Chapter 24
‘No fucking way.’ Scott stands in the entrance to the kitchen, his thumbs looped into his pockets and his elbows touching the doorframe. Despite the cold, he’s in a T-shirt, the sleeves taut around his biceps.
‘I just need you to ask around. Show an interest and see if anyone picks up on it.’
‘You want me to be bait?’ Scott leans against the doorframe. ‘Forget it, Nads. You’re playing a dangerous game and you’re not dragging me into it.’
‘The police say Jamie was part of New Dawn, but I think he was forced into it. I need to prove that he was brainwashed.’
Scott laughs. ‘You have to have a brain to be—’ He catches Nadeeka’s expression and stops abruptly. ‘Look, I’ll ask around, all right? But I’m not pretending to be a fucking fascist – those people are scum.’
‘Thanks.’ She calls after him as he turns to leave. ‘Actually, there’s one other thing.’
‘I moved back as your security, not your skivvy.’
‘Would you be able to get any data from this?’ Nadeeka holds out Jamie’s watch.
‘Like what – the exact time the bloke crawled out of the Stone Age?’ Scott turns it over in his hands. ‘This thing’s got about as much processing power as a toaster.’
‘Jamie wasn’t interested in gadgets.’
‘Clearly.’
‘Look, can you help me, or not?’ Nadeeka is losing her patience.
‘Well, if you’re going to be like that . . .’ Scott tosses the watch on to the table. ‘It makes no difference to me if the police think he was Benito Mussolini, so why should I put myself out to—’
‘Because I loved him!’ Her voice breaks and she holds on to the back of a chair for support.
Tears that have been held back for too long fall unchecked down her cheeks.
‘And because he loved Maya and Nish like they were his own kids. You might not want to hear that, but it’s true, and you should have been glad they were loved, instead of trying to take away the best thing to happen to us in years! ’
She goes to snatch up the watch, but Scott gets there first, and their hands collide. They stare at each other, then, slowly, Nadeeka takes back her hand.
‘StrideKeepers are pretty basic watches,’ Scott says. ‘And this one’s an early model. No Bluetooth, no wifi.’ He scrutinizes it. ‘People use them for step count really, nothing more.’
‘But will it show you where those steps were taken?’
‘If it’s got GPS.’
‘So will you try?’ She holds Scott’s gaze, not wanting to beg, but at the same time desperate for him to say yes.
She doesn’t want to hand the watch to the police and have them find more damning evidence against Jamie.
She wants to find the truth, and she no longer trusts that Lauren wants that too.
Scott nods. ‘I’ll try.’