A Servant of the Company by Alan Cooke Read Free Book Online Page B

the ecstasy tablets got there was a mystery to him but they had found a box containing twenty. It was his box used for spare change, just another way to save as he had been doing since joining the Army. He had protested his innocence, but the only fingerprints on the box were his. Military Law was quite clear, and the only verdict was that which had been reached. His time in Afghanistan counted for nothing.
    In his teens Steven Henderson had been a tearaway, although never charged by the Police they had cautioned him on a number of occasions. Frequently absent from school and twice excluded for bad behaviour did little to prepare him for the world of work. Leaving school at the age of sixteen, he had not gained one certificate. Full time employment was not on his agenda, but there were casual jobs where no questions were asked. The twilight world in which he existed had no time for Tax or National Insurance. It was cash in hand for some honest, but mainly dishonest effort. All he was interested in was beer money.
    The problems Steve’s mother had with him, her only child, had played their part in the pain which showed on her face. Although not yet forty, she looked ten years older. He was verbally abusive towards her, but never physically violent. As far as he was concerned, this was the behaviour of his friends and acquaintances. It was normal. When he wanted to go out but had no money, he would demand it from his mother. Usually she would give him some of her meagre funds if she had any, just to get him out of the house. She had visited the school on a number of occasions with the hope that the teachers would help, but they had given up on him. When he and his friends finally left, there had been celebrations in the staff room. The problems they caused had disrupted lessons, affecting not only the teachers but also the few pupils eager to move on to higher education. He had the ability to do more, she was sure of that. In the early years, even without his father’s presence, he had been bright and inquisitive. She knew he could have benefited from an education even at that school. The Headmaster had done his best, telling her that her son was an intelligent boy who could easily have gone on to further education if he had applied himself with that aim in mind. Steven was however well on the way to self destruction.
    His life began to change when his closest friend Darren died from a drug overdose. They had promised each other that they would never touch drugs as they continually saw acquaintances become addicts and the thought of ending up like them had no appeal. It was a shocked Steven who stood on his friend’s doorstep being told by Darren’s parents that he had been found dead on wasteland behind the school. He remembered saying something to Darren’s mother and her thanking him for his words. She had put her arms around him before he left but was understandably grief stricken and couldn’t say anything else. Trying to tell her that he had no idea Darren was using drugs would not help. Her son’s death was as much as she could cope with at that moment. When he arrived home he sat on the sofa thinking about his friend and the promise they had made to each other, and couldn’t believe how stupid Darren had been. The revelation hurt him more than anything had ever done before, his friend since starting school was gone forever. All that mattered when he heard the news was to get home, close the door behind him and hope the world outside would disappear. Not moving, he thought about the times he and Darren had been in trouble, how they had shared secrets and anything else they had. He had always been a true friend even though their escapades had left some people less than happy.
    ‘Stupid, stupid bastard,’ he shouted out in sheer frustration. ‘You promised you would never touch that stuff and now look where it’s got you. Dead, that’s bloody where.’
    The house was silent apart from the whimpering coming from