booms close by. ‘Your dad is pretty damn pissed off with you.’
She jumps. Rick has followed her. His bulk fills the doorway and his hands hold on to the top of the frame while the rest of his body leans in.
Desi is completely unprepared for this. She stares at him.
‘Nothing to say for yourself, eh?’ He walks into the room, and instinctively she jumps up, taking a few steps away towards the window. The space is tiny; there’s nowhere to go.
As he gets nearer, the faint odour of sweat, fish and beer precedes him. He comes so close that his distended belly is almost touching her, and then his face leans close to hers. ‘You should be bloody grateful you’re not my daughter,’ he sneers, his breath full of cold, stale menace. ‘I’d a dragged you back kickin’ and screamin’.’
As he towers over her, she concentrates on holding her ground, trying not to show her fear. Then they hear the front door open, and Desi’s courage surges.
‘Believe me, I am grateful,’ she mutters, as Rick begins to turn away.
He swings around. ‘Be careful, Desi,’ he says quietly, glaring, his eyes two cold, dark stones. ‘Be very, very careful.’
32
Pete
‘Maya, are you okay?’
Pete watches Maya as she slumps over at the kitchen table, burying her head in her arms. Desi casts him a desperate glance, before she takes the chair opposite Maya.
‘I know it’s a bit of a shock.’ She reaches across and tentatively touches her daughter’s hand. ‘I’d always planned to tell you once you were old enough to understand, but I never expected her to come here. None of your father’s family has seemed interested in us up until now.’
‘She’s right,’ Pete adds. ‘I wrote to them myself. After the shock had subsided, they didn’t want to know.’
Maya looks up, and Pete sees how exhausted she is. He wishes they could rewind the clock ten years, reassure her there was nothing to worry about and tuck her up in bed. It had been so easy to take care of her when she was a little girl, while they could shelter her from everything they didn’t want her to know.
Maya briefly chews on a nail. ‘Does Kate know she’s my half-sister?’
‘I think so, yes.’
‘Well, that’s fantastic, because she’s been totally stand-offish towards me since she got here. Fucking charming. Whatever time she had with my dad, it was more than I had.’
‘Let’s see what she’s got to say tomorrow …’ Desi’s tone is consoling.
Maya holds a hand up to stop her. ‘Whatever. I don’t care. I’m going to sleep in the lounge, with Luke.’
Pete follows her out of the kitchen. ‘Maya, go to bed. I’ll stay with Luke. Get a few hours of proper rest – you look beat.’
Maya stops and sighs. ‘Okay. As long as you promise to come and get me if Luke wakes up.’
‘I promise.’ As she brushes past him, he adds, ‘Your mother isn’t your enemy, you know. She loves you very much.’
Maya gives no sign she’s heard. Just keeps walking towards her room.
Wearily, he returns to the kitchen. Desi remains at the table.
‘I don’t know how to talk to her any more,’ she says sadly.
‘This is hardly a normal night, Des. Let things settle down. I’m sure she’ll be okay.’
He hopes he sounds more reassuring than he feels.
They are quiet for a while, and then she asks, ‘What are you going to do about Berani?’
Pete closes his eyes and sees Berani holding the spiky outer shell of a durian, his pliable lips pressed against the inside, pulling out the soft, foul-smelling fruit. That had been the last time Pete had seen him. A few hours later he had walked the forty-minute uphill trek to get mobile reception, and had been given the message to call Maya. When he did, she had been near hysterical.
Berani had been doing well at that point. Pete had apologised profusely to everyone involved in the project, both on the ground and at the zoo, but insisted he was needed at home. A week after his return, he’d heard that Berani was back in the release centre with a skin infection. All the news he’d gleaned from that point was concerning, as Berani got sicker and sicker, with one thing after another.
Pete was supposed to stay there for three months, a vital touchstone for the orang-utan as he adjusted to a new and dramatically different existence. But once Pete came back, he heard it all second hand, and every worrying update felt