‘Don’t be concerned,’ he said.
‘Of course I’m concerned. He’s going to go to prison, isn’t he?’
‘Not necessarily.’
‘Hey!’
It was Xavier, walking towards them wearing sunglasses and a smile. He was carrying a bottle of Kronenbourg without an apparent care in the world. Kite wished that he could say something. He could not remember why he had put the needs of BOX 88 ahead of Xavier’s. To his despair, but not to his surprise, Peele instantly dropped back into the role of the cheerful, avuncular schoolmaster. They resumed a dismal small talk, Xavier completely unaware of Kite’s despondency, Peele complaining about the quality of the food at Alford. They made their way back to the house.
‘So your father tells me Ali is buying dinner for everyone in Vence this evening?’
It was the first Kite had heard of it. They were standing underneath the lime tree. Martha glided past wearing a towel and a pair of flip-flops, saying she was heading upstairs for a shower.
‘Yeah,’ Xavier replied. ‘You coming?’
‘Sadly not. I’ll be looking after Charlotte.’ Charlotte was the phantom girlfriend with oyster poisoning. Peele talked about her with expert conviction. ‘But I know the restaurant. You’ll eat very well. Has Ali arranged a table outside?’
‘Dunno,’ Xavier replied.
Kite realised why Peele was so interested. There was a risk of the exiles targeting the restaurant.
‘Well, do have fun,’ he said. ‘It’s been such a lovely surprise seeing you both. I’ve got to be getting back. I’ll pop in and say goodbye to your parents.’
As soon as Peele had driven off, Kite went for a swim in an effort to clear his head. Xavier had brought the backgammon board down to the pool and was playing with Jacqui. Eskandarian had not been seen since lunch. Kite assumed that he was still in his office.
He walked back through the garden on his own, entering the house via the terrace. Earlier in the holiday Rosamund had complained about people walking through the sitting room with wet feet. Kite had left a pair of espadrilles by the door and put them on. He was conscious that his swimming trunks were wet and might drip onto the floor. He picked up a towel from the table and wrapped it around his waist.
Luc came out of his office. All of the relaxed ebullience he had displayed with Peele had vanished. He looked drained of energy and intensely angry.
‘Can I speak to you, please?’ he said.
It took Kite a moment to realise what Luc was holding in his hand. It was the Gameboy.
51
Luc was holding the device as if it was a dead rat. Before he could finish saying: ‘What was this doing in my office?’ Kite jumped into a lie.
‘You found it!’ he exclaimed, striding confidently across the sitting room, beaming with relief. ‘I’ve been looking everywhere for that. Where was it?’
‘Behind a piece of furniture in my office. I was looking for the book for Mr Peele. What was it doing in there, Lockie?’
Luc’s tone of voice was indisputably suspicious. He knew that a device of this kind could be used as a microphone. Kite saw that he was afraid.
‘I’ve no idea,’ he replied. ‘It’s not even working, is it? I smashed the screen but was going to get it repaired—’
There was a look of concentrated animosity on Luc’s face.
‘How did you smash it? When?’
Kite tried to look baffled by the line of questioning, even though he knew exactly what Luc was trying to establish.
‘Just before I came to your house in London. Literally dropped it on the floor as I was heading out the door.’
Xavier’s father turned and walked back into the office. Kite had no choice other than to follow him. As soon as they were inside, Luc closed the door, sealing him in.
‘So why did you not leave it behind?’
Kite shrugged and screwed up his face, as if Luc was asking ridiculous questions to which he had no plausible answers.
‘I don’t understand,’ he said. He was so anxious it was as though someone was pulling at the skin on his chest. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘I’m worried that this should not have been in my office. Why were you playing with it?’
‘I wasn’t.’ They find a microphone, you didn’t put it there. They search your room, somebody planted whatever they found. Never confess. Never break cover. ‘I told you. It’s broken. I think the power comes on, but you can’t see any of the games.’
‘So who took it?’
‘Who took what? The Nintendo? I don’t know. What’s the matter? You seem really angry.’
Luc took a step towards him, teeth bared, as if he was about to strike. The loss of self-control was startling. At first Kite thought that he was watching a man unravel; then he realised that for the first time he was seeing Luc Bonnard for who he really was.
‘I am not angry, Lockie. I am just concerned. I’m trying to find out the truth.’
‘The truth about what?’
‘Who put this in my office?’
Kite felt that he had no alternative other than to repeat what he had already said. He had to try to sow doubt in Luc’s mind.
‘I have no idea. I’ve been using Xav’s Gameboy out here. Maybe José moved mine when we were playing hide-and-seek. It was on my chest of drawers until a couple of days ago.’
Never embellish the lie. Make it short and sweet and get out fast. Kite knew that he must not show that he understood the nature of Luc’s concern. It would never have occurred to a normal eighteen-year-old that a Nintendo Gameboy could be converted into a tentacle nor that Luc would be worried about surveillance.
‘José was in your room?’
Kite took a chance and said: ‘Yeah.’
‘And he took this downstairs?’ Luc again held up the console like some kind of diseased animal. Kite shrugged his shoulders as if to say: ‘How should I know?’
‘It never worked?’ he
