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.''We'll be fine.''Are you sure?''Yes,' I said.'Though there is something you could do.Stop off on your way past and have a word to Pita.Tell him to lock up at six and ask him to bring the keys up here to the house.I'll do the till and the alarm later on.''Will do,' the Old Man said.I showed them out.Ma turned on the doorstep and gave me a big hug.'Take care of her,' she said.'I will.'The Old Man still looked a bit wound up.He shook my hand and said nothing.Back inside, I made Gith a cup of tea.Milk and two sugars.When I took it in to her she moved and then sat up.I opened the curtains to let a bit more light into the room.'Ma and Dad were here,' I said.She nodded and reached out for the tea, wrapped her hands around the mug and drank.'How are you?' I asked.She gave a little shrug.Then she patted the bed beside her.I went and sat there, on top of the covers.I wasn't sure whether that was what she meant.'Do you want to talk about it?' I asked.She gave a maybe kind of shift of her shoulders.Any words she had were gone for now.This sometimes happens if she's seriously upset.'It was the man from the van.Right?'Yes.'Was it Ray Tackett?'She didn't know.'Do you know Ray?'No.She made a sign for pen on paper.I went and fetched the pad and the ballpoint.She put her mug of tea down on the bedside table and drew her knees up under the covers to form a base for the pad.She bent over it and started to draw, slow and tense.I sat down beside her again and waited.The picture looked like this.I felt useless looking at it.'I don't know this bloke.''Argh!' It was a scraping sound from back in her throat.She hit her knees with her fist and twisted her head from side to side.'Sorry,' I said.'Sorry.'She waved the drawing at me and then patted her head, pulled at her hair.I didn't get it.I kept looking at the big, stare-y eyes.They were like glasses.Was that what she meant?'Does he wear glasses?'Gith let go of me and flopped back on the pillows.I felt like an idiot.Then I caught sight of the bruise on her wrist again.I reached out and took her hand, turned it so that we could both see the mark.It made me mad.'He hurt you.'Yes.She was looking down at it.'Here? Nowhere else?'No.'And he said bad things?'Yes.'He said if you told anyone about seeing him the other week, he'd do things to you?'Yes.She squeezed her eyes shut.I could feel the trembling start in her arm.'Okay,' I said.'That's enough.' I moved close and hugged her.The pad and pen slid to the floor.She leaned into me.'I'm dumb,' I said.I felt her nod.It didn't make me feel good.***WHEN THERE WAS a knock on the door at five past six, I guessed it was Pita.Instead, I found Brenda Paddigon.She had the pink teddy bear under her arm.'Ah.' I took it from her.'I'd forgotten all about this.She'll be glad to have it.'One of its paws had a dirty mark but otherwise it looked okay.'And I have to give you these too.' She held out the keys to the service station.'Your bloke down there said as long as I was coming up here.''That's a bit bloody casual of him,' I said.'Quite.' She smiled.She had a nice smile.It made me see what a good-looking woman she was.She was a few years older than me, I guess.Brown eyes and wavy deep red hair cut to her shoulders, brownish skin dotted with even browner dark freckles.She was wearing a pale blue shirt with the top buttons undone.Freckles there, too, and a good length of cleavage.I felt awkward, like I'd somehow got her all wrong before.'Come in if you like,' I said, stepping back.'Thanks.''Gith's asleep.' We went into the living room.'A cup of tea?' I asked.'Or a drink?''Oh, a drink.Why not?'I figured I might have a problem then.'It'll have to be beer,' I said.'We're not real civilised round here.''Oh.' She wasn't sure but she gave me a grin, like she was telling herself everything was fine.'Beer it is, then.'I put the bear down on the sofa.'We could go out onto the verandah.It's nice out there at this time of day.''All right.'I fetched the beer, remembered that she might want a glass.Her café was a smart sort of place.It was right next to Bank Antiques and it had a wine list and everything.I hadn't been there too often, not sure why.Gith liked it and so did Ma.Bill and Leece went there, too, when they were in town.We settled in our chairs and I raised my beer to her.'Thanks.For what you did today.''Is she all right?''Yeah.She's fine now.''Only it looked.you know, well, like some kind of fit.''It is,' I said.'Only not the usual kind.Her brain circuits get overloaded.It used to happen all the time.Now it's only when she's real stressed.''And it's because of an accident, right?''Car accident.Eight years ago.Both her parents were killed.''Oh God.' She screwed up her face at the thought of it.It seemed she really felt it and wasn't going to start in on some pity thing.I liked her for that.'It's been a long road back for her,' I said.'I bet.' She looked at me, a look that I couldn't figure out.Like she thought I was something special? It felt weird sitting there with her, seeing that look.'The thing is, though, she's real smart.' I went on, just needing something to say.'And it riles me when people don't see it.Some people think she's dumb, like she's got a low IQ or something, but it's not like that.''She can't talk, though, can she?''No.Not normal.She's got words, usually, but she can't string them together right.''Does she do sign language? Like deaf people?''No, because that's a language too, eh.The psychologists and so on, they told me she can't figure out how to make sentences.In any kind of language.I guess it's like when you or I know what we want to say but we can't find the words, like it's on the tip of your tongue kind of thing? With her that happens all the time, with everything she wants to say.It pisses her off big time.''I bet.So she can't tell you what happened today?''I know what happened.Somebody threatened her.''That bloke.''Yeah.What did you see?' I asked.'Not much.The side of the tent was sloped, so the shadow was sharper at the bottom than the top.But I guess he was about her height.Nothing special about him.''She's a metre seventy-five.''Well, then.' She sipped her beer.Then she asked the question I knew was coming.'Why did he threaten her?'I had nothing to say except the truth.Anyway, it would be good to talk to somebody about it, and I liked her enough to want it to be her.So I told her.'I thought the cops were looking for a wagon,' she said.'They are.They've got two people who say that's what it was.It's Gith's word against theirs.' I shrugged, meaning it was clear what the cops were going to think.Brenda didn't answer.She was working on it, I could see, trying to figure out what to believe.'That collection bucket.The money was still in it?' I asked.'Yes.' She nodded
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IndexCidney Swanson [Saving Mars Saving Mars (epub)
Christine Wood [Life Plan 01] A Life Plan Without You (epub)
Cheryl McIntyre [Infinitely Infinitely (epub)
Clair Delaney [Coral 01] Coral (epub)
Christine Cody [Bloodlands 01 Bloodlands (epub)
Christina Ross [Unleash Me, A Unleash Me, Vol 3 (epub)
Christine Flynn [The Hunt for Once Upon a Christmas Eve (epub
Christian Fletcher [The Left Left on the Brink (epub)
Christopher G Nuttall [Royal The Royal Sorceress (epub)
Eo Engholm, Stellan Infanoj enTorento