Page 58 of Safe Enough

Cameron looked across the room at Mason. Kelly Key followed his gaze.

“Him?” she said. “I wouldn’t do him. He’s mad.”

“Suppose you did.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“We’re playing let’s-pretend here,” Cameron said. “Suppose you did him, and he stole your money and your earring.”

“That’s not even a real earring.”

“Isn’t it?”

Kelly shook her head. “It’s a charm from a charm bracelet. You guys are hopeless. Couldn’t you see that? It’s supposed to be fastened onto a bracelet. Through that little hoop at the top? You can see the wire doesn’t match.”

We all stared at Mason Mason’s ear. Then I looked at Cameron. I saw his eyes do the blank thing again. The channel-changing thing.

“I could arrest you, Kelly Key,” he said.

“But?”

“But I won’t, if you play ball.”

“Play ball how?”

“Swear out a statement that Mason Mason stole ninety quid and a charm bracelet from you.”

“But he didn’t.”

“What part of let’s-pretend don’t you understand?”

Kelly Key said nothing.

“You could leave out your professional background,” Cameron said. “If you want to. Just say he broke into your house. While you were in bed asleep. The homeowner being in bed asleep always goes down well.”

Kelly Key took her gaze off Mason. Turned back to Cameron.

“Would I get my stuff back afterward?” she asked.

“What stuff?”

“The ninety quid and the bracelet. If I’m saying he stole them from me, then they were mine to begin with, weren’t they? So I should get them back.”

“Jesus Christ,” Cameron said.

“It’s only fair.”

“The bracelet is imaginary. How the hell can you get it back?”

“It can’t be imaginary. There’s got to be evidence.”

Cameron’s eyes went blank again. The channel changed. He told Kelly to stay where she was and pulled me back across the room, to the corner.

“We can’t just manufacture a case,” I said.

He looked at me, exasperated. Like the idiot child.

“We’re not manufacturing a case,” he said. “We’re manufacturing a number. There’s a big difference.”