The Innocent: The New Ryan Lock Novel (7 page)

‘Well, that is so kind of you. Jack will be thrilled.’

She called to her son. ‘Jack! Coach Shaw’s here.’

There was a mumbled response from somewhere inside the house. Malik didn’t catch the words but the meaning was clear. Jack wanted to stay wherever he was.

Eve Barnes rolled her eyes. ‘Sorry. He just got this new games console yesterday. Can’t get him away from the damn thing.’

Malik had the same problem with Landon, who was video-game crazy. In the end, he and Kim had had to ration him to two hours at weekends, on condition that his grades were good and he did all his chores.

‘Got the same problem with my son. The new Sony that just came out?’

‘That’s the one,’ said Eve.

Malik knew how much they cost. Looking at the house, he imagined Eve would have had to save to buy it. ‘Birthday present?’ he asked, aware that the question might be seen as prying. One of the things he’d picked up on when they’d first moved here was how guarded people could seem. In California people shared all kinds of information with relative strangers.

‘Present from a friend,’ she said casually.

The alarm that had been going off in Malik’s head as soon as she had mentioned the expensive games console went up a notch in volume. Malik was by no means an expert, but he knew that predators, like the man he’d almost caught Jack with, often used gifts to bribe their victims into silence. The fact that it may have been a recent gift was even more alarming. Now Malik was wondering just what that meant. Was someone trying to buy the kid’s silence in the same way that the college was trying to buy his?

‘Pretty generous friend,’ said Malik, still holding the program.

Eve Barnes finally took the hint. ‘Where are my manners? Why don’t you come in, Coach Shaw?’

‘Please, call me Malik,’ he said, walking through into the hallway.

‘Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Water?’ She turned. ‘Beer? I’m sure I have some somewhere.’

“Water's fine,” said Malik.

He followed her through into the living room. The curtains were closed. The TV was on. Jack was sitting on the floor with a games controller in his hand, his eyes glued to the screen as he played GTA V. Landon played it with his friends. Kim was dead set against the violence, but Malik, having lived through the real-world version growing up in Long Beach, took a more relaxed approach. Landon had a pretty level head on those broad shoulders. He was a good kid who’d been taught the difference between right and wrong, and Malik doubted a video game would knock him off course.

‘Hey, Jack,’ said Malik. ‘I got your program signed.’

'I'll get you that water. Jack, will you please switch that thing off?’

Jack hit the pause button, the screen freezing on a car careening down a street full of pedestrians. Avoiding eye contact, he took the program from Malik. Malik knew that he had just a few seconds before Eve came back from the kitchen with his water.

‘Jack?’

The boy looked up at Malik, eyes narrowed. He was scared, but the fear was expressing itself as anger. It came off him in waves. Malik was so used to dealing with young men and usually read them better than their own parents could. When one of his team came in to practice, he could tell almost straight off the bat where his head was.

‘You said if someone found out they’d kill you. Who are
they
, Jack?’

The boy picked up the program and threw it to the floor. ‘I don’t want it. I don’t even like basketball. It’s stupid.’

‘I can help you, Jack,’ Malik whispered. ‘I can make sure no one hurts you.’

The boy resumed the game, and pushed forward on the black hand controller. On screen, the car mounted the sidewalk and rolled over a woman pushing an infant in a buggy. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ the boy said, just as his mom appeared with the glass of water.

‘Jack,’ she scolded. ‘Will you please turn that off while we have company!’

‘It’s fine,’ said Malik. ‘I really need to get home anyway.’ He waved away the glass of water.

‘Are you sure?’ said Eve.

‘If you need anything else,’ said Malik, digging into his wallet, ‘here’s my card.’ He scrawled his cell number on the back, handed it to her and made to leave.

Flustered, Eve turned back to her son. ‘Can you at least thank the coach for bringing over the program for you?’

‘Thanks,’ muttered Jack.

Eve chased after Malik as he headed for the door. He needed to get some fresh air. If he’d had any doubt about what he’d stumbled over in that locker room, it was gone now. The boy was scared. Sacred of
them
, whoever
they
were.

At the door, Eve Barnes grabbed his elbow. ‘I’m sorry, Coach. He can be very …’ She trailed off. ‘It’s been tough since his dad left.’

Malik sensed an opening. ‘Can be tough if a young man doesn’t have some kind of male presence. A teacher, family friend.’

He waited for her to offer a name, but she simply nodded. ‘Thanks for coming over, and getting that signed for Jack.’

‘No problem.’

The door closed on him. He stood there for a second, then walked back down the path. As he stepped onto the sidewalk, he heard a squeal as a car parked directly behind his, pulled out at speed and roared off down the street. It was a sedan, dark blue or grey — hard to tell in the fading light of late afternoon. The windows were tinted so he hadn’t been able to see the driver.

The only thing he was sure about was that whoever had been sitting inside the car had been watching him.

Malik kept checking his rear-view mirror as he drove home. He was pretty sure that the car that had been parked outside the Barneses’ place wasn’t the same as the grey car that had been at the stadium. Pretty sure, but not certain.

He jumped as his cell phone rang. It was Kim. He hit the button to answer it, trying to keep his voice light.

‘Hey,’ she said. ‘You coming home for dinner?’

It was one of the fundamental sacraments of their marriage that, wherever possible, he would eat with the family in the evening. ‘Sorry, got caught up with stuff.’

She must have sensed something from his voice because she asked him, ‘You okay?’

He reached up and rubbed his temple. ‘Just tired. All this excitement.’

‘Tyrone called.’

‘Oh, yeah?’ said Malik.

‘He sounded worried. Said he planned on coming up here next week to see us.’ There was a pause. Malik knew what was coming next. You couldn’t be married to someone for as long as he had, and sure as hell not a woman as smart as Kim, without her figuring out when something was off.

‘Are you going to tell me what’s going on?’

Malik sighed. ‘Yes. Tonight.’ There was silence at the other end of the line. ‘Kim?’

‘Yes?’

‘I love you. You know that, right?’

‘Okay, now you’re starting to worry me.’ He could hear the kids arguing in the background, Landon teasing his little sister about some boy in her class.

Malik’s eyes flicked to the rear-view mirror and the empty road behind him. He thought of his own kids, and what he would do if someone was messing with them in the way someone was with Jack Barnes.

He’d see it, he told himself. But what if he didn’t? What if he and Kim had split up and he wasn’t around them? Or he was totally wrapped up in work to the exclusion of all else? What then? He doubted Kim would let it happen. But what about Eve Barnes? She hadn’t seemed like a bad mom. She loved her son — that was obvious.

More questions tumbled around in his mind. He’d read that most abuse went on in families. It was relatives or friends who hurt kids, not strangers skulking around play parks. Most people remained oblivious, either because the perpetrator covered their tracks, or maybe because something in their subconscious shut it out.

What if someone else knew Malik’s son or daughter was being preyed on? He’d expect them to tell him. He’d be angry if they said nothing. Above all else, he would want to
know
, however painful or gut-wrenching it was.

In that moment, he knew he was going about this the wrong way. He had been all along. It was obvious what he had to do now. It was staring him right in the face.

‘Sweetie,’ he said to his wife, ‘you go ahead and eat without me. I’ll be a little longer. There’s something I forgot to do earlier.’

What had been apprehension in his wife’s voice was replaced by irritation. ‘What did we talk about when you took this job? It was so we could spend more time together as a family.’

‘I know, baby. I know. But this is important.’

Eve Barnes opened the door, a glass of red wine in her hand, her glazed eyes suggesting that, even though he’d left only a half-hour before, this wasn’t her first of the evening. ‘Coach Shaw?’ she said, startled.

‘There’s something I need to talk to you about. In private.’

Malik followed her into the living room again. ‘Jack, could you go tidy your room? I need to talk to your mom,’ he said.

The boy’s eyes pleaded with him. It was the look Malik had seen in them on the night they had first met. A toxic mix of shame and guilt. It was time to put an end to it, or at least to begin the process. Malik saw it now for what it was: a festering wound that would only grow worse without air and light. Of course Jack didn’t want Malik to tell his mom what he’d seen. But Malik knew he had no alternative. To stay silent. To say nothing. To allow whatever was going on to continue. None of those were options.

Eve Barnes wasn’t smiling now. She looked worried. She knew something was wrong. Very wrong. And she knew it related to her son.

The boy threw down the games controller, and ran off to his room. There was a loud bang as he slammed the door.

Malik closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, Eve was sitting on the couch, the wine glass drained.

The only way to do this, he’d decided, was to start at the beginning. He told her about how he’d driven out to the stadium and how he’d found her son in the showers. By the time he’d got to that part she was sobbing loudly, her body folded in on itself. She had aged by a decade, and Malik knew that the change would stay with her.

As a player, then as a coach, he had realized long ago the power of words to inspire. This was the first time he had seen, really seen, their ability to crush.

She looked up at him. ‘I’m glad you told me. It’s like, it’s …’ Her words fell away. She swallowed, collecting herself. ‘Things make sense now. How he’s been acting around me.’

Malik nodded. ‘The man he was with? You know who it was, right?’

She swiped at the mascara running down her cheeks with the back of her sleeve. ‘I can’t believe he would do something like that. He’s been like a father to Jack.’

One fucked-up father figure, thought Malik. ‘Who has, Eve? Who was there with him?’

‘You don’t know?’ It was only then he realized that he’d told her the man had fled before he’d caught up with him, not that he hadn’t seen him.

Malik shook his head. ‘I never got a good look at him.’

There was a loud crash, like a window breaking. Eve got up and rushed from the living room. Malik followed her to the back of the house. The door, with its stickers and prominently displayed red and white ‘Private! Keep Out!’ sign, was closed. Eve tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. She pounded on it.

‘Here,’ said Malik, putting a hand on her back.

Eve stood aside as he threw a shoulder against it. The lock flew off, and Malik’s momentum carried him into the room. Through the layers of tween detritus, Malik’s gaze snapped to the broken window.

Jack Barnes was gone.

He walked across to look at the jagged hole where the glass had been punched out. It crunched under his feet. It had been broken from the outside.

A breeze picked up, whipping the drapes into Malik’s face. He reached up, pushing them away and stared through the broken window, only to be met by darkness.

‘It’s not the first time he’s run away,’ Eve Barnes said. ‘That’s why I had to put the lock on the window.’

She seemed not to have noticed the floor, or if she had, she hadn’t realized what it meant. Malik moved past her, almost tripping on a pile of dirty clothes. ‘He didn’t run,’ he said.

He moved through the house, breaking into a jog, covering the ground fast. Eve was chasing after him. ‘What do you mean?’

He didn’t have time to stop and explain. He reached the front door, threw it open and ran out onto the porch. For the second time in less than a week, he caught the red tail-lights of a car as it roared down the street. Eve caught up to him. He turned to face her. ‘You know where this guy lives?’

She didn’t say anything. She still looked to be in shock. Malik grabbed her by the shoulder, trying to snap her out of it.

‘He wouldn’t have … I don’t believe that …’ she stuttered. ‘I mean, I’ve met his wife.’

Lord help me, thought Malik. Had no one ever explained to this woman that being married didn’t mean anything when it came to stuff like this? Marriage was just a cover for people, all the better to make sure that kids and their parents lowered their guard.

‘Where does he live? You been to his house?’

She nodded.

‘Good. You show me,’ he said, grabbing her and heading for his car.

He bundled her into the passenger seat, and they took off. He got Eve to dial 911 and hold his cell phone up to his mouth as he drove. She was still far from coherent, in no state to talk to the dispatcher. He had to ask her for details, though.

He glanced at her ‘What’s the guy’s name?’

‘Aubrey Becker,’ she said.

He was taking a corner as she said it. The wheel slipped through his hands and he almost lost control of the car. He corrected the steering just in time. An oncoming vehicle blared in fury at the narrowly avoided collision.

He lowered his voice. ‘Aubrey Becker?’ he asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Yeah, the man’s name is Aubrey Becker. B-E-C-K-E-R. No, we didn’t see him, but we’re fairly sure that’s who Jack’s with.’

The dispatcher asked for an address. Eve gave it to him, and he passed it on. ‘And can you put out a call to all your units to keep an eye out for his car?’