Bold Counsel (The Trials of Sarah Newby) Read Online Free PDF Page B

mission of their own. Gary cursed - they were Sharon’s kids, not his, and paid him no more respect than his heavy hand, erratically applied, could enforce. No doubt they hoped he would leave their lives soon, just as their own fathers had left Sharon before him.
    Another wagon thundered past, its driver’s eyes widening with shock at the boys an inch from his wheels. Fall under it, why don’t you, Gary thought. As far as he cared they could run under a truck anytime they chose, but he guessed Sharon would see it differently. And since she was the best shag in years, and the kid in her belly was, in all probability, his, he felt a dreary sense of duty to her kids. After all, this was supposed to be a family holiday, a celebration of seven months of him and Sharon shacking up together, and it would be a poor start to lose two kids before they even reached the beach. So he lumbered after the boys, swearing, as they sprinted away around the bend.
    Gary was no runner, and the weight of his gut held him back. He had stopped the car on a slip road, of all places, so the traffic came towards him around a tight bend, only seeing the Orion at the last moment. Several swerved dramatically, leaning on their horns or raising fingers as they zoomed into the distance. Gary glanced over his shoulder and saw Sharon holding out the half naked Wayne, pissing like a cherub plumbed into the mains. Then he looked ahead, to see where the boys were heading.
    They had totally disappeared.
    ‘Shite!’ Was this a place to play hide and seek? He’d crack their stupid heads together when he caught them, Sharon or no Sharon. ‘Come back here, you little fuckers! If you don’t, I’ll ...’
    He lumbered on, further round the corner, until Sharon was out of sight. Still no sign. To his right, on the inside of the bend, was a wilderness area, just grass and bushes, not even much litter to show human habitation. A bird, a hawk or something, hovered motionless overhead. Gary swore. If the boys had gone in there he’d never find them. He turned to walk back.
    ‘Sod it, we’ll go without you. Stay here and see how you like it!’
    A small stone hit him on the back of the leg. He turned to see Declan and Sean grinning at him from behind a bush. Declan was waving something through the leaves - something brown that wobbled and shook.
    ‘Little bastards. Get back in the car!’
    ‘Look at this, Gary. See what we’ve found.’
    Reluctantly, he went over to look. Coming closer, he saw that Declan was holding some sort of animal - a dog perhaps. No, with that colour it must be a fox. It was in a foul state - its chest and stomach were crushed and its guts hung out like long unfinished sausages. But the head was undamaged and its lips were drawn back, teeth bared in a snarl, as though it had seen its death approaching.
    ‘Watch it, Gary, he’ll rip out your throat!’
    Declan lunged for him with the jaws but Gary smacked him aside with the back of his hand. ‘Where the fuck d’you find that?’
    ‘Down there on the road.’
    ‘Wicked, innit?’
    ‘Can we keep it, Gar - take it in the car?’
    ‘What, that? No way. Piss off - it stinks.’
    ‘Careful, Gar, he’ll hear you. Bite off your balls.’
    ‘Yeah, right! She won’t want you then, will she, Gary? Chuck you out in the street!’
    Sean minced around Gary just out of reach, clutching his crotch and leering at him. ‘Ooooh Sharon, can’t do it no more!’ he mocked, in a high, squeaky voice. ‘Fox got me knackers!’ Despite himself, Gary laughed. It was the sort of joke he might make himself.
    ‘Chuck that thing, you little pissers, and get back in the car. Before I beat you so hard yours’ll never come down.’
    ‘Be nice to foxy, Gar - he’s a killer you know. Look what he had in his mouth.’
    ‘What?’
    Until now Sean had held one hand behind him. Now he produced it, shockingly. To Gary’s horror Sean didn’t just have one right hand, but two. A second hand inside the first,