‘Yeah,’ Noah said.
‘For real,’ Reilly said.
After that they played handball, and for the rest of the day Cameron didn’t talk to anyone. That evening, Thursday evening, he asked Lola’s mum if they could go to his house the next day, and if they could visit his dad, because none of it would seem real or right until he could see his dad’s face and talk to him. And she said yes, yes of course, but instead, that night, she got really, really sick, and she had to go to the hospital in an ambulance. Which he didn’t know about at first because he was in his room, watchingBrooklyn Nine-Nineon Lola’s iPad, but then Lola came in and said that Doris was sick and it turned out she was vomiting like crazy and thenshehad to go to the hospital too. So then it was just him and Lola and Celine in the house. And Celine was not really talking much, and Lola was upset, so he asked her if she wanted to watchBrooklyn Nine-Nine, which felt like a stupid thing to say because she was too young and probably too upset, but she said yes, and they got two blankets and watched it on the couch in the playroom until Lola fell asleep.
The next morning Lola’s dad came home from the hospital and he picked her up but he said Cameron should go to school so Celine took him and she picked him up afterwards and that evening Lola and her dad didn’t come home from the hospital until really really late and Lola just wanted to be with her dad because her mum haddied.Actually died. Which was the worst thing in the world. Cameron didn’t have a mum either, of course, and it occurred to him that they had that in common now, but he didn’t say that to Lola because it felt somehow like it would be a shitty thing to say. He couldn’t think of anything to say to Lola that would help, so he just said nothing. More and more it felt like Cameron wasn’t even really there. Like he wasn’t part of the world anymore.
On Friday mornings he always had basketball training but no one seemed to know about that and he didn’t mention it. Lola and her dad went back to the hospital to be with Doris, and Celine took him to school. At recess his friends were playing handball. Maybe he could have played too but it was too hard. He couldn’t talk to people. Or pretend to be normal. He was in English when Miss Westin called him out of class. She told him to bring his bag, that someone was there to pick him up early for an appointment. When he got to the office, Celine was waiting for him. She hugged him and signed him out and he followed her outside.
She turned to him, smiling.
‘Cameron! I have such happy news. It’s your papa. They have discovered that he did not do the killing. He is innocent!’
Cam’s heart swelled in his chest and he felt like his whole body might explode with all the hope he was suddenly feeling.
‘Are they letting him out?’
‘Yes. In two hours.’ Celine frowned and looked at her phone. ‘But I think you will not see him today. He is in a prison that is three hours from here. I think he will have to get the bus because he does not have the car, of course, and the police, they do not drive you when they let you out of prison.’
‘My dad has to get the bus?’
‘Yes.’ She frowned. ‘If he is too late for the bus...mais non.He must have money. If he is late he will stay in a hotel. Then he will come home tomorrow.’
All Cam could think about was that he wanted to be with his dad.
‘I need to see him now. Right away, I mean. I can’t wait until tomorrow.’
Celine looked unsure. ‘There is the car. Elsa’s car, I mean. I can drive. But maybe we should wait. Talk to Nathan first.’
‘Please. Please,’ Cameron said. He had to be with his dad, right now, before anything else went wrong. ‘Please, can you take me?’
She hesitated. ‘I should really speak to—’
‘Please.’
‘I... yes, I’ll take you.’
‘Now?’
‘Right now.’
Chapter Thirty
Judith pulled the box towards her. She used her keys to slit the tape that sealed the top and opened it. Inside, under a bunch of packing peanuts, she found a small tablet, and under the tablet, a single sheet of paper, folded in two. She unfolded the paper, and read:
She told me I was wasting my time. She told me I wasn’t strong enough. She sent me home.
Judith closed her eyes.
She had failed Miriam Hall. She’d known it from the moment that Miriam had walked out of the interview room. Known it before Katy had peeled back all her excuses and made her face the truth of what she’d done. And now Ruth was going to punish her for it.
Judith folded the paper back up and pushed it away across the table. She drew the tablet towards her and pressed the button on the side to wake the screen. There was no log in request, and no password protection. Instead the tablet opened to a video. Judith hit play.
It took her a moment to process what she was seeing. The video showed a crowd. Judith saw the backs of heads; people were wearing jackets and hats, putting away umbrellas as they came out of the rain and took their places on an escalator that led downwards. Whoever had made the video—Ruth presumably—moved with the crowd, was a part of it. Judith thought she recognised the place as Melbourne Central Station. She was sure of it when the person holding the camera reached the bottom of the escalator.
The crowd split in different directions. The video followed the group that moved to the left, under signs for Platform 3. The crowd thinned out; it was easier to make out individuals. Something caught Judith’s eye and her stomach lurched. She leaned forward. Ahead in the crowd there was a woman wearing a trench coat and a navy baseball cap. Was that... could it be Katy? Judith could only see her shoulders and the back of her head, where a short brunette ponytail poked out of the back of the baseball cap. It wasn’t much to go on.
Her eyes still on the screen, Judith picked up her phone. She dialled Katy’s number. The woman on the screen, the one in the trench coat, didn’t react. But then, why would she? There was no reason to think that the video was live. It could have been recorded hours before. The call went to voicemail.
