Humber Boy B by Ruth Dugdall Read Free Book Online

returned to her own room.
    They heard her door slam closed and knew that would be the last they saw of her for a while.
    “Fuck them, who needs Scarborough? We’re goin’ on us ‘-olidays, right here,” Adam said, sitting up and reaching again for his Rovers top. “Me and you.”
    Ben felt an ache. He loved to be with Adam and knew his brother was hurting badly, but he couldn’t help him. He looked at his bedside clock, which was only approximately right. “Noah’ll be here any second. His mum’s gone up ta London for the strike, so we’re looking after him.”
    Adam gave a snort. “Do I look like a babysitter?”
    “Not you, our kid. Me and our mam said we’d have him. It’ll be a laugh. Noah and me will go scooting up the ten foot or we’ll knock a ball around the park.”
    “Lame,” was Adam’s verdict.
    “Then Mam will cook us summat, from the brass Noah’s mam gave her.”
    “Like she’ll remember that. You saw the state of her,” said Adam. “We’ll look after him, you and me. Best we don’t bother our mam anymore. You know how she gets.”
    Ben looked at Adam, wild eyes catching his brother’s anger. Their room was so stuffed with frustration and hurt that neither boy knew what to do with it. “What’ll we do? We don’t have any brass.”
    “Maybe we can find us summat better to do than football. Like I said, this is us ‘-olidays. And I have an idea.”

10
    Now
    FACEBOOK: FIND HUMBER BOY B
    Noah’s mum: I just had a call from a reporter with The Sun . Now HBB is out, the calls have started, dragging up the past, but this journalist seemed very sweet. She wanted to give me the chance to say what I think about him being free, and I said that it was a betrayal of my son’s memory and I would do anything in my power to change it.
    I told her to get me in a room with him, that’s what I really want. For that, I’d go on TV, be interviewed for any magazine. I just want to look him in the eye and ask why he murdered my Noah.
    The one question no-one in the courtroom ever asked. I’ve asked God, but he never answers either.
    Silent Friend: That’s the only question that matters. I hope you get to ask him yourself one day.

11
    Cate
    “Neither brother told anyone that Noah was in the Humber River, they just ran home,” Cate says, shaking her head slowly. “If they’d only told someone, called 999, then it may have been okay.”
    Paul winced. “I doubt it. River water can be icy and that boy dropped from a height.”
    “But why didn’t they? I mean, an anonymous call. There’s a phone box on most bridges, there’s surely one on the Humber.”
    Paul’s face had a look of disgust. “Evil bastards.”
    “Come on, Paul, you know it’s not as simple as that. You’ve been a probation officer how many years?”
    “More than I care to count.”
    “And how many people have you met who you’d really call evil?”
    Paul hesitated. “Not many. But this case isn’t exactly run of the mill.”
    Cate looked at the pile of paperwork as if it was a haystack and she was tasked with finding the needle. “He was ten years old for God’s sake!”
    “You can be evil at any age. You just better make bloody certain he’s cured now, or exorcised or whatever the opposite of being evil is, because I don’t want him doing anything like that in Suffolk.”
    “Don’t fancy your mug shot in the Daily Mail? ”
    Paul smoothed down his red velveteen waistcoat and made for the door. “That I don’t, unless it’s a photo of me sipping Bollinger because I just won the EuroMillions,” he said, as he stepped into the corridor.
    She looked up at her old friend.
    “And not so close to retirement.”
    He closed the door behind him, leaving Cate alone at her desk, contemplating the next witness statement in the case file, which was that given by Ben’s mother, Yvette. Paul was right, the best they could do for Ben was to keep him safely hidden. This was the highest profile case she’d worked, and