‘I have a helluva thing to ask you, my lad,’ she said joining him at the kitchen table. ‘That girl . . . what she’s been through neither you nor I could ever imagine. Now, as of today its ended on the home front, but at school . . . I’m sure I don’t know what to do about the way the other kids treat her, or how she’s going to adjust-’
‘I’ll see to it,’ he said quietly. ‘It’s my fault for dumping this in your lap. It’ll be the least I can do.’
‘You dumped naught! I’d’ve done the same if I’d known, as would your father, and you well know it! As to her staying here . . .’ she sighed. ‘I don’t know. Once she’s learned the ropes, there’ll be no imposition at all. But there’s her family to think of. If there’s any decent folk amongst them they should be contacted.’
‘I already asked her about that,’ David muttered tiredly, an unaccustomed note of bitterness in his voice. ‘She told me that her father was killed in the mines. After that her mother hit the bottle, married that Tarkenton character, and drank herself to death. She has relatives, and Tarkenton tried to pawn her off on them, but none of them would have her.’ He made an angry noise. ‘Great family, eh, Mum? You should have heard the things her stepfather called her! Just imagine what it must’ve been like for her on her birthday, or at Christmas. And hols . . . seems obvious she’s never had one in her life. Christ! I came this close to beating that so-called stepfather of hers and his druggy friends within an inch of their worthless lives!’ He paused, calmed himself with a visible effort, and muttered, ‘Makes a one want to become a copper, like Dad. At least he’s in a position to do something about people like that!’