Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne

Author:Lisa Ballantyne [Ballantyne, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780749958824
Publisher: Hachette Littlehampton
Published: 2012-08-06T04:00:00+00:00

After work, Daniel walked to the Crown on the corner of his street, with his hands in his pockets and his chin down. It was autumn now, and there was a chill in the air. Daniel almost turned back for his jacket, but couldn’t face the stairs again.

Inside the bar was bright and warm, a log fire crackling in the corner and the smell of pub food and damp wood in the air. Daniel ordered a pint and sat at the bar, turning the glass before him, allowing it to settle. Usually he would read the paper, but not tonight. He was sick of newspapers; each one he picked up either featured Sebastian, unnamed but referred to as ‘Angel’s child murderer’, or else he would be mentioned second hand, in opinion pieces about the ‘broken society’. Ben Stokes was already immortalised, a martyr for goodness, for childhood itself. He was never simply Benjamin Stokes, eight years old, but Little Ben, or Benny, always depicted in the same way: a school photograph taken two years before his death, two front teeth missing and the hair on the side of his head sticking up. He was the angel of Angel, and so Sebastian had become the devil.

The constant media commentary was new to Daniel. Some of the teenagers he had defended in the past had not been much older than Sebastian and had lived tougher lives, but they had been almost invisible to the press. Their cases were given a few lines at the side of the page, near the fold. What did they matter? They were just kids in gangs, controlling their own population. It was the natural order.

It was only three weeks now until Sebastian’s trial. Just thinking about it caused Daniel’s mouth to become dry. He took the first sip of his beer. Daniel was ready for trial, yet felt futile before the will of the courts.

As Daniel stared at his pint, he remembered the boy’s eyes from earlier in the day, the intensity of them. His thrill at the thought of going to court. The truth was that Daniel didn’t know what the boy was capable of doing. Despite the warm bar, Daniel felt a chill.

‘How’s it goin’, Danny?’ said the barman. He was in his fifties with a belly that hung over his belt and a face that was heavy with the stories he had heard. ‘You havin’ a hard week?’

Daniel sighed and smiled, shaking his head. ‘Just the usual.’

‘Where’s your good lady got to? Not seen her in ages.’

‘She moved out.’

‘I’m sorry, mate,’ the barman said, polishing a glass and placing it under the bar. ‘I thought you guys were tight.’

‘Some things aren’t meant to be, eh?’

‘Yeah, plenty of other fish, like they say.’

The barman’s gentle Cockney voice faded to the other side of the bar, as he served a couple who had just come in, the woman shivering from the night air.

Daniel stared at the amber liquid in his glass. It was warm in his hands.

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