PROLOGUE
Extract from the transcript of a 999 call. 19 July; 22h36.
Boy: He’s hurting Mummy.
Operator: I’m sorry, can you repeat that, please? Is there a grown-up I can speak to?
Boy: He’s hurting her. He’s hurting Mummy.
Operator: Who? Who’s hurting Mummy?
Boy: Please help [unclear] help her. I have to—
Operator: Please stay on the line. Can you give me your address? What’s your name, sweetie?
Boy: [cough] Forty-one Old Grove Street.
Operator: Forty-one Old Grove Street? Do you want to tell me your name?
Boy: Um, Kevin…Are you coming?
Operator: An officer will be there very soon, okay?
Boy: Uh-huh.
Operator: Can you see who’s hurting your mummy, Kevin? Do you know who it is?
[Silence.]
Operator: Are you there, sweetie? Kevin?
Boy: Come quick.
Operator: Police officers are nearly there, okay? Just hang on the phone, okay? Can they see you? Can the man hear you on the phone?
Boy: No...I don’t know...No.
Operator: It’s okay, Kevin. You did good calling us, didn’t you?
Boy: Yes.
Operator: Tell me, Kevin, do you know the man that’s hurting your mum?
Boy: Yes.
Operator: Can you tell me who it is, Kevin?
Boy: It’s Daddy.
End Extract.
CHAPTER ONE
‘Kevin, get down from there.’
‘I’m all right.’
‘You won’t be if you fall.’ Sarah shook out Kevin’s football jersey and draped it on the line next to his socks, like pieces of a dream, of a former life, held up against the sun for inspection. Truths and lies pegged out beside each other.
‘Mum,’ Kevin whispered as if he and Sarah were co-conspirators, ‘I can see into the neighbour’s kitchen.’
‘I mean it, Kevin,’ she said. ‘What are you doing up there, anyway?’
‘Looking for money. I swear it grows on trees, you know.’
‘Don’t swear.’
‘I didn’t swear.’
Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘You’ll break your neck.’ She turned her back on him and shook out another sock. ‘You haven’t finished unpacking your room, yet.’
‘I can see my breath on the air.’
‘You’ll see your life passing before your eyes in a minute if you don’t get down and finish unpacking.’ She suppressed a grin when she heard him scurrying back down the tree. ‘Careful,’ she warned. ‘Go and watch the oven, will you? The chips should be done in a minute.’
Kevin slouched passed her on his way to the back door. ‘You told me to unpack.’
‘After lunch. Watch the oven. And wipe your feet before you go in.’
YOU ARE READING
The Camel Trail
Mystery / ThrillerThe story of a family on the edge, and another not far behind. Sarah Catchpole was raped and beaten by her own husband one too many times. When her young son, Kevin, calls the police one night, Frankie is finally sent to prison. Starting life afresh...
