Page 54 of Tell No One
“Tickets, please.”
The sound of the conductor’s voice further back on the train broke them apart.
Delaney looked as dazed as Tag felt. There was no one sitting anywhere near them, but Tag came back to reality with a bump. Delaney handed the tickets over and when they’d been checked, gave one to Tag and put the other back in his wallet.
“What’s the plan?” Tag whispered.
“While you go and get your bag from the storage locker, I’m going to go and see my boss. Then we’ll meet up and leave London.”
“How many houses do you have?”
“Enough, hopefully.”
“Are any of them a home?”
“Depends on how you define a home.”
Tag gave him a sad smile. “A place where you feel safe when you close the door, and someone’s there who’s happy to see you, a place where you can be yourself. Somewhere with clean walls, a clean floor, a small garden. Along with a swimming pool, helicopter landing pad…”
Delaney laughed. “Where did you live before you were sent away?”
“The north.”
“Where was your YOI?”
“Mersham Wood.”
“What was it like?”
Tag huffed. What did he think it was like? “I had my own room with a sink, toilet and shower. A better room than most of the ones I’ve stayed in since. But I could walk out of those whenever I liked. We spent a lot of time locked up. More than we should have. People came and inspected, and they criticised the way we were treated. Stuff changed for a while, then it slid back.”
“Did you make friends there?”
“Friends? Well, that’s like trying to definehome.No. I didn’t have friends. I didn’t trust anyone.”
“Who came to see you?”
“No one apart from my supervisor. I never even used the phone. I still had the four quid credit I was given when I left. First time ever, they said.”
Tag gave a quiet chuckle at the fist that squeezed his heart. He was almost surprised it could still beat after all he’d endured. No visits, no letters, nothing. Not that he’d wanted them, but… He felt his breathing quicken and he reined himself back. “I was good. I stayed out of trouble. Mostly.” And when something bad had happened, it was trouble finding him and not the other way round. “Where were you brought up?”
“All over the place.”
“What does that mean?”
“What I said.”
Tag glared. “You want me to answer your questions, but you won’t answer mine?”
“You didn’t have to tell me anything.”
Tag glared harder. “Fuck you.”
Delaney sighed. “My father worked for the Foreign Office. He got posted to different countries and I either went to International Schools in cities where my father worked, or a boarding school in Sussex.”
“What countries?”
“Russia, Israel, Pakistan.”
