Shoulder the Sky by Anne Perry Read Free Book Online

"But if Jerry fires at us, b'lieve me, mister, our boys'll fire back. You go up the front line some time, instead of 'anging around 'ere, an' you'll soon see. What dyer think all that noise is thunder? God Almighty moving "Is furniture? It's guns, boy, enough guns to kill every bloody thing in Flanders. Not that there is much left livin' around 'ere!"
    "And you're short of ammunition too, so I hear?" Prentice continued, not put off in the least. "Having to ration the men, even ask them to give back what they haven't used."
    "None to waste," Watkins answered, glaring back. "Everybody knows that, just don't say so. If Jerry don't know, don't tell 'im."
    "With the odds so heavy against us, and morale so low, it must be hard to make the men get out there and fight?" Prentice raised his eyebrows, his blue eyes very wide.
    "You're talking rubbish!" Watkins said angrily, his face flushed dark red. "I got better things to do than stand 'ere listening to you rabbi ting on. You get out an' see what it's really like, an' leave the sick 'ere to themselves." He half turned away.
    "I thought you might have come to find out if the sapper's wound was self-inflicted," Prentice said very clearly.
    Watkins froze, then turned back very slowly. "You what?"
    Prentice repeated what he had said, his eyes challenging, his expression innocent.
    Joseph's throat tightened, his stomach churning. This was exactly what he had come to prevent. He must say something now, before it was too late.
    "Mr. Prentice, you know very little about it," he interrupted. "And military justice is not your affair. Sergeant Watkins is thoroughly familiar with his job. He's regular army. He doesn't need you to direct him."
    Prentice turned to Joseph and smiled, a cold, satisfied curve of the lips. "I'm sure he doesn't," he agreed. "He'll do the right thing, for the good of the army as a whole, towards winning the war, whether he enjoys doing it or it's personally difficult for him. He mustn't let like or dislike for a man stand in his way. Or anybody else's beliefs neither mine," he smiled even more widely, 'nor yours, Chaplain. He'll find the truth. But then I imagine that, as a man of God, you're for the truth too."
    Joseph knew he had lost the argument, and he saw in Watkins' face that he recognized it too.
    "What happens to a man who has deliberately injured himself?" Prentice went on. "You owe it to the rest of his unit to deal with it, don't you? The one thing I've noticed out here, even in a few days, is the loyalty, the extraordinary depth of friendship between men, the willingness to share, to risk and even to sacrifice." There was a note of envy in his voice, and he hurried his words with an underlying edge of anger. "They are owed honour, and the loyalty of those who have the power to protect them, and the duty to lead."
    Watkins looked at him in silent misery.
    Joseph searched desperately for something to say, but what was there? Marie O'Day knew that Corliss's wound could have been self-inflicted. Even Sam feared it. He had said Corliss was close to losing his nerve.
    "It's a Joseph started to say, looking for a medical excuse.
    Prentice ignored him, keeping his eyes on Watkins. "Matter of military duty to collect the evidence," he finished the sentence. "Find the truth. There must be someone who saw it. The only reason not to speak to the witness is that you fear what he will say." He smiled for an instant. "I'm sure that isn't the case .... is it?"
    "Course it isn't!" Watkins said tightly, his lips drawn into a thin line. "I'll look into it. If there's evidence, there'll be a court martial. But it's none o' your business, mister! You get the hell out of here. Go do your job, an' leave us to do ours!" He swivelled on his heel and strode out past Joseph, too angry to speak, and perhaps ashamed that he had allowed himself to be trapped.
    Joseph had failed. Far from protecting Corliss, he had been instrumental in allowing Prentice to force Watkins into investigating