dinner with Ross and now he was in a state.
‘It’ll get better,’ Jennifer said.
‘Bollocks!’ Dante screamed. He threw his dinner at Jennifer and started to sob. ‘I’m sick of everyone going on about my feelings. I want everyone to leave me alone.’
The plate narrowly missed the elderly psychologist, but the carpet and chair were covered with rice and chicken.
‘I’m so useless I can’t even hit an old granny with a plate of food,’ Dante shouted, steaming across the room, slamming the bathroom door and locking himself in.
He looked at his red face in the mirror, before lashing out and violently kicking the toilet seat. He hurled Ross’ wash bag at the wall, then grabbed the little bin off the floor and threw it at the frosted glass window. Instead of crashing through the glass as he’d hoped, it bounced off and hit him on the head.
‘Owwwwwww!’ Dante screamed, collapsing to his knees as Ross banged on the door.
‘Open up,’ Ross shouted. ‘You’re just working yourself into a state. It’s not doing anyone any good, is it?’
‘Sod off!’ Dante said, as he kicked the door, then crashed backwards and sat on the toilet lid.
A penknife blade slid between the door and the bolt and Dante lunged forward as he noticed the bolt turning. He expected Ross, but was surprised to find Jennifer’s slim frame in the doorway.
Dante charged at her stomach, but instead of bowling her over he found himself being spun around. Jennifer twisted Dante’s arm up behind his back, and held him in an uncomfortable restraining position as she pulled him out of the bathroom and sprawled him down across the bed.
‘Calm down,’ Jennifer soothed. ‘I’ll let go as soon as you stop fighting.’
Ross closed in as Dante sobbed hysterically.
‘Keep him still,’ Jennifer said. ‘I’ll get my med bag.’
As Ross sat beside Dante on the bed, stroking his back and trying to get him to calm down, Jennifer dashed across the hall. She opened her room with a credit card-style key and came back moments later with her handbag.
‘How can the Führer get away with it?’ Dante sobbed. ‘He killed my whole family. There’s got to be more evidence.’
Ross had grown attached to Dante and had wet eyes himself as Jennifer rummaged through her bag.
‘Dante, sweetheart,’ Jennifer said, as she twisted the sterile cap off the syringe needle. ‘I need you to keep still for two seconds.’
Dante looked back and saw Jennifer moving towards him, with a five-centimetre needle catching the light.
‘No!’ he screamed.
‘Hold him still, Ross,’ Jennifer said, as she pulled Dante’s trousers down a few centimetres to expose the top of his left buttock. She dabbed his skin with a sterile wipe.
‘He can’t get away with it,’ Dante yelled. ‘Leave me alone. What are you doing?’
Ross pushed Dante firmly against the bed so that he didn’t move as the needle sank into his bum. Jennifer drew a swirl of blood up into the syringe before pressing down to inject a dose of sedative.
After a few seconds, Dante felt himself relax and his eyes shot out of focus. Within twenty the sobbing had stopped, his breathing had gone back to normal and he’d drifted into a deep sleep.
Jennifer looked exhausted and wiped her brow on the back of her wrist. ‘So much for waiting until he fell asleep,’ she said.
Ross rolled Dante on to his back and felt sad as he saw the boy’s tear-streaked face. ‘I’m very fond of him, Jennifer,’ Ross said. ‘I still can’t believe what you told me.’
Jennifer smiled. ‘Nor will Dante when he wakes up in the morning.’
11. STRANGE (REPRISE)
At first Dante thought he was still in the hotel. But there was only one double bed. There was a wall-mounted TV, a kettle, a telephone and a miniature fridge. He didn’t have a clue where he was or how he’d got here. The last thing he remembered was checking into the hotel with Ross Johnson and Jennifer Mitchum.
Dante burrowed around under the duvet and saw that he was naked, except for a thickly padded incontinence pad. He opened out the elastic around the waist and was relieved to find it dry inside.
‘Ross?’ Dante yelled curiously, as he sat up and looked out of the window.
The room was on a corner, six storeys up. A crane hovered a few hundred metres away, its driver lowering glass panels on to a banana-shaped construction site. In front of the building were lawns, a car park and two helipads. Most intriguingly a line of little kids in