Not that Auntie Julie’s flat
felt
like home. And she wasn’t really like an auntie any more, either, because she never smiled at him, or called him by any of the pet names she used to have for him, or winked at him, or tickled him – or
any
thing nice. She just walked around looking angry all the time. And then his mum would tell him off in that really quiet voice she used when
she
was angry, warning him to stop doing whatever he was doing to annoy Auntie Julie, or she would kick them out and it would be his fault.
Just like the fire.
She didn’t actually say
that
, because she still thought that it was Nicky’s fault. But Connor knew it was his fault, and not a day went by that he didn’t wish he hadn’t touched the stupid matches.
Just like he wished it could all go back to how it used to be; only not the how it was just before the fire, but the how it was before his mum sent his dad away. When Connor was still a good boy, and everyone still loved him.
‘Give us it,’ a boy’s voice hissed just then, jerking Connor out of the semi-doze he’d drifted into.
‘Get to fuck!’ another boy retorted. ‘I nicked it, so I’m having first dibs.’
Holding his breath when he realised that it was Leanne’s little brother Fred, and Kelly Greene’s little brother Ben, Connor drew himself further back into the canvas, hoping that they wouldn’t notice him if they came round this side. They both went to his school, and they were always picking on him. But that was the one good thing that had come out of the fire – that he hadn’t had to go back to school yet.
‘I’m not kidding,’ Ben was saying now, his voice getting closer. ‘Give us it, or I’ll kick your fucking head in.’
‘Like to see you try,’ Fred snorted unconcernedly. ‘I’d batter the fuck out of you if we had a fight, and you know it.’
‘Wanna bet?’
‘Do you?’
‘Shut the fuck up and light the fucking thing!’
Laughing now, thrilled by the swearing they’d been indulging in, Fred and Ben came around the corner and squatted down to light their illicit cigarette at the other end of the tent.
Catching sight of Connor out of the corner of his eye, Fred jumped and hid the cigarette behind his back. Relaxing when he realised who it was, he said, ‘What you doing over there, dickhead? You’d best not be spying on us, or you’re dead!’
‘Oi, he’s talking to you!’ Ben joined in, following Fred who had got up and was swaggering over to Connor. Swinging his foot back, he kicked Connor in the thigh. ‘Did you hear me, dickhead?’
‘Why you ignoring us, Dumbo?’ Fred spat, kicking him in the other leg. ‘Still pretending you can’t talk, are you?’
‘Aw, look, the baby’s crying,’ Ben jeered, hawking up in his throat and spitting on Connor’s hair.
Grabbing one arm each when Connor raised them to protect his head, Ben and Fred wrenched them roughly down. Then, while Ben kept a lookout to make sure that no one was coming, Fred brought his face down close to Connor’s and head-butted him.
‘That’s for your dirty pervert of a dad fucking my sister,’ he hissed, his eight-year-old face an ugly mask of vengeance. ‘And keep your slag of a mam away from
my
dad, or my mam’s gonna rip her fucking head off.’
‘And stay out of his dad’s car,’ Ben added, determined to get in on the action.
‘Yeah, and stay away from him,’ Fred snarled. ‘’Cos he’s my dad, not yours, and I’ll
kill
you if you ever go near him or his car again!’
‘And
I
’ll kill you if you tell anyone what’s just happened,’ Ben warned.
Hearing someone coming towards them just then, they kicked Connor one last time and ran away, their laughter ringing in his ears.
Bin bag in hand, Tina Murphy was picking up the litter that was strewn all around the tent. Eyes narrowing with suspicion when she saw the boys running away, she walked around to the back of the tent. She hadn’t seen who the boys were, but it was obvious they’d been up to no good, and knowing the kids round here she wouldn’t put it past them to have been setting fire to the tent.
Thinking that she’d caught one of them still at it when she saw the boy huddled in the corner, she was just about to grab him and give him a clip round the ear when she realised that it was Connor.
‘You okay?’ she asked, squatting down beside him. ‘Did those boys do something to you?’
Gulping back the sobs, Connor shook his head and buried his face in his knees.
‘Come on, sweetheart, look at me,’ Tina persisted. ‘You can tell me what happened. Who was it?’
Shaking his head again, Connor refused to look at her. The head-butt hadn’t been all that hard, because Fred hadn’t mastered the art yet; but the kicks had been, and he could already feel the bruises flaring up beneath his trousers. But it was the bad thing Fred had said about his dad and Leanne that was really upsetting him. That, and what he’d said about his mum and Fred’s dad, Dave. Fred had threatened to kill him if he ever went near him or his car again, but Connor couldn’t help it if they bumped into him at the bottom of Julie’s road and he gave them a lift to the café and bought them something to eat. That had happened twice since he’d come out of hospital, but now he’d be terrified of going for a walk with his mum in case it happened again.
‘Let’s go find your mum,’ Tina said, a frown of concern on her face as she reached for Connor’s hand. ‘Or would you rather I go and fetch your dad?’ she asked, wondering if he might just be upset because he hadn’t seen much of Terry lately.
‘
NO
!’ sprang to the tip of Connor’s tongue, but he managed to keep it in his mouth. He didn’t want her to fetch his dad, because he’d tell Leanne, and she’d tell Fred, and then Fred and Ben would come after him again because they’d think he’d grassed on them.
Shaking her head when Connor got up and lurched off in the direction of the community centre, Tina dropped the bin bag and followed him.
‘What’s wrong?’ Sue asked when Connor came hurtling across the room and dived under the table.
Catching up a couple of seconds later, Tina said, ‘I don’t know if anything happened, but I just saw two boys legging it away from the back of the tent, and when I got round there I found Connor in tears. He wouldn’t tell me who it was or if they’d done anything, though.’
‘He can’t talk, he’s still in shock,’ Sue reminded her tersely, wondering what he’d been doing on his own behind the tent when Jackie and Irene were supposed to have been looking after him.
Saying, ‘Oh, sorry, I forgot,’ Tina gave her a guilty smile. Then, shrugging, she said, ‘Well, he’s okay now, so I’d best get back to picking up rubbish before Pauline catches me.’
Tutting when she’d gone, Sue leaned right down and looked under the table. Connor had forced himself to stop crying, knowing that she would start throwing questions at him if she saw that he was in a state. Peering back at her now, he nodded when she asked if he was all right.
‘Are you sure?’ she persisted. ‘Because Tina said she thought some boys might have been picking on you.’ Sighing when he shook his head, she flapped her hands in a gesture of defeat and sat up again.
Lying down, Connor closed his eyes and fell asleep – and stayed asleep for the rest of the evening.
Pauline was exhausted by the time the event came to an end. Exhausted, and exhilarated, although not everything had gone as well as she’d hoped. The bingo had been about as exciting as a wet weekend in Wigan, despite the caller being the so-called Best in the North-West. And the band had been horrendously loud, and really, really bad, so she’d been relieved when they’d been booed off mid-set. The DJ had been much better, though, and had rescued what could have been an awful night by getting everybody up and dancing to all the old Motown classics – a safe bet with any age group. And then he’d topped it off with the karaoke competition, which had been a resounding success.
Although Sue probably hadn’t thought so, because Leanne had not only won, she’d then announced over the microphone that she couldn’t wait to share her champagne prize with the love of her life when she got home. And there was no doubt that she had said this to get at Sue, because almost everybody else had gone home by that point.
As Pauline herself intended to do, as soon as the DJ had finished packing up his gear and she and her ladies had cleaned up.
Sue was still sitting at the table in the corner. Making her way over to her, Pauline hoped that she wasn’t waiting for the money they’d collected, because she’d already given it to John to take home for safe keeping. She supposed that if Sue was desperate she’d have to take her back to the house and give it to her, but she really wanted to count it first – so that everyone would know what a good job she’d done. And how generous
they
had all been, of course.
Reaching Sue now, she smiled, and said, ‘You look shattered, pet.’
‘I am,’ Sue admitted, heaving Connor out from under the table. ‘Come on, son. Time to wake up.’
‘It’s been a long day for him,’ Pauline said, seeing the dark sockets beneath Connor’s sunken eyes. ‘But he’s been good as gold, hasn’t he?’
‘Yeah, he has,’ Sue agreed, lifting him onto her lap and stroking his hair.
‘And have you had a good time?’
‘Yeah, it’s been great.’ Standing up now, Sue smiled at the older woman. ‘Thanks so much for everything you’ve done, Pauline. And not just this today, but everything. I don’t know how we’d have managed without you this last couple of weeks.’
‘Yes, well, like I said earlier, I haven’t really done anything,’ Pauline told her modestly. ‘Anyway, you make sure you pop round tomorrow so I can give you what’s been collected.’
Embarrassed by the mention of money, because it made her feel like a charity case and that didn’t sit easily with her, Sue thanked her and promised to go round in the morning. Then, saying goodbye, she made her escape – as quickly as she could manage with Connor weighing her down.
She would have left hours ago if she hadn’t agreed to meet Dave at The George at ten. She’d actually tried to ring him several times to tell him that she would make her own way home, but he hadn’t answered his phone, so she’d been forced to sit it out. Either that, or stand him up and risk having him fall out with her.
She just hoped that he hadn’t forgotten. And there was always a chance that he would have, given that he’d spent the day drinking and watching football – two of the biggest causes of male amnesia. If he had, she was buggered, because it was almost ten o’clock so there was no chance of getting a bus back to Julie’s. She couldn’t afford a taxi, and there was absolutely no way she could carry Connor all the way back to Cheetham Hill – and even less chance of him walking.
Dave was parked up in the shadows at the side of the pub. Smiling when he saw Sue struggling down the road, he jumped out of the car and, holding his cigarette between his teeth, tried to take Connor from her arms.
Whimpering, Connor held on tight, almost strangling Sue.
‘He’s tired,’ she said, giving Dave an apologetic smile as she wrenched Connor’s arms from her neck. ‘I’ll just lie him down on the back seat.’
Opening the door for her, Dave took his jacket off and laid it over Connor, saying, ‘There you go, son. You get your head down. Soon have you home and in bed.’
Opening Sue’s door for her now, he ushered her in, then went around to the driver’s side. ‘So, how did it go?’ he asked, climbing in behind the wheel.
‘All right,’ she said, aware yet again of the comforting smell of aftershave and alcohol that always surrounded him. ‘Band was crap, and the bingo was awful, but the DJ wasn’t too bad.’
She didn’t bother to mention the karaoke, or his daughter’s spiteful victory speech. Not only because she didn’t want to speak the bitch’s name, but also because it had sickened her to hear what Leanne was planning to do with her prize.
But that was her and Terry’s business, not Sue’s.
‘What about the TV thing?’ Dave asked, easing the car out onto the road.
‘It seemed to go well,’ Sue told him, embarrassed as she added, ‘I ended up crying, though, so I probably looked really stupid.’
‘Doubt it,’ Dave said reassuringly. ‘It’ll just let people know how much you care.’
‘Hope Nicky does if she saw it. The police said to talk to the camera as if I was talking to her, but I felt really stupid. I just hope if she
was
watching, she’ll realise I’m not mad at her and get in touch.’
‘Do they still think she started the fire?’
‘Seems like it,’ Sue murmured. ‘That policewoman – the one we saw earlier when . . .’ Catching herself before she mentioned the kiss, she flapped her hand. ‘Anyway, I was talking to her before they started filming, and she said the investigators think it might have been a candle. And if it was, there’s no way it could have been Connor, because he knows he’s not allowed to touch the matches.’
‘Not even if the electric’s gone and he’s alone?’ Dave said softly.
‘He wasn’t alone, though, was he,’ Sue said tightly. ‘He was with Nicky. Anyway, can we talk about something else? This is starting to depress me.’
‘You choose the subject, then,’ Dave said. ‘But I’m warning you now, if you so much as mention footy, you’ll be right out on your arse.’
‘Take it you lost, then?’ She gave him a sly grin.
‘Something like that,’ he muttered. Then, ‘Anyhow, how you feeling? About what happened earlier, I mean. Had any thoughts about it?’
Glancing shyly down at her hands, Sue said, ‘Well, yeah, I’ve thought about it.’
‘And?’ Dave looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
‘I don’t know.’ She shrugged. ‘I just think it’s a bit too soon.’
‘For who? You, or that lot back there?’
‘Me. The kids. I don’t know.’
Driving on in silence, Dave narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. This wasn’t the response he’d expected, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it. She’d enjoyed that kiss, because he knew women well enough to recognise from the gleam in her eyes straight after it that she’d been turned on. So what was with the sudden cold feet?