20.5

Shard took Max inside the hut. On the wall was a large screen.

“Look,” he said, flicking the remote.

Max saw on the screen an exact replica of what he was looking at. Every movement, every flicker of his eye, all there, clear as a bell.

“Incredible,” he said, stunned.

Live film running effortlessly, painlessly through his own eyes – had he not seen it he would never have believed it possible.

“That’s amazing.”

It took a while to sink in before it dawned on him to wonder –

“Since when?”

“Since the operation on your knee.”

Max forced himself back – the arthroscopy.

“What – seven months ago?”

“That’s it,” Shard chuckled.

Mate… that is a fucking long time!

They know everything!

“So… when you told me those things… you knew.”

“I knew.”

“Even Kirsten?”

“I knew about Kirsten.”

So…

“So… it’s all a fraud, really, isn’t it?” Max said, uncertainly.

“It was the truth!” Shard said emphatically.

“What about in the booking office? When I went to buy the ticket home. That broken tape – was that…?”

Just another fraud!

“We had nothing to do with that. We didn’t even know you were going there. No Max,” Shard said with a grin. “That was a genuine sign… something purely between you and God.”