The Carnival is Over by Greg Woodland

Author:Greg Woodland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2022-06-22T00:00:00+00:00

31

Hal arrived home from work to hear clarinet music—‘Greensleeves’ or something vaguely like it—wafting from his brother’s bedroom and adult voices in the loungeroom. Partly opening the frosted glass doors, he looked through the crack at the broad shoulders and back of a policeman. Mick Goodenough sat facing Corrie, nursing a cup of tea on his lap. The special china, like Mick was a VIP guest.

‘We can’t thank you enough,’ Mum was telling him. Hal knew what she was on about: the court case, where Mick’s glowing character references had ensured that he and Lloyd had avoided a gaol term for car theft and dangerous driving, not to mention fleeing arrest and destruction of private property. It was an obligation Hal didn’t need, and he sometimes wondered if a stretch in juvie could be any worse than a whole year at the abattoir.

He was hoping they hadn’t noticed he was quietly inching the glass door closed, when someone poked him in the shoulder from behind and he jumped.

‘Boo,’ whispered Evan, ear to ear grin, and a clarinet in his hand.

‘Buzz off,’ Hal mouthed. Then when Evan jabbed him with the clarinet, he added, ‘Dickhead,’ furiously waving his brother away.

Evan didn’t get it. ‘You spying on them?’

‘Piss. Off,’ Hal mouthed, taking a warning step towards Evan, who giggled.

Mum’s voice rang out, ‘Hal? Is that you?’ Hal could cheerfully have throttled his nitwit brother. Mick, balancing cup on delicate saucer, turned around and spotted Hal through the frosted glass, as Evan darted back into his bedroom.

‘Here he is—how are you, Hal?’ Mick grinned like he was truly glad to see him.

Hal tried to look as if he’d fully intended to come in and join them. ‘Hello, Mick. Nice surprise.’ He forced a smile. ‘What brings you here?’

‘G’day Hal. How’s the abattoir treating you? Surviving?’

Hal grinned painfully and said, ‘Yeah, all right.’

‘Great. Seen much of Lloyd lately?’

‘Lloyd? We don’t talk much, these days. He’s in a different section to me.’

His mother chimed in, ‘Probably for the best, we think.’ Hal looked away but said nothing. She got up and said, ‘All right, I’ll leave you two to talk. We must have you over for dinner soon, Mick. Doug would love to see you too.’

‘That’d be wonderful, Corrie.’ He beamed at her.

She went out, leaving Hal standing awkwardly in front of Mick.

‘For Godsake sit down, mate, it’s your place. I just wanted your help with something,’ Goodenough said. ‘Come on, I won’t bite.’

Hal gingerly perched himself on the edge of the chair next to his mother’s.

‘Your friend Allie tells me you got a letter from Christine Makepeace. Mind if I see it?’

Allie, talking to cops? She hadn’t mentioned that at the abattoir today. Not that they’d had much chance to chat. He frowned at Mick. ‘Why?’

‘I think you know why,’ Mick said. ‘It could be important to the investigation.’

‘But she’s dead and buried. They said it was suicide. She just got…depressed. Anyway I…threw it away. Sorry.’ Hal shrugged. He looked Mick in the eye, doing his best not to blink.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.