Darkness Runs Deep by Claire McNeel

Author:Claire McNeel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Published: 2024-01-14T23:56:16+00:00

THIRTEEN

Early Saturday afternoon, Rick approached a property with a red Ducati in the driveway and several bikes and an assortment of balls casually tossed across the lawn.

He rang the doorbell, and fourteen-year-old Will Lafferty opened the door.

‘Hey, Will, is your brother home?’

‘Hey, Rick. Yeah, he’s here. I’ll get him.’

‘Thanks, mate.’

Rick leaned in slightly and could just make out a conversation between the brothers.

‘I don’t care, tell him I’m not home.’

‘No, you tell him.’

‘Will, fucking tell him I’m not here.’

After a brief wait, Will came back to the door. ‘Um, sorry. He’s out with Mum.’

‘No worries. Can you get him to give me a call when he gets back?’

Will nodded, and closed the door.

*

Inside the house, Ben Lafferty was watching TV with a distracted expression and clasped, calloused hands. Will – a miniature version of Ben, right down to their chin-length blond hair – came back in.

‘Why don’t you talk to Rick anymore?’

‘Mind your own business.’

‘Fine.’ Will used the remote from the edge of the couch to change the channel to the Essendon v Adelaide preliminary final.

‘Change it back,’ demanded Ben.

‘Why? You weren’t even paying attention,’ said Will as he dropped onto the couch. ‘And the game’s about to start.’

Ben turned to face his brother. ‘Change it back!’ he repeated, anger rising.

‘No,’ said Will.

Ben jumped up and aggressively grabbed the remote from his brother’s hand.

‘Hey! Give it back!’ Will stood and reached out in a failed attempt to wrestle it from his brother’s strong grasp.

Ben shoved him down, hard, but showed a flicker of remorse as his little brother fell heavily on the couch, a stunned expression splashed across his young face.

‘We’re not watching footy. Not in this house. Got it?’ said Ben, his face inches from his brother’s. Will nodded vigorously as he watched Ben storm out of the room.

*

Late the next afternoon, Billy and Rick ran through the streets of Gerandaroo, matching each other stride for stride as they headed towards Ben’s house. They came to a stop outside a partially open garage door, where they could hear a familiar pounding sound. Rick banged on the garage. ‘Hey, Ben, ya decent?’ he called.

The pounding stopped but there was no response.

‘Come on, mate, can you open the door so we don’t have to duck under? I mean, I’ll do it, but I don’t much feel like playing limbo.’

There was still no response from Ben, but the garage door started to open. The boys watched as Ben returned to punching the bag.

‘How about taking a break from that and coming for a run with us?’ Billy suggested.

Ben remained expressionless as he continued to work the punching bag. But after a few moments, he flicked his gaze towards them. ‘Why?’

‘Because you’re looking a bit unfit,’ said Rick.

‘Yeah, you could use a good run,’ added Billy.

As the corners of Ben’s mouth edged towards a smile, he suppressed it. ‘Nah, I’m good on my own,’ he replied, followed by a one-two punch.

‘You see, the thing is, mate,’ said Rick, ‘we’ve all tried to be on our own these last few months.

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