Page 21 of Rat

Rory widened his eyes. Selfish was an understatement.

“There was a hell of a lot of bad points, and as far as I can see, no good ones.”

Erica hummed. “His good points happened when the lights were off.”

“Urgh.” Rory clutched his throat. “You hear that? It’s the sound of me gagging.”

“Oh, come on, it’s not as bad as that guy you were seeing.”

Rory’s cheeks flushed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh come on, the old guy.”

“What old guy?”

“You know exactly who I’m talking about. Dad saw him coming downstairs and assumed he was the plumber he’d asked to come over. He led him into the bathroom to show him the shower, and neither you nor yourfriendcorrected him.”

Rory turned his flaming face away from Morris. “That was so embarrassing. Luckily, Albert knew how to fix it.”

“Albert! That was his name. Albert the ancient.”

Rory tried to shush his sister.

“You know,” Erica continued, “I’m pretty sure he was Kelly Smith’s dad.”

“Who the hell is Kelly Smith?”

“A girl in my class at school.”

Morris cleared her throat, then tapped her watch.

“I’ve got to go,” Rory said.

“So soon?”

“I’m sorry.”

Erica sighed. “Dad would be proud of you.”

Rory squeezed his eyes shut. “No, he wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, he would—”

“I’m…I’m not who you think I am.”

“You’re my baby brother. You tried and tried to get into the police force, kept getting knocked back, but you got there eventually, and look at you now,undercover.”

Rory gritted his teeth. He remembered the constant rejection, over and over, throughout his life. He’d never been good enough, always found tests hard. He had three police entry test failures to his name, then Hamish stepped in and helped him.

Morris cleared her throat again but louder, then lifted her eyebrow.

“Who was that?” Erica asked.

“It was a toilet struggling to flush.”

Morris narrowed her eyes and turned away.

“Eww, are you talking to me on the toilet?”

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