Nowhere Child Read Online Free PDF Page A

doesn’t get life, that’s tough as long as Tasha is safe.’
    Tom knew there was no arguing. He had tried before, but Emma was adamant.
    She had seen for herself what a vindictive bastard Finn McGuinness was, but she seemed to be choosing to ignore it. If he was free, who knew what havoc he might decide to wreak on the lives of those responsible for his arrest. Tasha, for certain, wouldn’t be safe.
    If they could get the evidence to put him away permanently, they could finally rest easy in their beds.

6
    I’ve been out again today. I’m not sure if it’s safer to be out where there are hundreds of people walking around or better to stay below ground. If I’m out in the open, I think it’s harder for somebody to grab me. People aren’t always interested in what’s happening around them, but I’m sure somebody would react if a kid was being dragged off the street. You’d hope so – but maybe not.
    Andy gave me some money so I could phone Emma. He said we need to know for sure that she’s not the one offering a reward for me because if it’s not her, we need to start worrying. He still thinks there’s a chance it is Emma, because he doesn’t think she would announce such a vast amount of money to the world at large – five grand is wealth unimaginable to the poor of Manchester. People would kill for less – Rory Slater for one. He’d have topped somebody for a grand, I’m certain. Or worse still, he would have done it for nothing, just because Finn McGuinness told him to.
    Andy thinks it’s more likely that Emma might have chosen one or two people she thinks she can trust and given them the task of finding me in return for a reward.
    I’m not sure about that, though.
    I made it as far as the phone box and hung about outside. Just as I plucked up the courage to make the call, some guy shoved me out of the way and went in, piling up his money, turning to give me a sly, toothless grin.
    I didn’t call her. The loser who elbowed me gave me a good excuse. The truth is I’m scared of what Emma might say to me. I can’t forget what I did, so how could she?
    I decided I needed to tell Andy everything last night. I didn’t want him to hate me, though, so before I told him the dreadful thing I‘d done, I told him about how my dad had set up my abduction when I was six, how my mum died, and how I ended up living with Rory and Donna Slater.
    ‘What was it like, living with a gangland family?’ he asked me.
    ‘I didn’t realise for ages that they were part of a gang.’ I answered. ‘I thought it was normal to have to steal if you wanted to eat. We all did it, and because I didn’t go to school, I didn’t know any different. There was always a chance that one of the teachers would recognise me, see, so I stayed at home, and they put me to good use – everything from nicking stuff to weighing and measuring the drugs that Rory sold. The other kids that lived there were okay, really. I had a friend, but she died.’
    Andy had looked at me with a frown when I said that. I didn’t want to talk about Izzy, though. The thought of how she had been forced to spend the last few weeks of her life, and what my life might have become, still gives me nightmares. I didn’t want Andy to know that I had agreed to kidnap my baby brother to save myself from a life as a thirteen-year-old prostitute, being pawed over by fat, greasy guys who got their kicks from screwing kids. I could sometimes feel their grubby hands touching my body while I slept, and I couldn’t stand the thought of Andy imagining me like that.
    ‘When did you realise – about the gang, I mean?’
    ‘When I first met Finn McGuinness. I heard him talking to Rory, and I knew Rory was being made to do stuff – that he wasn’t in charge, like I’d always thought. But even Finn wasn’t top dog. There was somebody higher up. Finn and Rory were just part of his operation. I don’t know who the main guy was, though.’
    ‘So why do you think the police