Chapter 16 Lingard Estate 1972 Linen Hall Library Thursday, March 10, 2016 TIFF Lingard152 Manuscript Jack, Blood English https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard152 Linen Hall Library Linen Hall Library Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard152_1.jpg LHL Archive CHAPTER SIXTEEN “You have been warned". Mr Blake read the last words of the letter and shook his head. "Do you hear that, Jack?” he said. "I have been warned.” Jack got to his feet on hearing his name and wagged his tail. "Nobody will tell me what to do, Jack. There's only one thing to be done with anonymous letters. Burn them. We'll burn them all, Jack." Mr Blake clicked on his lighter and held the flame to the edge of the paper. The page curled slowly, then burst into fire about half way up. He dropped it on to the grate. The writing on this letter was different to the one that had come the day before. He took the hearth brush and shovel and swept up the ashes in case Sadie should suspect anything. She was very sharp, and he did not want her to be worried. He was tipping the ashes into the bucket in the kitchen when the front door bell rang. He looked at his watch. It was a bit early yet for Sadie. He went to saw through the fosted glass the shape of a man. He opened the door and Kevin half fell into the hall. Mr Blake supported him. There was blood on Kevin's shitt. "Sorry,” said Kevin. "I seem to be making a habit of it. Collapsing on you." Mr Blake took him in to the sitting room and sat him on the settee. "I'm all right really,” said Kevin. "It looks worse than it is.” ”But you've blood on you. Where's it coming from?" Text Joan Lingard Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:52 997 Chapter 16 Lingard Estate 1972 Linen Hall Library Thursday, March 10, 2016 TIFF Lingard153 Manuscript Rafferty, Kill English https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard153 Linen Hall Library Linen Hall Library Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard153_1.jpg LHL Archive 145 "It's not mine." Mr Blake lit his pipe. "Whose is it then?" "Fellow by the name of Rafferty, Brian Rafferty. Remember I told you about him?" "The one with the gun?" Kevin nodded. He told Hr Blake what had happened during the night and how in the mra morning he had waited in the alley for Rafferty and he had beaten him up. "It was as if the devil was in me," said Kevin. "You don't think I should have done it, do you?" "I understand why you did, Kevin." "But you think it was wrong?" "How would I know what was right and what was wrongI don't like violence of any kind." Mr Blake relit his pipe. "But it's what you think that counts." "I don;t know what I think." Kevin put his head back against the settee. His face was xxxx pale and drawn. "But I feel sick. I felt sick when I stood and looked down at Rafferty. It's not that I c are about him very much." He frowned. "I wanted to fight him, I wanted to kill him, but after I'd got him down l there lying at my feet I wished I hadn't done it. Do you understand that?" "Of course." "It seemed stupid somehow. I don't know. I don't really under- stand myself. He deserved it after all." "I suppose you could say he deserved it" Mr Blake agreed. "But maybe you feel youit didn't deserver having to beatdo you any good beating him up?" The front door bell buzzed. "That'll be Sadie. Shall I tell her Text Joan Lingard Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:52 998 Chapter 16 Lingard Estate 1972 Linen Hall Library Thursday, March 10, 2016 TIFF Lingard154 Manuscript Beaten, Rafferty English https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard154 Linen Hall Library Linen Hall Library Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard154_1.jpg LHL Archive 146 what has happenedabout it?" "Yes", said Kevin noddedclosing his eyes. Mr Blake took Sadie to the kitchen. He closed the door andto recounted the story. He waited patiently at intervalsbetween sentences to allow Sadiegive her time to explode. If she got hold of Kate MaloneKelly she was going to tear her to ribbons. and when she heard that Kevin had beaten up Brian she nodded with satisfaction. "He was needing a lesson," she said. "It seems that Kevin has got one from it," said Mr Blake toldand went on to tell her of Kevin's reaction. "But what does he feel like that for?" she demanded. "Rafferty beat him up framed him, and don't forget he beat Kevin up before! With two others to help him." "I hadn't forgotten. Niether had Kevin. But what's the next thing? More blood?" Sadie bit her lips. "But he couldn't have let Rafferty get away with it." "It's not Rafferty I'm bothered about. It's Kevin. He's not feeling very happy. Put on the kettle, Sadie , and amke him a cup of sweet tea. It might calm the sickness in his stomach." She made the tea and took a cup to Kevin. He smiled bleakly at her as she sat down beside him. "I'm a right looking sight," he said. "You look all right to me. Come on , drink some tea and you'll be feeling better. And then after that you're to lie down in Mr Blake's bed and take a rest." Text Joan Lingard Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:52 999 Chapter 16 Lingard Estate 1972 Linen Hall Library Thursday, March 10, 2016 TIFF Lingard155 Manuscript Shadow, Knife English https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard155 Linen Hall Library Linen Hall Library Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard155_1.jpg LHL Archive 147 "Bossy this morning, aren't you?" "There's times you're needing a bit of bossing." She held the cup for him whilst he drank. His own hand shook when he tried to take it from her. "Maybe I am a bit tired," he said. Whilst he sleptshe washed Brian Raffertys' blood out of Kevin's shirt. She watched the dirty water run out down the drain. Water tinged with blood. Suddenly she felt a bit sick herself. She pushed open the window over the sink. Mr Blake was in the back garden weeding round his rose bushes. He was proud of his roses; he had told Sadie all the different names though she could not remember them. "O.K.?" he asked. She nodded. She rinsed the shirt three times in clean water, wrung it out and took it to the garden to hang up to dry. She strung it out , pegged it and stood back to examine it. Not a shadow of a stain. "I hope he hasn't killed Rafferty," she said to Mr Blake. "You don't think he would, do you?" "It's unlikely." Sadie knelt down beside him. "But he might have. You never know, Rafferty might have hit his head on the ground when he fell." "It takes a lot to kill a man." "Not always. It can happen in a second." "Only with a gun or a knife." "Kevin didn't have a knife, did he?" said Sadie slowly. "He Text Joan Lingard Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:52 1000 Chapter 16 Lingard Estate 1972 Linen Hall Library Thursday, March 10, 2016 TIFF Lingard156 Manuscript Lashes, Tommy English https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard156 Linen Hall Library Linen Hall Library Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard156_1.jpg LHL Archive 148 wouldn't have taken a knife with him, would he?" "Sadie, you know him better than I do." "No, he wouldn't have had a knife." She bent over a deep red rose and ds took a deep breath. "What a smell!" "It's rich, isn't it?" Mr Blake smiled. "I must say I enjoy my roses." "It's nice being in a garden." "I was thinking it would be a a good idea if we were to go out in to the country tomorrow. It would do us all good?" "What a lovely idea!" cried Sadie. Kevin slept through the morning and afternoon. Sadie peeped in round the door to look at him before she ent to Moira Henderson's, and after she returned. He lay on his back, mouth slightly parted, his long lashes resting on his the edge of his cheekbones. She closed the door quietly behind her. "He's sleeping like a baby," s .e said to Hr Slake. "There's Nothing better than sleep for him. Let him lie awhile yet, Sadie." Her mother was expecting her home to tea but she said that she would come back afterwards. When she got off the bus near her street she saw Tommy coming out of the hardware shop witha a bottle under his arm. He waited for her. "Do you know what this is?" He held up the bottle. She m sniffed. "Smells like trupentine." "Right first go. Come and on and I'll show you why we need it." Text Joan Lingard Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:52 1001 Chapter 16 Lingard Estate 1972 Linen Hall Library Thursday, March 10, 2016 TIFF Lingard157 Manuscript Traitor, Ignorant English https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard157 Linen Hall Library Linen Hall Library Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard157_1.jpg LHL Archive "What's the big mystery?" "Come and see." He walked past the house, round the corner. He s pointed t at the gable wall. Belwo the picture of King Billy someone had written in white paint: A TRAITOR LIVES HERE. "Honest to goodness!" Sadie rested, her hands on her hips. "Aye, honest to goodness!" said Tommy. "But if we don't get it off here fast two people we know are going to have a stroke." He pulled r two rags from his pocket, threw one at Sadie. "Better get started." "I've a good idea who might have done this," she said, as she scrubbed at the word 'traitor'. "Done what?" asked her father's voice behind her. She dropped the rag. "What a fright you gave me!" "What are you up to?" Mr Jackson tried to edge round her. "Some eejit's been writing on our wall," said Sadie. "That's all." "And what have they been writing?" "Just a lot of rubbish." She had obliterated the first fourthree letters of the word. Mr Jackson stared at the other threefour. "We couldn't make out what it was at all," said Tommy, who was scouring the rest of the words. "Teerrible bad writing," said Sadie. "Somebody dead ignorant obviously." Mr Jackson humphed and frowned, then went into the house. Sadie Text Joan Lingard Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:52 1002 Chapter 16 Lingard Estate 1972 Linen Hall Library Thursday, March 10, 2016 TIFF Lingard158 Manuscript Turpentine, Country English https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard158 Linen Hall Library Linen Hall Library Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard158_1.jpg LHL Archive 150 leaned back agianst the flank of the white horse and let out her breath. "Whew!" "He knew what the words said. Sadie," said Tommy quietly,"I wish you would give up seeing Kevin before any worse trouble happens." "I've no intention of stopping seeing him," she said. "Do you think I'd give in that easily?" Tommy sighed and put some more turpentine on the rag. Next morning, Sadie got up at the same time as her mother. "I'm going to work early today," she said. "And I'll be late back tonight." "What's up today?" Mrs Jackson cracked an egg and slid it in to the frying pan. "We're going to do some spring-cleaning." "In July?" "It doesn't matter when you spring-clean, does it?" Mrs Jackson shook her head, cracked another egg. Tommy came in to the kitchen yawning. Sadie combed her hair in front of the mirror beside the sink,humming a tune inside her head. It was a lovely mronging, it would be fresh and sweet in the country and she would have a whole day with Kevin and Mr Blake away from the town and all the people she did not want to see. "Don't comb your hair in the kitchen," said her mother, who always combed her hair in front of that mirror and in fact kept it there for that purpose. Mrs Jackson set a plate of fried potato bread and an egg on the table for Sadie. Sadie ate quickly and was finished before Tommy's breakfast was ke Text Joan Lingard Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:52 1003 Chapter 16 Lingard Estate 1972 Linen Hall Library Thursday, March 10, 2016 TIFF Lingard159 Manuscript Labour Exchange, Burning English https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard159 Linen Hall Library Linen Hall Library Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard159_1.jpg LHL Archive 151 ready. She avoided looking at him. "What are you grinning smiling about?" asked her mother. "I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be grinning about the prospect of spring-cleaning someone's house." "It's just that it's a nice morning." She wanted to skip as she went up the street. She did not go round by the side of the house so she did not see that the word TRAITOR had been repainted on the gable wall. She rode out to Mr Blake's house on the top front seat of the bus pitying all the people she saw hurrying to w spend such a day in a dingy shop or office. Her mother thought she was going regularly to the Labour Exchange to look for a new job.but she had never been back since the first day after she had been sacked from the hat department. Mr Blakes had taken his car out of the garage before she arrived. It stood in the street looking shiny and clean. Kevin had washed it only two days before. "Good morning, Sadie." Mr Blake was cheerful. He always was. She went straight to the kitchen to start making a picnic lunch. She sniffed. There seemedto be a smell of bruning paper. She had noticed it the day before too. She looked in the rubbish bin and saw some charred paper. Mr Blake must have been burning old letters. Strange. She frowned, then forgot it. As she buttered the bread she sang. When Kevin arrived shotyly afterwardsshe ran to meet him in the hall. "How's Rafferty?" It was the first thing the bothShe asked at once. Text Joan Lingard Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:52 1004 Chapter 16 Lingard Estate 1972 Linen Hall Library Thursday, March 10, 2016 TIFF Lingard160 Manuscript Maps, Henderson English https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard160 Linen Hall Library Linen Hall Library Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard160_1.jpg LHL Archive 152 "Still alive." "Thank goodness for that!" said Sadie. "But a bit bashed about, so I hear. They tell me he has a few stitches and has taken to his bed." "Bed'll be a good place for him," said Mr Blake. "Keep him out of trouble." His friends would k not be lying in their beds though, thought Sadie, but she did not say it for she did not want the day spoiled, Kevin was looking much better. He had slept all night as well, he said. They loaded up the car and Mr Blake fetched some maps from his bedroom. They did not know where they were going; they wanted to wander off without any set ideas. Moira Henderson walked along the with the baby under her arm to watch them getting ready. Her Deirdre and Peter played in and out of the car. "You're lucky to be going away for a whole day," said Moira . "I wouldn't mind it myself." "Sorry we can't take you all with us," said Mr Blake. "Not enough room. Unless you'd like to sit on the roof!" They set offin high spirits. Moira xx and the children waved the until they turned the corner. Kevin and Sadie settled on the back seat to enjoy the trip. Jack lay on the front passenger seat beside his master. "I thin: we'll head north," said Mr Blake. "Up towards the glens of Antrim maybe?" Text Joan Lingard Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:52 1005 Chapter 16 Lingard Estate 1972 Linen Hall Library Thursday, March 10, 2016 TIFF Lingard161 Manuscript Sea, Violently English https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/lingard161 Linen Hall Library Linen Hall Library Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Lingard161_1.jpg LHL Archive 153 "Anywhere at all," said Sadie. "I don't mind a bit." Her hand lay in Kevin's. He looked at her and smiled. They took the coast road that ran close round by the coast, winding and twisting beside the sea. The water was bluelooked green today, tipped with white. Sadie and Kevin decided that they would bathe later. Mr Blake exclaimed suddenly. "What's the matter?" asked Kevin, leaning forward. "Don't know. Just felt a wobble. There it goes again. Think it might be a flat tyre. I'll pull in." Mr Blake pulled on the steering wheel, braking gently. And then the car lurched violently, sending them spinning straight across the road. The tyre was not flat: the off-side front wheel careered on down the road leaving the car behind. Text Joan Lingard Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 10:52 1006