The Graft Read Online Free Page B
Author: Martina Cole
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‘What a waste of a life.’
The detective didn’t answer her, he didn’t know what to say. He saw a lot of wasted lives in his line of work and had given up worrying about them.
‘Me and Nick, we came from fuck all, us two. Council house kids us. But we grafted . We worked. Still do. We made the life we’ve got, and it was fucking hard work sometimes. But we pay our dues and we live our lives. Why should we have this hanging over our heads because that thug decided to come in our home and steal from us?’
Tammy Leary beseeched him with her eyes to answer her question.
‘Why do I feel we’ve done something wrong? That we are the bad people in all this? Because we’re not! We are good, law-abiding people, and now our lives are ruined over that worthless little bastard.’
She started to cry.
‘He should never have been here in the first place. We didn’t invite him, he invited himself! This is our house, we paid for it fair and square, why should we feel bad because he forced himself in here? My husband was looking out for us, for me and the kids. He’s a good man, a decent man. Ask anyone who knows us.’
She was crying now, sobbing with fear.
Rudde stared at her for long moments, not knowing what to say to her. This was part and parcel of his job. He had had to tell people their daughter was not coming home because she had been murdered. He had told people their son had died in a fight in a pub over the most obscure reason ever. Had often explained that people had lost loved ones in car crashes and train wrecks. And it never got any easier, no matter how often he had had to do it. Now this family were decimated because the husband had tried to defend what was rightfully his.
Rudde would have done the same, given the circumstances, but he wouldn’t say that, of course. Instead he drank the tea and the Scotch and tried silently to convey his solidarity with them both.
But the tea was like piss and the Scotch went straight to his head. On top of all that he realised he was getting old.
He didn’t know which depressed him more.
Chapter Two
The interview on GMTV had gone better than anyone had expected. Tammy was in her element visiting the studio. Now that the shock had worn off and the imminent danger of prosecution had receded into the background, she was finding their newfound celebrity status quite enjoyable.
Plus, they were in the right. The more she thought about it, they were in the right. That boy had been robbing them, he was armed and he was dangerous. Her Nick had only been protecting his own. It seemed GMTV had never had so many calls and emails regarding a guest and the consensus seemed to be that Nick was only doing what anyone else would do in the same predicament.
She was proud of him, proud that he had taken the stance he had taken and glad that it had worked out well.
Because Nick could have been shot and killed. They all could.
That was what frightened her most in the dead of night, when her veneer of hardness was stripped away and she felt once more the shock of fear the sight of a gun can bring to the uninitiated. That boy was a thug, a young thug but a thug nevertheless. He had to have expected to pay some kind of price for his behaviour. Unfortunately it was the ultimate price but that was not their concern.
He should never have been there in the first place, and then he would still be all right. On the plus side, they now had offers coming in from all angles, the TV and the newspapers. It seemed their lives were up for public scrutiny and Tammy couldn’t get enough of the attention.
As she meticulously applied her make-up she imagined the reaction down at the country club where she was meeting a few friends for lunch later. She almost hugged herself. In forty-eight hours their lives had been turned around, and excitement was now officially the order of the day. It would give her new
‘What a waste of a life.’
The detective didn’t answer her, he didn’t know what to say. He saw a lot of wasted lives in his line of work and had given up worrying about them.
‘Me and Nick, we came from fuck all, us two. Council house kids us. But we grafted . We worked. Still do. We made the life we’ve got, and it was fucking hard work sometimes. But we pay our dues and we live our lives. Why should we have this hanging over our heads because that thug decided to come in our home and steal from us?’
Tammy Leary beseeched him with her eyes to answer her question.
‘Why do I feel we’ve done something wrong? That we are the bad people in all this? Because we’re not! We are good, law-abiding people, and now our lives are ruined over that worthless little bastard.’
She started to cry.
‘He should never have been here in the first place. We didn’t invite him, he invited himself! This is our house, we paid for it fair and square, why should we feel bad because he forced himself in here? My husband was looking out for us, for me and the kids. He’s a good man, a decent man. Ask anyone who knows us.’
She was crying now, sobbing with fear.
Rudde stared at her for long moments, not knowing what to say to her. This was part and parcel of his job. He had had to tell people their daughter was not coming home because she had been murdered. He had told people their son had died in a fight in a pub over the most obscure reason ever. Had often explained that people had lost loved ones in car crashes and train wrecks. And it never got any easier, no matter how often he had had to do it. Now this family were decimated because the husband had tried to defend what was rightfully his.
Rudde would have done the same, given the circumstances, but he wouldn’t say that, of course. Instead he drank the tea and the Scotch and tried silently to convey his solidarity with them both.
But the tea was like piss and the Scotch went straight to his head. On top of all that he realised he was getting old.
He didn’t know which depressed him more.
Chapter Two
The interview on GMTV had gone better than anyone had expected. Tammy was in her element visiting the studio. Now that the shock had worn off and the imminent danger of prosecution had receded into the background, she was finding their newfound celebrity status quite enjoyable.
Plus, they were in the right. The more she thought about it, they were in the right. That boy had been robbing them, he was armed and he was dangerous. Her Nick had only been protecting his own. It seemed GMTV had never had so many calls and emails regarding a guest and the consensus seemed to be that Nick was only doing what anyone else would do in the same predicament.
She was proud of him, proud that he had taken the stance he had taken and glad that it had worked out well.
Because Nick could have been shot and killed. They all could.
That was what frightened her most in the dead of night, when her veneer of hardness was stripped away and she felt once more the shock of fear the sight of a gun can bring to the uninitiated. That boy was a thug, a young thug but a thug nevertheless. He had to have expected to pay some kind of price for his behaviour. Unfortunately it was the ultimate price but that was not their concern.
He should never have been there in the first place, and then he would still be all right. On the plus side, they now had offers coming in from all angles, the TV and the newspapers. It seemed their lives were up for public scrutiny and Tammy couldn’t get enough of the attention.
As she meticulously applied her make-up she imagined the reaction down at the country club where she was meeting a few friends for lunch later. She almost hugged herself. In forty-eight hours their lives had been turned around, and excitement was now officially the order of the day. It would give her new
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