The Know by Martina Cole Read Free Book Online Page A

my baby . . .’
     
    Jeanette watched the worry wiped from her mother’s face.
     
    ‘Oh, thank God! Yeah, thanks. I’m on me way over.’
     
    She replaced the receiver and sank down on the floor in relief. Her legs had literally given way under her.
     
    ‘Is she all right, Mum?’
     
    Jeanette sounded genuinely concerned.
     
    ‘No fucking thanks to you, you fucking little mare!’
     
    Joanie lit a cigarette with shaking hands. It was taking all her will-power not to punch her daughter’s lights out once and for all. Christ Himself knew she had been building Joanie up to it for a while now.
     
    ‘I am going to pick her up. You better start clearing this place up, and when I get back I am going to fucking muller you! I ask you to do one thing for me and you can’t even fucking do that. You wait till your brother gets in; he at least knows how to look after his little sisters. You included, you lazy, selfish bitch!’
     
    ‘Where was she?’
     
    But the words fell on deaf ears; Joanie was already walking out of the door.
     
    One good thing as far as Jeanette was concerned: Jon Jon wasn’t coming home tonight. Not while the warrant was still out on him anyway. So at least she had some respite there.
     
     
‘She’s been here all evening.’
     
    Joanie was staring at the grotesquely fat man before her and smiling nervously. Kira was asleep on a dilapidated sofa behind him, but at least it looked clean. That was the first thought in her head.
     
    He had placed a blanket over the sleeping child and now absent-mindedly pulled it up over her like a mother would. There were crisp packets and empty Coke cans on the battered table, also the remnants of a sandwich. He had obviously taken good care of her and Joanie was grateful for that.
     
    His strange high-pitched voice was kept deliberately calm and slow as he explained the situation. He sounded like Dale Winton on helium.
     
    ‘I sit on the balcony, see? It’s the heat. I saw your other daughter go out, and then Kira was on her balcony, I mean your balcony, so I asked her over for a cup of tea. Then the police arrived and I didn’t know what to do. She didn’t have her phone and the only number she knew off by heart was her home one, but I didn’t like to call that until I saw you were there, what with the police and everything. I mean, I can see in your front room if the curtains are open.’
     
    He said the last bit rather nervously and Joanie grinned.
     
    ‘Thanks, mate. I appreciate it. You did the right thing.’
     
    He went out to the kitchen to make tea and Joanie thanked God for this man who had inadvertently staved off disaster. Social Services would have whipped Kira away if they had seen her alone in the flat. He clearly didn’t know what a big favour he had done her.
     
    Tommy came back in with the tea.
     
    ‘Listen, if you’re ever stuck, I’ll come to yours and watch her. She’s a good kid. Very polite and well-spoken. Her manners are impeccable, as my old mum would have said.’
     
    For some strange reason, Joanie took to him.
     
    ‘Thanks, mate, I’ll bear that in mind.’
     
    In fact she would never even contemplate it but she wouldn’t say that to him. He had done her a favour tonight and so she could afford to be nice. Plus the tea and the tranquil atmosphere were doing her good.
     
    She felt calmer than she had for a long while. It was his quietness. She guessed he had cultivated his calm, soft-spoken demeanour to compensate for his weight problem. In fact, he sounded like a queen, and not one that ruled any country she knew of.
     
    Reading her mind, he said simply, ‘It’s glandular, but I also overeat so I don’t help meself.’
     
    His open face was so honest she felt a moment’s sorrow for the hulk of a man before her.
     
    ‘I get on very well with Kira, you know. You’ve done a wonderful job with her.’
     
    Joanie smiled at the compliment. He was like a big kid himself. A very big kid.
     
    ‘Well,