The Gifted Son, page 16
‘One hundred per cent. It’ll be a whole new experience. When we get to rehab we’ll have cute nurses to take care of us and lift our spirits. Help us keep pushing. You got to keep pushing.’
Jamie imagined himself swimming laps with Tess cheering him on from the sidelines.
‘The food here sucks, hey? Mum brings me dinner most days. But I’d kill for a burger,’ Jamie said.
‘Why didn’t you say so? Check this out,’ Louis said. He flicked on a light then took the end of a cord that was wound around his bed rail and attached to the handle of the top drawer of the cabinet between them. Louis tugged on the cord until the drawer was open. ‘Vincent keeps me fully stocked.’ Out of the corner of his eye, Jamie could see the drawer was packed with bags of M&Ms and chips, packs of jerky, Mars bars and blocks of Cadbury. ‘What’s mine is yours.’
‘Thanks, but I can’t reach,’ Jamie said.
‘No worries.’ Louis pressed his call button. A few moments later, Mary appeared.
She saw the drawer was open and folded her arms. ‘I hope you didn’t summon me in the middle of the night to get you snacks from your drawer again. There are people who need real medical care here.’ There was a note of amusement in her voice.
‘I need care, nurse,’ Louis said, grinning. ‘My blood sugar is dropping to dangerously low levels. Jamie’s too. We need to do something about it immediately.’
Mary raised an eyebrow but Jamie could tell she was trying not to laugh.
‘O-kay,’ she sighed. ‘What will it be tonight?’ She bent and took a packet of pork jerky from the drawer and studied the ingredients list on the back. ‘These look like pretty toxic levels of preservatives. It might be a breach of my oath to do no harm if I give you these.’
‘Don’t worry about that, I’ll just have a good old-fashioned Mars bar tonight, thanks Mary,’ Louis said. ‘Jamie, what would you like from tonight’s menu?’
Mary pulled out an armful of junk food. ‘We’ve got Jelly Bellies, Twisties, Snickers, almost any flavour potato chip you care to name. Pick your poison, sweet or savoury?’
‘The Jelly Bellies, thanks Mary.’
‘I thought you hated jelly,’ she said in mock horror.
‘Only the type that comes out of the hospital kitchen.’
‘There you go then,’ she tore the pack open and handed it to him.
‘Thanks.’ Jamie spilled a few coloured beans onto the bed. Mary scooped one up.
‘Service fee,’ she said, winking, and popping it in her mouth. ‘Good to see you’ve made it to the end of the line Jamie. It won’t be long now and you’ll be on your way to rehab.’
Jamie woke up in a better mood than he had been in since he found himself in hospital.
‘Morning, bruz!’ Louis called cheerily from his bed. ‘Man, I’m so glad you’re here in this room.’
Jamie laughed. ‘No offence, Louis, but I’d just as soon be at home waxing up my board.’
‘Ha, true dat, bruz, true dat.’
There was a knock and Mary walked in followed by two cops, stiff and imposing like human bollards.
‘Whoa, heavy,’ Louis said under his breath.
‘How are you feeling today, Jamie? I’m Sergeant Hawke and this is Senior Constable Lupin. We’re here to take your statement if that’s alright.’
‘Yeah, sure,’ he said. They dragged two chairs to his bedside and the younger one took out a notepad. Sergeant Hawke began to walk Jamie through what had happened the day he was hit. Jamie’s stomach tightened. He was afraid he was going to hear something he didn’t like, but the police only had a vague outline of events.
‘And you don’t remember anything?’ Sergeant Hawke asked.
‘Nope, nothing at all,’ he said.
‘We were wondering if you could identify this person for us.’ The younger police officer handed Jamie his phone, which had a photo on it.
‘Yeah, that’s Ryan West,’ Jamie said.
‘And how do you know Ryan?’
‘Jez and I have known him since we were little. We were footy rivals. He could get pretty competitive on the field. But he was okay, really.’ Jamie went quiet. ‘You think it was him, don’t you?’
‘That’s what we’re investigating,’ Sergeant Hawke said. ‘Do you remember seeing him that day?’
‘I really don’t,’ Jamie said truthfully.
Both police officers watched him closely for a moment before Sergeant Hawke slowly said, ‘And you’re absolutely sure?’
Jamie asked Sergeant Hawke to pass him his cup of water, which he did. They watched him finish it. His thirst quenched, Jamie repeated that he absolutely could not remember a thing.
‘Okay. Well, if you do remember anything, please get in touch.’ Sergeant Hawke held up a white card and left it on the bedside table. Jamie had a flash of memory, of a similar-looking card being handed to him by Mr Hoover. The one his mother had found, which unlocked other memories … He made a little involuntary noise. Sergeant Hawke’s head snapped up. ‘What is it?’ he asked.
‘Just … just a twinge of pain,’ Jamie lied.
The policeman nodded. ‘We’ll be in touch.’ Then they left.
Chapter 19
Lillian
The morning after she went to the pub with Kate, Lillian called Sergeant Hawke to discuss the CCTV footage. She had ended the previous day somewhat contentedly, comforted by Kate’s fervour about helping Jamie, and that flicker of connection they’d felt in the dim pub. But now the screws were tightening on her chest again. She listened to the dial tone as the phone rang, desperate for the unseen CCTV footage to be the breakthrough they needed, but also unsure how to broach the topic that the police had maybe not done everything they could. The sergeant’s voicemail answered, so she left a message asking him to call her as soon as he could. Then she returned to Jamie’s new room and watched her son sleep, imagining what the security tape might hold. It could be nothing. Then again, it could be crucial evidence.
She relived the feeling of uncertainty she’d had when he hadn’t come home, and wished she’d gotten in the car and gone to look for him on the last day of school. If only she’d listened to that instinct that connected her to her kids like a spiritual umbilical cord. That thing that could sense the slightest disturbance and start quivering when something was wrong. What forces had been trying to warn her, and how could she train herself to listen to them in the future? She pondered this until Jamie woke and groggily asked if she’d managed to get him a phone yet. She hadn’t, and so when the nurses arrived to bathe him, Lillian went to do so. She was in the store when she got a call on her own phone from a number she didn’t recognise.
‘Excuse me,’ she said, turning away from the clerk. Since the accident, whenever an unfamiliar number flashed up on her screen it set her teeth on edge. ‘Hello?’ She answered briskly.
‘Mrs Hogarth?’ A young man’s voice was on the other end.
‘Yes?’
‘It’s Mark. Giesen.’
‘Oh Mark, yes. Hello. How are you?’
‘Fine thanks. I was just calling to see how Jamie was doing.’ He sounded nervous, and indistinct. His words were half-whispered as if he was worried someone would overhear them. ‘Jamie’s number doesn’t work anymore so I got yours from Jez’s mum. I hope that’s okay.’
‘Yes, of course.’
He said he was sorry he hadn’t been around more, and that he’d flown to Adelaide after the fight. ‘But I’ve thought about Jamie every day,’ he said. ‘I wish there was something—’ Lillian could hear him struggling to find his words. ‘I just wish there was something I could do for him.’
‘He’s lucky to have friends who care,’ she said.
There was a pause.
‘How’s everyone else in the family? It must have been a shock. Is everyone doing okay?’
‘We’re managing fine, thank you Mark,’ Lillian said, pleased by his attentiveness. ‘And Jamie seems to be responding to his therapy quite well.’
‘That’s awesome news.’
His voice audibly brightened and Lillian wondered if she’d misjudged Mark. She didn’t know him well but the impression she’d gotten from Jamie was that he was a bit of a troublemaker. But this concerned person was not the cocky bad influence she had pictured.
‘Actually, I’m on my way back into the hospital for a meeting with the doctor. We’re hoping Jamie will be moving into rehabilitation shortly. Didn’t Jez tell you?’ Lillian dimly recalled Mark was staying with Jez, which she supposed was why Mark had asked Caroline for Lillian’s number.
‘I haven’t seen Jez since the end of the exams,’ Mark replied, a slight sad wobble to his voice.
‘Well, it’s a busy time.’
‘Jez and I aren’t really speaking right now.’
‘You had a falling out?’
‘Kinda.’
‘Well, I’m sure this has all been very hard on all of you. It’s an awful thing that’s happened.’
‘Do you think Jamie would be up for a visitor this afternoon?’
‘I’m sure he’d love that,’ she replied kindly.
‘Cool, okay. I’ll head over there now.’
‘Perhaps I’ll see you there,’ she said. ‘Thank you for calling, Mark. I’m glad Jamie has friends like you in his life.’
Lillian arrived at the hospital entrance at the same time Mark did. She immediately noticed his eyes were sunken, and dark from not enough sleep. He looked on edge, and thinner than she remembered, though he was partially hidden by a large, festive fruit basket. ‘Hi there, Mark,’ she called, startling him.
‘Hello, Mrs Hogarth. I got this for you.’ The boy thrust the basket forward.
‘Oh!’
The mangoes and stone fruit were overripe. She recognised them from Pedemonte’s Fruit Market, where the week-old baskets were half-off. She could imagine this teenage boy contemplating the display and trying to pick the biggest basket with the least bruises he could afford, and she was touched. Lillian took it with a smile.
‘Thank you, Mark. That is very thoughtful of you.’
‘I just wanted your family to know, you know, that I’m sorry this happened, and I want to help in any way I can.’ He was looking at the floor, drawing circles with the toe of his sneaker.
In the lift he shuffled and fidgeted. Lillian asked him about his exams and plans for the future, trying to put the poor boy at ease. When they got upstairs Jez was loitering outside Jamie’s hospital room. His face darkened when he saw Mark. The phrase, ‘What are you doing here?’ rumbled out of him.
Mark froze. ‘Uh, I—’
‘Now Jez, Mark, I want whatever happened between you two boys to be left outside this hospital room,’ Lillian said. ‘If anything, I would have thought what’s happened to Jamie would have shown you how precious life is, and that you should forgive people when you have the chance.’
Jez frowned but grunted reluctantly, ‘Yeah.’
‘I don’t want to fight, Jez,’ Mark said.
Jez muttered something inaudible. Lillian briefly considered lecturing him but didn’t have the energy. Instead, she gestured for them to go into the hospital room.
‘Inside. Scoot. Honestly. What could poor Mark have possibly done to deserve such treatment?’
John arrived just in time to hear Dr Ling explain he was ready to discharge Jamie to a rehab centre.
‘Really?’ Jamie’s eyes lit up.
‘Your arm has healed nicely, and you’re almost ready to come off the intravenous painkillers. Once the cast comes off we’ll have you transferred.’
‘Yessss!’ Jamie pumped his good fist.
‘That’s marvellous,’ Lillian said.
‘Yeah, great, so good,’ Mark and Jez said, each patting Jamie’s arms from opposite sides of his bed.
‘Alright, bruz!’ Louis called from his bed.
‘When?’ Jamie asked, puppy-eager.
‘I’d say we should be able to have you out of here by Monday,’ Dr Ling said.
‘That’s awesome news,’ Mark said. ‘Really good.’
‘And I got you this,’ Lillian handed him a small white brick of a box.
‘A new phone?’
‘You’ll need it to plan all of your outings,’ she said.
‘Thanks, Mum.’
Jez helped Jamie open the box and together they started pulling out the black plastic attachments.
‘I’ll plug in the charger for you,’ Mark said.
As the boys played with Jamie’s new phone, Lillian’s began to ring again. This time it was a number she recognised. ‘I’d better take this,’ she explained to the room, pressing accept. ‘Hello? Sergeant Hawke?’
‘Is that that policeman?’ Jez asked.
Lillian nodded and lifted her index finger to her lips. Jez and Mark looked at each other as she turned her back on the group and left the hospital room to take the call.
She heard Jamie say, ‘I hope we don’t have to do more interviews,’ as she shut the door behind herself. In the hallway Lillian listened to the sergeant explain he had been planning on calling her this afternoon.
‘About the pub’s CCTV?’ she asked.
‘No, we decided it wasn’t necessary.’
‘Not necessary? I don’t understand.’
‘When it was … when we thought it was going to be a more serious charge, it seemed important. But it’s a single assault. The accused is young. It’s pretty straightforward.’
‘The accused?’
‘That’s why I’m calling. We’ve arrested Ryan West and charged him with assault. There’s no need to subpoena the footage at this stage.’
‘Oh.’ Lillian felt oddly deflated. She didn’t know what she’d expected. Perhaps that an arrest would give her some sense of justice. Of triumph, even. The attacker had not gotten away with it! Her son had been avenged and order had been restored. But she felt the same.
‘He’ll have his first court appearance tomorrow morning. I can meet you there if you’d like.’
‘Okay. Thank you, Sergeant.’
When Lillian walked back into the room the chatter stopped and all of the faces turned to her, waiting.
‘What happened?’ John asked.
‘Good news,’ she said. ‘They’ve arrested that Ryan West boy. The police have him in custody.’
Chapter 20
Jez
It was as if all the air was sucked out of the hospital room. Jez had withheld the full truth and now Ryan had been arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. The lie, Jez’s lie, had calcified into something solid. Presumed to be true, it was being used to detain the wrong guy. Jez imagined cuffs being snapped around his old football rival’s wrists with a metallic scrape, Ryan being led to a windowless two-by-four-metre cell with stone walls. Jez’s face burned. Jamie, by contrast, was as calm as a country vicar. His only response was to say, ‘So, is he in prison?’ Jez and Mark turned to Lillian, wanting to know.
‘Yes, he’ll be held in a remand cell overnight but there’ll be a bail hearing in the morning,’ Lillian said, putting her phone back into her handbag, and swinging it over her shoulder. ‘Sergeant Hawke expects they’ll let him go, at least until the trial.’
A cell. Jez’s throat filled with bile. He wanted to know more but didn’t trust himself to speak. Would there be a full investigation that would sniff out every little thing that had happened that day? Every moment that led to the punch? He glared at Mark, who was concentrating on the floor, avoiding Jez’s eyes. As the nurses came in for one of Jamie’s many procedures Jez hooked his hand around Mark’s arm, and said, ‘We should go, I’ll drive you home.’ Mark opened his mouth to protest but Lillian spoke first.
‘That’s a good idea, you boys go home and let Jamie get some rest.’ She clamped her hand on Jez’s shoulder. ‘What a relief to finally have some good news,’ she said. Jez nodded, eyes averted.
‘Yeah,’ he replied, adding, ‘really good news.’ Then he shuffled out of the room, pushing Mark ahead of him.
‘See you later, guys.’ Jamie waved them off, cheered by the positive turn the day had taken.
Jez and Mark hurried to the lift, which pinged then opened. Inside, Jez seethed while Mark paced.
‘This is bad,’ Mark said.
‘It’s always been bad,’ Jez snapped.
The doors opened at the next floor and two orderlies with battering ram arms crossed over their chests stepped in, forcing Jez and Mark into silence. As they rode down Jez could feel the roots of his hair growing damp from sweat. Mark’s face had become a mottled red mess of fear. The doors slid open, and the orderlies left.
‘Mark,’ Jez said, ‘I know it was you.’
Mark went pale but didn’t deny it.
‘I saw you. I thought I was seeing things. That I’d gotten muddled in the chaos.’ Jez nodded, his memory becoming reality as he heaped the accusation at Mark’s feet. ‘I’ve played it over and over in my head. You hit Jamie. You dropped him to the ground, and now, you’re going to let someone else take the fall for it.’
The lift doors opened and Jez and Mark walked into the underground car park in silence. Jez looked at his classmate whose company he’d grown to so enjoy over the past year. He couldn’t reconcile that person with what he’d seen—Jamie, splattered blue with paint and distraught at having lost Mr Hoover’s card. Mark appearing, his face contorted with rage, grabbing Jamie’s shoulder and socking him with a right hook. Jamie flying back as if he’d been hit by a train, his eyes wide as he fell.
He wanted Mark to deny it. To say it wasn’t true. He’d felt an affinity with Mark. Where Jamie was leader of the pack at St Nick’s, and Jez his faithful sidekick, Mark knew what it was to be an outsider. Jez wanted him to offer an explanation. Something that would wipe the smear of blame from him. But he couldn’t.
‘It just happened. I … I didn’t mean it,’ he said.
‘You hit him.’
Large silent tears began streaming down Mark’s face. ‘I didn’t mean it. You gotta believe me.’
Jez spoke through clenched teeth. ‘Then why’d you do it?’
