This week we have an excerpt from Crime Cymru’s R G Adams latest novel – The Last House …..
The Last House is the second in a series of non-police procedurals featuring intrepid young social worker Kit Goddard, who lives and works in the south Wales town of Sandbeach. The novel centres around Kit’s investigation of a reclusive family. Rhian Meredith and her seventeen-year-old son Dylan live in isolation at the top end of a valley, beneath the looming Mynydd Oer. Their only friend is their long-time neighbour, John.
Dylan has stopped attending school and has been seen with an injury. In this scene, Kit tries to persuade reluctant, resentful Dylan to open up about what is going on and the history of his family.
As she drove, she noticed that his fingers were drumming slightly on his knees in time to the music. Taking this as a sign that he was ready to climb down, she searched about for a way to start the conversation.
‘Do you like this?’
He wrinkled his nose. ‘Not sure. What even is it?’
‘Twenty One Pilots. “Stressed Out”.’
He listened intently for a few lines. ‘What’s he saying about tree houses?’
‘Out of student loans and tree house homes / We all would take the latter. It’s about growing up.’
‘So, like, he doesn’t want to be an adult?’
‘Yeah, I think. He means life’s easier when you’re little, you know?’
‘Yeah.’ He nodded then sank back into silence, staring out of the window. John had said that Rhian had managed quite well for a while. Maybe Dylan was thinking about the days when his mum had been better, and he’d been free to be a child.
‘What do you think he means by that line, then, Dyl? Wish we could turn back time to the good old days / When our momma sang us to sleep.’
He turned to face her, eager to get the answer right. ‘I guess he means he liked it when his mum looked after him, made everything all right, maybe?’
‘Yeah, I think so too. It must have been like that when you were small, before your mum got ill?’
He nodded. ‘Is that a message for me, then?’
‘Sorry?’
‘Did they put that in the song for me to hear, the bit about my mother?’
‘Dylan, no, of course not. How could someone do that?’ Anxiety flared hot in her chest and stomach as she strained to grasp his meaning.
‘It’s all right, I get what you mean now. You muddled me up, that’s all, talking as if it was about my mother.’
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything like that at all. It’s just a song.’
‘Yeah, sorry, I don’t know what I meant. It is right, though, it was different back then, when I was small. But that was only because we didn’t know.’
‘Can you tell me about that? What didn’t you know?’
He rubbed his fingers across his forehead, eyes closed. ‘It’s hard to explain. We need to keep safe now, that’s all. I can’t say any more.’
‘Keep safe? From what?’
‘Nothing. It doesn’t matter.’
‘It does matter. It’s my job to understand and help if something’s harming you. Just tell me what you mean and we can sort it out.’
‘I said it doesn’t matter. Now leave it.’ He fidgeted in his seat and out of the corner of her eye she saw his fingers playing along the door and searching out the handle. Would he actually open it and jump out if she pushed him anymore? She’d had a kid do that to her once before, and although he’d rolled expertly over onto the pavement and run away unharmed, she wasn’t about to chance it again.
‘All right, sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. Tell you what, I’ll see if I can find something you like on my playlist. What are you into?’
‘Rap,’ he answered at once.
‘Great, so what, Kanye? Or Drake?’
‘Yeah, and Eminem, Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar. But Drake’s the best.’
‘Of course. How did you get into it?’
‘The boys used to play it – at school, in the break.’
‘So you did have a few mates at school, then?’
‘I used to.’
‘Do you still see them?’
‘Nope.’
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him again what had changed but she could see she was on thin ice. She’d find a way to come back to it more obliquely later on. Flicking through her playlist, she found Hotline Bling and left him to enjoy it in peace until they arrived at the drive-through.
‘What do you fancy? Big Mac?’
He didn’t answer at once and when she turned to look at him, she could see his teeth worrying at his lip. ‘I’m not all that hungry.’
‘Have a double cheeseburger then, no fries and a Coke?’
‘OK.’
After ordering and collecting their food she pulled out of the car park and drove back up the main road for a few minutes until she reached a lay-by just past the entrance to the Hir. She pulled into it and handed Dylan his burger and drink. She’d hoped to be able to see right across to where the thick pine forest started on the other side of the valley, running all the way from there up to Rock. As kids, Kit and Tyler had loved racing around in the soft light under the canopies of the branches, hunting for fairies and elves. This distant view of the forest had always marked the start of the Hir in Kit’s mind, bringing the joy of knowing that she would shortly see her grandad. But today it was obscured by the rain, which lashed down relentlessly, hammering in the otherwise silent, increasingly steamy car. She tried opening the window a crack to get a breath of fresh air but a wet blast on her face made her shut it again immediately. She was acutely conscious of the lapse in conversation, and of the confined, muggy space.
Glancing at Dylan, she noticed that he was fiddling with the straw she’d given him for his Coke, rubbing the paper wrapper back and forth between his fingers. His burger lay unopened in his lap. He looked sullen, but that was the default facial expression for any kid who felt acutely awkward. He was cross with her because the situation was uncomfortable, and she ought to know what to do about it. It occurred to her that she had tried all along to tread carefully with him; maybe that was where she was going wrong. Maybe he needed her to take control.
Both The Last House and its predecessor novel Allegation are published by riverrun, the literary crime imprint of Quercus.
Amazon links:
Allegation: https://amzn.eu/d/1q9pVP7
The Last House: https://amzn.eu/d/aUWRdxP
You can read more about R G Adams here:
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