A Sea Change by Veronica Henry Read Free Book Online Page B

do. He should turn her in, but what good would that do? She’d go up before the magistrate. Even if they were lenient she would have a record that would make sure no one gave her a job.
    When she came back out she looked terrible. She was shivering, even though it was hot. He thought it was probably a mixture of sunstroke and shock. He went over to put the kettle on. What a cliché, thinking a nice cup of tea could solve anything, but it seemed the best thing to do.
    She sat down on the settee without being asked, then leaned back and shut her eyes. Her hair was damp where she had washed her face.
    ‘I’m Craig, by the way,’ he told her. ‘Do you want to tell me your name?’
    ‘Jenna . . .’ she replied, faintly. He thought she was telling the truth.
    ‘OK, Jenna,’ he replied, opening the cup-board to find the tea bags. ‘What do you think we should do about this situation?’
    She shrugged. ‘You’re the policeman.’
    He lobbed a couple of tea bags into two mugs.
    ‘Why?’ he asked. ‘It’s a pretty rubbish thing todo, don’t you think? Nicking people’s money when they’ve come for a day out on the beach?’
    She stared into the middle of the room, sullen.
    ‘Where do you suggest I go, then? Up to the hospital, where people are having a shit time anyway? So my nicking their money won’t make any difference to how they feel?’
    He had to hide a smile at her logic. He poured water onto the tea bags, got the milk out of the fridge and added a splash to each mug. He walked over and handed her one. She took it from him without a word of thanks, just held it between her knees, her shoulders hunched again. Her hair had come loose from its ponytail, falling onto her shoulders, and he thought again how pretty she was.
    ‘How about not doing it at all?’ he asked.
    She slammed her mug down on the coffee table in front of her.
    ‘Those people aren’t going to miss that money,’ she told him. ‘They’re just here to have a good time. They haven’t got a care in the world, any of them. I was watching. They’ve got everything they could possibly want.’
    Craig looked at her. ‘Does that make it right, then?’
    ‘No, of course it doesn’t,’ she shot back. ‘Iknow it’s wrong. I don’t need you to judge me. You with your job, and your beach hut, and your surfboard, hanging out by the sea. You don’t know what it’s like, to have no hope, no money. Nothing. I’ve got nothing!’ she shouted at him. ‘I’ve got the clothes I’m standing up in, but that’s it. I lost my job and my boss never gave me my wages. I owe my landlord four hundred quid, and if I don’t get it, he’s going to kick me out. Tell me what I was supposed to do, Mr Policeman?’
    She spat the last few words out with real venom. Craig was silent for a moment.
    ‘Actually,’ he told her, ‘I do know what it’s like to have absolutely nothing.’
    She gave a snort of disbelief. ‘Yeah, right.’
    ‘I was brought up on an estate on the outskirts of the city. My brother was a drug dealer, but my mum thought the sun shone out of him because he brought her things. Things he’d nicked. She never took any notice of me. So I decided I’d start nicking things too.’
    The girl looked up in surprise at this confession. Craig gave a wry smile. He didn’t think he’d ever admitted this to anyone before. It wasn’t something he was proud of.
    ‘Lucky for me, there was a teacher at my school who could see I had potential. He gaveme a really hard time. He went on and on at me until I realised he was right: that I would have more of a chance if I passed my exams. When I got my exam results, eight GCSEs, my mum didn’t take any notice. She was too busy watching the big-screen telly that my brother had got her.’
    Craig still remembered his anger now – the feeling of hopelessness, wondering what on earth was the point – and he’d thrown the letter with his results in the bin. His teacher had come to find him, told him how