The Uninvited

sobbing, perhaps cartoon noises.Stephanie opens up and I hear two menasking her questions, and the murmur ofher answers, and the sound of equipmentbeing manoeuvred. Freddy shows no signsof interest. I hear Stephanie talking indistress and then a man – Southeast Asian,possibly Malay – puts his head around thekitchen door. He seems shocked to see Ihave been cooking, but I point at Freddy.The man says, ‘Just to tell you we’reoff. We’re taking your friend Stephaniewith us, is that what you agreed?’ Hethinks I am Kaitlin’s husband. I see nopoint in correcting him. ‘Normally thiswould be a police matter. But they’resnowed under. I understand your son’scommitted a serious crime. That meanshe’ll go on the list and be assigned to a