Falling More Slowly by Peter Helton

the other. ‘He could have been killed! It’s a miracle he hasn’t been killed! He could have lost an eye, or both. My son could be blind now, d’you realize that? Just from walking along minding his own business. First London, then Glasgow, now here. I mean, London, fair enough, but you’d never expect them to do it here, would you? Not in a park either. Do you have a lead yet? Do you know who did this to him?’
    ‘The inquiry is well under way.’ Platitudes. He turned to the son. What was his name again? ‘How are you feeling, son?’
    ‘I’m not your son. It hurts and I want to go home, okay?’
    ‘Joel! No need to be rude to the man.’ She turned an apologetic face to McLusky. ‘They want to keep him in until tomorrow. As a precaution, they said.’
    ‘Joel, do you feel up to answering a few questions?’
    ‘What kind of questions?’
    ‘Well, for instance, did you notice anyone near the place just before the explosion?’
    ‘How do you mean?’
    ‘Did you notice anyone near the shelter just before the bomb went off?’
    ‘I didn’t see anyone. I didn’t pay any attention, though. Didn’t expect there to be a bomb, did I?’
    ‘And you were walking past? In which direction?’ Joel’s injuries seemed to be on the right side so he presumed the boy had been walking along the path towards town.
    Joel Kerswill confirmed it. ‘I was walking towards Park Street.’
    ‘Why were you there?’
    ‘To look at it. I’d just got back from the Parks Department. I went for an interview.’
    ‘For …’
    ‘Apprenticeship. Gardening. Working in the nurseries and that. At Blaise Castle.’
    ‘Did you get in?’ Austin asked.
    ‘Don’t know yet. I think I deserve to though.’ Joel’s antagonism seemed to melt a little.
    ‘Because of what happened?’ McLusky asked.
    ‘Yeah, don’t you think? I nearly died there. Well, I could have, if I’d sat down for a bit close to where the bomb was. I’d be well dead if I’d sat down. I don’t think they should give it to someone else, it wouldn’t be fair.’
    ‘I should think so, too. But to come back to the moments before the explosion. You said you didn’t see anyone. Was anyone running? Riding a bicycle?’
    ‘Not that I noticed. There was some guy on a motorized skateboard who overtook me? Maybe a minute before? But I didn’t see him near that pavilion thing that blew up. Unless he chucked a hand grenade or something.’
    ‘Okay. We’ll leave it there then but we might need to talk to you again if anything new turns up. Someone will come and take a written statement for you to sign but perhaps later at home, when you’re feeling better.’
    ‘I feel all right, I could go home now.’
    ‘He wants to play on his computer.’ Mrs Kerswill smiled and was rewarded with an embarrassed scowl by her son. ‘His father walked out on us, perhaps the useless sod will get in touch if he reads about this in the paper. A photographer took Joel’s picture for the Post .’ Her son’s scowl deepened. Why did she have to tell everyone? ‘He owes usa fortune in maintenance. And Child Support, in case you were about to ask, are bloody useless. If you ever come across him you can give him a message from me. Right where it hurts.’
    McLusky promised to keep them informed and left. Just before they gained the corridor Austin nudged his arm and nodded in the direction of the nearest bed. The middle-aged patient in it, propped up in a sitting position, was staring straight ahead, oblivious, under a sign warning Nil by mouth . His skin was a cardboard shade of grey.
    Once in the corridor McLusky pointed back at the room. ‘Wasn’t that …?’
    ‘Mr Spranger.’
    ‘I didn’t recognize him without his bulldozer.’
    ‘Wonder what he’s here for.’
    ‘Nothing trivial, one hopes.’
    The receptionist made a phone call and sent them down to the Observation Ward. There a doctor was found who could give them news of the second victim.
    He was a young man, bright,