. That’s the only thing that makes sense.’
‘The thing is, we don’t have any proof that you’re telling the truth,’ Jansen said, in a conversational tone. ‘You say that the gun was delivered to you in that box. But for all we know you could have had that box for years, and you could have stuffed the gun into your backpack two nights ago. Did you tell anyone about it?’
‘About the gun?’
Jansen inclined his head.
‘No. Not yet.’
Jansen made athat’s interestingface. The cop who’d been searching the living room disappeared down the hall and into Cam’s bedroom.
‘I saw it,’ Cam said, suddenly.
‘You saw what, kiddo?’ Jansen asked.
‘The box. Just like my dad said. It was by the door when we got home from the park.’
Jansen nodded at Cam. The expression on his face was kind, but it was clear he thought that Cam was just backing up his father.
‘What happened two nights ago?’ Jack asked.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘You said I could have stuffed the gun into my backpack two nights ago.’
‘Let’s not get into that now.’
This was bad. Really bad. Jack took his phone from his back pocket. ‘Look, I just searched for police stations. See? I was going to bring the gun right to you guys. I was just going to drop Cam off at my friend’s house on the way, then bike over to bring the gun to you. That’s where we were going when you arrived.’
Jansen took Jack’s phone from him willingly enough. He looked at the maps app and for a moment he really seemed to be listening. But then the cop who’d gone into Jack’s bedroom came to the door.
‘Sergeant? I think you’ll want to see this.’
