North Star Read Online Free

cornered. ‘Well, what is it?’
    ‘Last month, the night of the shipyard workers’ meeting.’ Scunton’s voice was slow and deliberate, his eyes watching me. ‘You got a little girl out of a burning house and handed her over to the neighbours. Didn’t give your name. Just handed her over and slipped away. Right?’
    I didn’t say anything, standing there, waiting, conscious of the other man with a slight cast in the left eye that made his gaze oddly disconcerting.
    ‘Thought no doubt you wouldn’t be recognized.’
    My mouth felt dry, all my fears now suddenly realized. I knew Scunton, knew his reputation. These were men who operated in the shadows, manoeuvring and motivating others, controlling events. They weren’t union men. They weren’t members of any political party. But they were always there, in the background, whenever there was trouble. ‘Come to the point,’ I said.
    ‘All right, I will.’ He licked his lips, his eyes darting round the bridge. ‘What about a drink while we’re discussing it?’
    ‘It’s been a hard trip,’ I told him. ‘I’m tired.’
    ‘So are we,’ he growled. ‘Soon as we heard you weren’t putting into Hull we came north.’ He thrust his head forward. ‘You haven’t talked to the police yet, have you?’
    ‘No.’
    He nodded. ‘Okay, but when you do, what are you going to tell them? That’s what we want to know.’
    ‘It’s no business of yours.’ But I knew it was. I could see it in the way the two of them glanced at each other, and suddenly all the turmoil and the doubts exploded in anger. ‘You bastards put them up to it, is that it? Is that what you’re scared of – that I’ll identify them and they’ll involve you?’
    Scunton moved towards me. ‘You shop them and we’ll –’
    But the other man interrupted him. ‘I’ll handle this, Bob.’ His voice was quiet, a hard, fiat voice. ‘You were recognized.One of the neighbours, a man. The police will expect a statement.’ He paused, the disconcerting gaze sliding past me. Then suddenly he asked, ‘What were you doing standing there in the rain outside No. 5 Washbrook Road?’
    I hesitated, unwilling to explain myself to men I knew would never understand. ‘You weren’t at the meeting that night.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘There was a mood of violence,’ I said. ‘A lot of threats were made, mainly directed at Pierson & Watt and the yard foreman –’
    ‘We believe in solidarity,’ Scunton growled in that thick voice of his. ‘Pierson & Watt were the one yard –’
    ‘You believe in violence,’ I told him.
    ‘All right. Maybe we do, when it’s necessary.’
    I turned back to face the other man. ‘If I hadn’t been there, Bucknall and that fellow Claxby might well be facing a murder charge.’
    ‘So you know who it was,’ Scunton cut in.
    ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I know who they were.’ And suddenly I didn’t care. ‘If you want to throw petrol bombs, why the hell don’t you have the guts to do it yourselves? And to risk innocent lives – a little girl …’
    ‘You threw it.’ His voice was so quiet it stopped me like a bucket of ice-cold water. ‘That’s what we came to tell you.’
    Staring at him, seeing the hard, bitter line of his mouth, the cold grey eyes glinting in the gleam of the deck lights, I felt suddenly scared of him. ‘Who are you?’ I asked him.
    He gave a little shrug, a shut look on his face. ‘We have a witness.’ He pulled a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and offered me one, and when I pushed it away, he said, ‘You were alone, nobody to corroborate your evidence.’ He took out a cigarette and lit it, the movement of his hands deliberate. He was giving me time to take it in. ‘So it will be your word against his, and the man who will say you threw the petrol bomb is a local man. He’ll make a good witness.’
    ‘Get out!’My hands were clenched, the words coming through my teeth.
    He didn’t move, drawing in a lungful of smoke and staring at