Deity

‘How long were you talking outside your house?’

‘About five minutes. No more.’

‘And did Kyle say anything other than to thank you and invite you to his party?’

‘No.’ Jake decided against mentioning the ten-ton truck.

‘Then what?’

‘Then I went back in.’

‘You went back in? But forty minutes later. .’

‘I listened to the CD and decided I didn’t like it so I went looking for him to give it back. I was on the way to his house. .’ He shrugged as though the rest was obvious.

‘And when you found him, Wilson and his friends were beating him up.’

‘Yes.’

‘This time you didn’t step in.’

‘There was no need. Wilson stopped when he saw me.’

‘And Kyle came over to you.’

‘Yes.’

‘Then what?’

When Jake spoke his voice was barely audible. ‘I threw it on the ground.’

‘What?’

‘The CD.’

‘What did Kyle say to that?’ No reply but Jake’s lip began to quiver. ‘Was he upset?’

‘Yes.’

Brook nodded. ‘You betrayed me when I needed you most. Is that what the text was referring to?’

Jake looked at Brook. There were tears in his eyes. ‘Looks like it.’

‘Then he walked back over to Wilson.’

‘You’ve seen the film.’

‘Then Wilson knocked him out.’

‘Yes.’

‘Did he say anything?’

‘Who?’

‘Wilson.’

Jake laughed bitterly, through the tears. ‘After he hit Kyle, he got all self-righteous. He said Kyle liked the violence and that disgusted him, like the fat fucker and his thick crew were offended by having to smack him around, like Kyle was a pervert and they’d been forced to hit him.’ Jake let out a quivering sigh. ‘Then Wilson left. Said he was going to get laid to get the gayness out of his head.’

‘Wilson said that?’ Brook looked up at Noble. ‘Did he say where?’

‘No. It was just talk anyway. That fat sherm couldn’t get laid if he was a carpet.’

‘Then what?’ said Brook.

‘Then I tried to help Kyle. I went to get water from the stream.’

‘But he ran off into the fields.’

‘Yes.’

‘Did he say anything?’

‘He said he hated me.’

Brook studied Jake. ‘But you know that wasn’t true, don’t you?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘A gay young man giving you presents. That tells me quite a lot.’

‘Like what?’

‘His mum told us Kyle was in love,’ chipped in Noble. There was silence for several minutes.

‘Kyle isn’t an active homosexual, according to Mrs Kennedy. He has crushes on people from afar. Do you think he could have been in love with you?’ asked Brook finally.

Jake looked up in confusion then returned his eyes to the bed. He opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it.

‘Okay. Was that the last time you saw Kyle?’ asked Brook. Jake didn’t answer.

‘Well, was it?’

‘To speak to, yes.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I saw him the next night.’

‘Did you!’ exclaimed Brook. ‘What about Wilson? Was that the last time you saw him?’

Jake’s brow furrowed in confusion. ‘Actually, yes.’

‘You didn’t follow Kyle into the fields?’

‘No.’

‘And you didn’t go after Wilson?’

‘No, why would I?’

‘To exact revenge for the attack on your friend,’ offered Noble.

‘I picked up the CD and went home. End of.’ Jake finished his water and wiped his mouth.

Brook gazed at Jake. ‘So you did go.’

‘Go where?’

‘To the party.’

Jake looked away. ‘I told you before, no.’

‘But if you saw Kyle, that wasn’t true, was it?’ No reply. ‘You stood at the same lamp-post, the one I first saw you under when we searched Kyle’s room. You were seen.’

Jake looked glassy-eyed into the distance. ‘I went to the house. I stood under the streetlight — that’s true. I wasn’t sure whether to go in. After I’d thrown his gift back in his face. .’

‘Then why go at all?’

‘I’d bought him a present. To say sorry.’

‘Picnic at Hanging Rock?’

‘Yes. We’d seen some of it in Media Studies that day. He watched it all with the others. It blew Kyle away. He wrote a review of it the same day and gave that to me as well.’

‘Where is it?’

‘On my computer.’

‘And the DVD?’

‘I’ve still got it. We were watching it the day you came into Media Studies. Rusty brought it the previous week but he hadn’t turned up.’

‘So what happened? Did Kyle throw your gift back in your face?’

‘No, nothing like that.’

‘What then?’

‘I couldn’t go in so I left,’ shouted Jake. There was an edge of hysteria in his voice.

‘You didn’t go in the house?’

‘No.’

‘But you’d bought Kyle a present. You went all the way to his house. Why couldn’t you go in?’

Jake clenched a fist. ‘I tried to go in. I tried but I couldn’t hear anything — no music, no talking — so I went round the side of the house to see what was going on. There was a crack in the curtain, I could see into the living room.’

‘What did you see?’

‘They were playing some weird game.’

Brook looked up at Noble. ‘Game? What game?’

‘Becky and Adele were on the floor. Their faces were white and they were just lying there. They looked like they were dead and Kyle was filming them with Rusty’s camcorder.’