Deadly Lies by Ann Girdharry (book recommendations .TXT) 📗

a black-and-white horror number. Maybe that’s why Lisa refused to look up.

Maria wasn’t allowed to interact with the children but she hesitated because Emily’s face was flushed and her lips were too red. Well, he wasn’t there to see, was he? Bending down, she placed her hand on Emily’s forehead. It was burning. Then she noticed the way Emily cradled her arm.

‘Have you hurt yourself? May I take a look?’ Maria’s voice sounded muffled.

Gingerly, Maria reached out to roll up the child’s sleeve. Emily didn’t resist and when her arm was exposed they both stared. In the middle of her forearm was a deep cut, livid red with the sides of the wound gaping open. Maria had to stop herself from gasping for fear of scaring Emily. The child’s arm was swollen all the way to her elbow.

‘It hurts,’ Emily said.

‘It’s nothing to be worried about,’ Maria lied. ‘Have your breakfast. It’ll make you feel better.’

When Maria went back downstairs she could not hide her concern.

‘What’s the matter? Has one of them died?’ he asked with a sneer.

‘That’s not funny. I thought you said the cut wasn’t serious. What happened to her arm?’

He shrugged. ‘Nothing.’

It had been stupid of him to take a knife though he never listened to her. It had been even more stupid of him to use a dirty rag on Emily.

‘I think it’s infected.’

‘All we need is for the kids to last long enough to carry out the plan. That’s all I’m interested in.’

His tone made her shudder because she understood he meant it. To him, the children were pawns in the game. Nothing more and nothing less. Maria thought back to her own little brother, Billy. Maria used to look after Billy when their mother went out. She had lost contact with Billy years earlier and Maria knew it was her drug usage which caused the rift between them. Once, when he was little, Billy had to be rushed to hospital. He had almost lost his life.

Maria licked her lips. ‘At least we should put some antiseptic on it.’

‘Some what?’

‘Antiseptic.’

‘Sure whatever, put some on if it will make you shut up.’

‘I’ll need to get some from the chemist.’

‘What the f–’

He grabbed the sheets of paper and waved them in her face. His flash of anger was about breaking the rules. Rule number one – they went out as little as possible, rule number two – they did nothing to draw attention to themselves, rule number three – and on and on. This had been planned for months and he had stocked the cupboards with food and bottles of booze so they could survive as long as they needed to. No trip to the chemist had been accounted for.

‘What do you think this is?’ In his anger, he was scrunching his precious papers. ‘Something to wipe your arse with?’

Maria noticed he had ripped one of the sheets which meant he’d have to write it out again. He wouldn’t like that either.

‘I’ve already got that bitch across the road to deal with. We can’t let anyone notice us. Got it?’

The bitch across the road was the woman with the purple spikey hair. She was the one who had gone ballistic when he’d put his van in her parking bay. It had happened months earlier and they hadn’t seen her since although he had never forgotten because it went against the plan – keep a low profile. And the woman across the road parked her car in its bay every day which ate him up because in normal circumstances he would have slashed the tyres by now.

He slammed his foot into the coffee table, shoving it halfway across the room.

Maria pressed her lips together to stop them trembling. Was she really sure? Was it worth making the fuss and riling him up? Her little brother Billy had cut himself on a razor when he was playing in the bathroom. It had been a Friday night and their mother had left Maria and Billy locked in the house. By the time their mother returned on Monday morning, Billy’s arm was puffy and purple. He was covered in sweat and was slurring his words. The doctors had told them it was blood poisoning and Billy had almost died.

She screwed up her courage. ‘My little brother had something similar and he had blood poisoning. She could get really sick and then what good will she be?’

‘What makes you a bloody expert?’

‘Well… for a ch-child her age blood poisoning can be deadly.’

She was making him angry and that was always dangerous. He threw himself onto the sofa and leaned back. He was watching her with a nasty smirk on his face. Then he started cleaning his teeth with a toothpick. She could see her words sinking in and making him worry. It could be the flaw in his wonderful plan. It seemed like hours before he flicked the pick away.

‘It’s not worth it. The less people see me the better and I’ve already done the maximum number of trips out I’m allowing myself. The kid will have to survive like she is.’

‘And what if she doesn’t?’

‘Will you shut the fuck up!’

He glared at her, toxic and volatile.

‘I c-could go.’

Grabbing her wrist, he yanked her on top of him. ‘And what the hell makes you think I’d trust you?’

She dragged up a smile and fixed it on her face. ‘Because you know you can.’

He pulled her close, pressing her against the bulge in his jeans and she could smell his stinking breath.

Grinding himself into her, he grinned. ‘Just so long as you don’t get any funny ideas.’

‘Of course I won’t. You’re hurting me.’

‘I’ll do far worse if you cock this up.’

She nodded and her lips quivered and she couldn’t make them stop. ‘Tell me what to do.’

‘Ok-ay. Go straight there and back and no interacting with anyone. You walk ordinary and you look ordinary and you keep your head down. Any sign of trouble and you come straight back, got it?’ His eyes