Deep Wate - Sarah Epstein Page 0,103

his weight from one leg to the other. ‘Chloe said that?’ There’s a hint of disbelief and hurt in his words. ‘Well I’m still not telling you where Henry’s hat is. I already told Chloe I’m taking it to Sergeant Doherty tomorrow.’

‘For god’s sake!’ Tom drags his hands through his hair and paces in my direction. I shrink behind the boulder as he turns sharply and stalks back towards Raf. ‘Do you know how exhausting this has been? To always stay one step ahead? I wanted to get Mason home safely, and suddenly my whole scholarship was in jeopardy. My whole future. Everything I worked so hard for.’

‘What are you—?’

‘My grandpa cried when he heard I’d got into university. No one in his family has ever been, and he and Nan keep telling me how proud they are. It’s crushing me.’

‘Seriously mate, you’ve lost me,’ Raf says. ‘I don’t know what’s going on. Why don’t we go home and talk about it?’

‘Talking won’t help!’ Tom yells. His voice echoes out over the water. Raf is stunned into silence.

‘Tom,’ I say, stepping onto the edge of Devil’s Rock. Raf startles. Tom jerks around to face me. ‘Talking will help. We’ll explain it all to Sergeant Doherty. We’re going to figure this out.’

Tom stares at me, his face crumpling. ‘I don’t know how to fix it. I can’t fix it.’ His voice catches in a sob. Raf looks from Tom to me, his eyes wide in alarm.

I gesture with steady hands. ‘It’s okay. We need everybody to understand what happened, that’s all.’

‘But you hate me now. You hate me.’ His eyes spill over. He yanks his glasses off and swipes tears with the back of his hand. ‘Everybody will hate me. I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t see him until it was too late.’

‘It was an accident, right?’ I ask. ‘You panicked?’

I think about how meticulously Tom covered everything up and know that’s going to look really, really bad when all of this comes out.

‘He hit the steel barrier and he wasn’t moving. I didn’t know what to do.’ Tom’s voice is pleading. ‘I had to get Mason out of there so he didn’t find out. I didn’t want him to find out.’

From the corner of my eye I notice Raf ’s body sag as he pieces it together. I glance at him and his face is slack with shock. I feel an urge to comfort him.

‘When I came back it was too late,’ Tom says. ‘He was already gone.’

A fresh round of sobs racks his body and a painful ache is growing in mine.

‘Where, Tom?’ I manage.

‘I didn’t have any choice,’ he croaks, not hearing me. ‘I had to cover it with a lie. Then cover that with a lie. Then another, then another.’

‘I understand,’ I say, even though I don’t understand at all.

‘And you kept pushing and pushing for answers. You wouldn’t let it go.’ He dabs his wet nose with the sleeve of his hoodie. ‘Now I’m in too deep. There’s no other choice but to leave.’

My stomach rolls. ‘No. No, Tom. There is another choice. You need to tell us where Henry is.’

He stares at the ground, vigorously shaking his head.

‘Come on, Tom,’ I say. ‘I know you regret it. Let’s end it all now. You can come clean to Sergeant Doherty.’

The tears have stopped and Tom frowns at me like that suggestion is ridiculous. ‘I’m not going to prison like my dad.’

‘Speak to Sergeant Doherty,’ I say. ‘Explain what happened.’

‘You think he’s going to care that it was an accident?’ Tom says. ‘Or Mason, or Ivy? Everyone will turn on me.’

‘Tom—’

He moves towards Raf ’s backpack on the picnic rug. ‘Give me the hat.’

Raf mirrors his movements. ‘Don’t touch my bag, mate.’

‘So you do have it here,’ Tom says. ‘Just let me take it and that will be the end of this.’

He darts forwards to grab it but Raf is faster. He plucks the backpack from the ground, swinging it away and out of Tom’s reach.

‘Tom,’ I plead. ‘You need to tell us where Henry is!’

He’s ignoring me. His only focus is Raf ’s backpack. He lunges for it and tackles Raf in the process. The two of them tussle, their bodies thumping into one another, shoes skidding against rock. Raf tumbles onto one knee and I jump in to pull Tom away by the shoulder. He shrugs me off and shoves me backwards. I fall awkwardly, landing hard on my backside and cracking both