The Sin Bin Read Online Free Page A

knees caved.
The girl, heavily pregnant, put an arm around me. 'Can you manage this?' I
said.
    She smiled, a sweet smile, a real
heart-melter. I wondered why anyone with a smile like that needed to live in a
place like this.
    She sat me on an old crate, an orange
velour cushion the only concession to comfort.
    'You would be Caroline?'
    She brought me a wet cloth, said, 'We've
no ice.'
    'You've not much of anything.'
    She gripped her palms, looked at the
floor.
    'Caroline, your father ...'
    She turned away, 'Don't. Don't say his
name to me.'
    I tried to regain control of my
balance, stop the room swaying, 'Look, he's worried about you.'
    'No he's not.'
    'Sorry?'
    The sweet demeanour vanished in a
second, she turned, rushed towards me but seemed suddenly cut down in her
tracks. She bent like a hinge and let out a loud gasp.
    'Are you okay?'
    Breathless, 'I think the baby's coming.'
    'Oh, fuck.'
    A shriek.
    Pain.
    'You'll have to help me.'
    'What? I mean, how?'
    Another shriek.
    She fell to the floor, started to
scrunch up her eyes.
    'Help me, please!'
    ****
    At the hospital we went our separate
ways.
    'Will she be okay?' I asked as they
wheeled Caroline away.
    No answer.
    Some bright spark put a wheelchair down
for me, motioned 'in'.
    'No chance. I walk fine.'
    I got two steps and my knees went
again. Had been running on my last reserves of adrenaline.
    'Like I thought, that gash tells a
different story,' said the paramedic.
    I touched my head, felt blood on my
fingertips. It had soaked all the way down my shirt and into my waistband.
    'Looks like you took quite a clatter.'
    I wanted to say, 'No shit, Sherlock.'
But went with, 'Yes, quite a clatter.'
    They spent an hour or so patching me
up. I had stitches and a nice head bandage to complete the look. The blood was
soaking through the bandage in a red spot, smack-centre, making me look like a
kamikaze pilot.
    Amy brought in the news: 'She had a
little girl.'
    I tried to smile, but my head hurt too
much, even on the codeine, 'Great, she's okay?'
    'Chirping away like a budgie.'
    I sat up, 'Do tell.'
    Amy had on her shit-stopping
seriousness look, 'It's not pretty.'
    I motioned to my head, 'Do I look like
someone who needs sugar-coating?'
    Amy stood up again, looked agitated.
She took off her coat and placed it over the chair by the bed. 'Well, I checked
out our minister ...'
    'And?'
    'Let's just say you were right to have
your suspicions. He's in line to be the Moderator of the Church of Scotland.'
    'That's a big gig.'
    'The biggest, comes with the Right
Reverend title ... you could see why he has Oscar night nerves.'
    Amy put her arms round her slim waist,
hugged herself, 'Gus, I feel strange talking about this, but, Caroline said
some stuff when she, well after the birth, I think she was still under the
drugs, but ...'
    I sat up in the bed and motioned her
closer, 'Look, if there's something I need to know, you better just spit it
out.'
    Amy started to cry. She was a tough
girl and I'd never seen this before.
    'Hey, what's the matter?'
    She put her hand to her mouth, 'Caroline
says ... he's the father.'
    I slumped, 'What?'
    The dam had burst, 'She says he raped
her. She hates him, got into trouble at home and got into this neo-Nazi crowd
because she thought it was about as far away from what he stood for as she
could get ... Gus, it's too sad for words.'
    I couldn't listen any more.
    'Give me my phone over.'
    'You can't use a phone in hospital.'
    'Fuck it. Give me it.'
    She passed me the mobi, it smelled of
fags, Bensons.
    I dialled Urquhart, he answered on the
second ring, 'Hello, Minister, this is Gus Dury.'
    'Oh, hello … have you uncovered
anything?'
    'You better believe it.'
    'Well, that's wonderful news.'
    'Is it?'
    'Well, yes, I-I ...'
    'Not so fast. I have found your
daughter, but let's just say I've run into a few extra expenses along the way.'
    'I don't understand.'
    'Understand this, the price is now
two-thousand in cash by this afternoon.'
    ' What ?' 
    'You heard,