Chapter 18
After the painful admission to Barry of his suspicions about his brother earlier that day, Max is back at home on his couch. He doesn’t have the energy or inclination to do anything for a while. The TV is on but muted and a one litre tub of yogurt sits empty beside him with the handle of a spoon sticking out the top. He stares at his laptop screen as he watches YouTube videos. He plays music videos and cute animals doing stupid things, anything just as long as they take his mind off the massive mistake he’s now living with.
Tahlia comes in the front door - she can see Max from where she is. She’s curious. “Hey. What are you doing home?” she asks as she moves into the lounge room and then spots the yogurt. “Did you eat all the yogurt just now?”
Max replies, “I feel a gentle urge to visit the bathroom. Gentle, yet urgent. To answer your other question: Barry is why I'm home.”
“Barry?”
Max puts his laptop down. “Sit here for a sec,” he says as he pats the couch beside him. Tahlia takes a seat and Max proceeds to tell her a few of the minor details of the murders he’d been investigating. He informs her of the burns on the hands of the victims and how they made him think of his own scars with this leading him to think about Heath and if he could be involved. He told her how he laughed off the idea as absurd; dismissing it as stupid. He didn’t tell her about finding his name on the victims as he thought it would needlessly scare her.
Tahlia was confused about Max connecting the victims to Heath just because of the burns on their hands. Since Max didn’t speak of the biggest connection - the one where his name was carved into the abdomens of an old man and a mother to two young boys - things that would have cleared up her confusion, he just brushed off her query.
He ended his story telling Tahlia about keeping his theory about his brother secret for a few days so he could check with his parents and when he finally spoke about it, Barry took him off the case and sent him home for a week. When he's finished speaking, Tahlia's response surprises him, “Heath? So, is this time off with or without pay?”
Maybe it's the stress of the last few days or maybe his wife’s reaction was genuinely funny, either way Max bursts into laughter. When he stops laughing, he says, “Suspended with pay, for now. The whole thing is stupid though. If Heath is to blame I would put him away faster than anyone else.”
Tahlia doesn’t buy what he’s saying. ‘Yeah but there’s a conflict of interest, right? What would happen if you arrested him yourself and took him to court? Wouldn’t the defence stomp all over you?”
“Wow. Thanks. Whose side are you on exactly?”
Tahlia puts her hands up defensively. “I’m just asking.”
“Honey, there’s no allegiance here. I’d investigate and arrest him like any other criminal. Doubt me all you want.”
“What?!” Tahlia is offended. “I never said I doubted you and I never said your heart wouldn’t be in the right place but you’ve gone on in the past, at length, about how there are procedures in place to stop cops abusing power and all that stuff.”
Max doesn’t hide the fact he’s over the conversation. “I'm sure it's all a coincidence. He can't be involved.”