Damaged Goods Page 35
It’s been a horrid day. A nightmare. Mr Peters had balled Luke out for not paying attention in Latin. He’d said he was wasting his talents, and that it was nothing short of criminal. Luke had wanted to tell him how close to the mark he was.
During computer studies he’d surfed the net to see how long people got for rape, how old he’d be when he got out of prison. He couldn’t breathe when he saw that life was an option. He’d seen a politician on the telly saying the Government were cracking down, that ‘life should mean life.’
He’d bitten his lip until it bled, terrified he would burst into tears in front of the entire class.
Worse still, Tom had been acting like nothing was wrong. He’d even boasted in the common room about meeting a ‘right little goer.’
The other boys had laughed at him, said he was talking bollocks.
Tom leaned over the snooker table and potted the black. ‘Ask Lukey boy. He’ll tell you what she was like,’ he said. ‘Gagging for it wasn’t she?’
Luke smiled weakly, but he could still hear the girl screaming and see her wrists being held so tightly they seemed to turn black-blue. A bit like the sky before a storm.
Now the bell is ringing and Luke can finally escape. Thank God he’s not boarding tonight. He wants to go home, to throw himself onto his Arsenal duvet and let it all out.
Maybe he should tell his mum. Maybe she could help. Even if she can’t, it might stop the whole thing running through his head like some bad film on a loop.
He sees her car parked by the cricket pitch and bolts towards it. Inside smells of clean washing and lavender water.
His mum smiles. ‘Had a nice day, love?’
He can’t answer and squeezes his eyes shut.
‘Is everything alright, love?’ asks his mum.
He stirs his pasta with a limp wrist.
‘Luke?’ her voice is so very gentle.
He feels wrung out like a damp cloth, all the moisture down the sink.
She lifts his chin and looks into his eyes. ‘You would tell me if something was wrong?’
He sees in her lined face, a lifetime of wiped noses and birthday teas. This isn’t a broken window or a bad school report. How can he tell her what he has been part of, what he has done? She can’t make it better. No one can.
He forces some words out. ‘I’m just tired.’
‘You look peaky,’ she says and presses a cool palm against his forehead. ‘You’re not hot but you’re obviously sickening for something.’
He pushes his bowl away. ‘Yeah. I feel sick.’
Relief plays at the corners of his mother’s mouth. This is her territory.
‘Better lie down, love,’ she says. ‘Will you be alright while I collect your sister?’
The thought of Jessie, a year younger than Luke, fills his mind. What if some boys took her to a park … held her down …
He runs from the room, his hands over his mouth, acid bile running through his fingers.
His bedroom is spinning and Luke concentrates on a small brown water stain on the ceiling.
‘I’ll be twenty minutes,’ his mum calls from the bottom of the stairs. ‘How about I call into Waitrose for Lucozade?’
Luke doesn’t answer.
When he hears the front door close he lets the tears spill. He curls into a ball and weeps, snot pooling under his nose, sliding onto his lips, until it becomes clear what he has to do. He wipes his eyes on the back of his hands and packs a bag.
Enjoyed Damaged Goods? Prepare to be terrified
all over again …
DARK ANGELS
Grace Monroe
How far would you go to protect your past? How much further to protect someone else’s?
A celebrated Edinburgh lawyer is found murdered outside an infamous gay haunt and notorious dominatrix Kailash Coutts stands accused.
Against her wishes, headstrong, unorthodox brodie McClennan is appointed to defend Kailash under the watchful gaze of the ‘Dark Angels’, a violent street-gang led by the enigmatic Moses Tierney.
As the case becomes ever more complex, Brodie receives a chilling photograph, establishing a link to a number of brutal murders and a suspected paedophile ring. It becomes apparent that a serial killer is haunting the city – and that powerful people are involved, intent on covering up past crimes.
Brodie herself becomes a target – both for a depraved killer and for deadly forces in the highest of circles …
A shocking, atmospheric thriller that combines a centuries- old conspiracy with heart-stopping terror for fans of Ian Rankin and Mo Hayder …
ISBN: 978-1-84756-034-6
Acknowledgements
It’s a truism but true nonetheless that books are not the work of one person. So I’d like to thank the following for their help along the way.
First call must be to the Buckman Gang – Peter, Rosie and Jessica who plucked my tatty script out of the slush pile and were prepared to give it and me a chance. Then, of course, everyone at Avon for taking a punt on a first timer – particularly Max and Kesh for their humour and patience.
Thanks to Peter Marshall for friendship through the years and for advice on criminal procedure.
A big shout out to the members of HUG especially David Stacey and Michael Crawshaw – without your honest tongue lashings and generous encouragement I wouldn’t have finished this book.
Thanks is also due to the BW Mums whose ability to laugh at themselves made Damaged Goods much funnier than I could have done on my own.
Finally I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my family. My Dad for giving me my love of books. My Mum for assuming I would never be ordinary. My children for reminding me every day how lucky I am.
Then there’s Andrew. Husband, best friend. When I mentioned I might like to write a book you didn’t laugh. You bought me a laptop.
About the Author
DAMAGED GOODS
Helen Black was brought up in a mining town in West Yorkshire. She moved to London in her twenties and trained to be a commercial lawyer. On qualification she shifted lanes and has practised criminal and family law for over ten years. She specialises in representing children in the care system. She now lives in Bedfordshire with her husband and young children. Damaged Goods is her debut novel. For more information on Helen, please visit her website at www.hblack.co.uk
Visit www.AuthorTracker.co.uk for exclusive updates on Helen Black.
Copyright
AVON
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2008
Copyright © Helen Black 2008
Helen Black asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work
Extract from A Place of Safety © Helen Black 2008.
This is taken from uncorrected material and
does not necessarily reflect the finished book.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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EPub Edition © JANUARY 2006 ISBN: 9780007281862
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twent-one
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Copyright
About the Publisher