Last Rites Read Online Free PDF Page A

honesty.’ He took another grape. ‘I look better than I did when they brought me in.’

    ‘I know, I saw you when you were hooked up to all the machines,’ she sighed. ‘Have they told you when you can leave?’

    ‘The end of the week if I’m lucky.’

    ‘Are you going back to your flat?’

    ‘Unless you want me to move back in with you.’

    She smiled and shook her head.

    ‘I’m concerned about you, Pete,’ she grinned. ‘But not that concerned.’ She took another grape and popped it into her mouth. ‘I don’t think that would be wise, do you?’

    ‘You’re probably right. You usually are.’

    ‘If you give me a key to your place I can go and fetch some clean clothes for you.’

    ‘Thanks. I appreciate that.’

    There was a long silence and she moved her chair a little closer to his bed.

    ‘Do you know who attacked you?’ she asked, quietly.

    ‘I didn’t get a clear view but I’m pretty sure,’ he told her.

    ‘Why did they do it, Pete?’ she wanted to know.

    ‘Because that’s all they know,’ Mason snapped.‘Because they’re scum. Because most of the kids in that fucking school are little bastards. Because the school itself is a shit hole.’

    ‘But they tried to kill you. What the hell made them do that?’

    ‘I’d put two of them on detention that day.’

    ‘And that’s it? That was their motive? They tried to kill you because you put two of them on detention?’

    ‘That’s all kids like that need,’ he sighed. ‘Them and three of their mates must have followed me.’

    ‘Have the police spoken to you yet? I’d have thought they’d have been here as soon as you regained consciousness.’

    Mason shook his head.

    ‘Two months ago another teacher, a supply teacher, was stabbed three times in class and the little bastard who did it got six months in borstal. Nobody gives a shit any more, Nat. So, once the court case is over I just want to get out of here and get away.’

    ‘Away where?’

    ‘Anywhere. Out of London. I’ll move. Get a job in another part of the country. There’s nothing to keep me here, is there?’ He looked pointedly at Natalie.

    She reached out and touched his hand lightly.

    ‘Not even me?’ she asked, smiling thinly.

    ‘The reasons we separated haven’t changed. We haven’t changed.’ He gripped her hand and held it. ‘I wish we had.’

    Natalie nodded almost imperceptibly, her eyes focusing on a large purplish-coloured bruise on his right forearm. She thought how much pain he must have been in. How close to death he’d actually come. She looked at his face, her own features now expressionless once again.

    ‘I put flowers on Chloe’s grave yesterday,’ she finally said, softly.

    Mason nodded.

    ‘When was the last time you went there, Pete?’ she continued.

    ‘I can’t remember,’ he told her dismissively, easing his grip on her hand.

    ‘Why not? Was it that long ago?’

    ‘I visit when I can.’ He shrugged.

    ‘I don’t like going there either, Pete. It brings back memories for me as well, you know, but I focus on the memories of when she was alive, when she was happy. Before she was ill.’

    ‘Good for you,’ he said, trying to hide the edge to his voice but failing.

    ‘I still do it,’ Natalie breathed. ‘I do it because she was our daughter and I loved her.’

    ‘I loved her too,’ Mason snapped. ‘Visiting her grave more often doesn’t give you the monopoly on grief, Natalie.’ He swallowed hard. ‘I can’t bear to stand by that grave and think about her. I never could, you know that. That doesn’t make me any less of a man. It doesn’t mean I didn’t care about Chloe when she was alive but all I see when I stand next to that grave is her lying on that fucking bed in the hospital waiting to die. I can’t see her running about playing. I can’t see her smile. All I see is how she suffered at the end.’

    ‘Running away from the pain isn’t going to stop it, Pete.’

    ‘It’s my