‘Your mum’s pretty cool,’ remarked AJ as he sat on the floor of Joe’s bedroom. Joe, sprawled on his bed with his legs half way up the wall, shrugged.

‘Yeah, I have to admit she’s great about inviting our friends to stay for dinner and that,’ he replied, tossing a basketball towards the ceiling and catching it again.

‘Nah, it’s more than that,’ said AJ. ‘The way she talks to people. She’s… I don’t know… kind. Like she really cares.’

Joe shrugged again.

‘Well, she’s your typical ‘mum’, I guess,’ said Joe. AJ rubbed at his face with the back of his hand and looked around the untidy but essentially clean bedroom. He took in books, trophies and photographs on the shelves. It looked nothing like the room he shared with his two teenage cousins.

‘What about your mum?’ asked Joe, still tossing the ball up and down. ‘What’s she like?’

AJ looked across at his friend’s face, wanting to gauge his reaction to what he was about to tell him.

‘Mum overdosed when I was about 6,’ said AJ quietly. Joe stopped tossing the ball and locked eyes with the other boy. In contrast to the disgust and horror AJ was half expecting to see, there was nothing but amazement and compassion in Joe Hardy’s blue eyes.

‘Man, that’s sad. I’m so sorry.’

‘Hey, it was a long time ago’, AJ told him.

‘So, do you live with your Dad?’ asked Joe. AJ shook his head and gave a wry grin.

‘My father shot through before I was even born’, he informed Joe. ‘I live with my aunt and uncle and my two cousins. My aunt’s kept me in clothes and meals. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ungrateful. But man, she’s nothing like your mum.’

Joe swallowed a sudden lump in his throat and kept his gaze on AJ for a little while longer before continuing to toss the ball. He simultaneously felt intense sadness for AJ and overwhelming gratitude for the family he himself had. His reverie was broken by the sudden appearance of Frank who entered the room without knocking and confiscated the ball before sitting down heavily on the edge of the bed.

‘So what’s happening, AJ?’ asked the older Hardy, holding the ball just far enough out of Joe’s reach.

‘Nothing much,’ replied AJ, grinning at the brothers’ antics. My English teacher passed Joe’s message on to me a while back. I was gonna contact you guys straight away, but then I saw all that stuff on the news about the Winter case. I figured every man and his dog was gonna try and talk to you, so I waited until things died down a bit. I rang Joe this morning and ended up meeting him at the mall.’

‘That was just after you, lover boy, got that call from Callie and ditched me,’ said Joe, pretending to sulk.

Joe gave up trying to snatch the ball back from Frank and put his arms behind his head, his feet still up the wall.

‘Well, it was probably just as well that you didn’t try and call during the trial,’ Frank said ruefully. ‘The phone rang hot day and night. We had reporters camped out on our lawn. Some television station executive even contacted Dad wanting to know whether we’d be willing to appear in some documentary movie based on the case. It took ages before she’d take no for an answer. It was difficult to even leave the house for a while there.’

‘It was pretty wild,’ agreed Joe. ‘Mum even had to arrange for the physio to come to the house to help with my shoulder rehab. It was a bit of a nightmare going anywhere.’

AJ was wide-eyed as he heard Frank and Joe talk about the aftermath of the Winter case. He still couldn’t believe he had been befriended by teenage detectives who risked their lives to solve cases. While it was true that they had inadvertently stumbled upon the serial killer, Winter, while on a camping trip, their heroics had managed to see him brought to justice.

‘How’s your shoulder now?’ AJ asked Joe. He had seen the news footage of Joe with his arm still in a sling. Sustaining a bullet wound can’t have been an easy thing to recover from.

‘It’s fine’, replied Joe. ‘I’m not doing very heavy upper body training yet, but it’s nearly 100%.’

‘Pity the same can’t be said about your room cleaning ability,’ said Frank, glancing around the messy room. ‘I’m surprised Aunt Gertrude hasn’t been in here tutting and scolding you already.’

‘Oh, she’d be disappointed if I was as boringly neat as you!’ scoffed Joe as he dodged a whack on the head with the basketball.

Suddenly there was a sharp knock at the bedroom door followed immediately by the swift entrance of Aunt Gertrude.

‘Time for dinner, boys,’ she announced. ‘Joseph Hardy, please remove your feet from the wall! This room is an absolute disaster area. Fancy inviting a guest into such chaos! Frank, that ball belongs outside. Quickly now! If the meal goes cold you’ll only have yourselves to blame!’