The Kingdom: A novel by Jo Nesbo

Author:Jo Nesbo [Nesbo, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2020-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

‘Roy?’ whispered Carl in the dark as I was about to creep up to the top bunk.

I was on the point of saying something about doing overtime at the workshop, that we should sleep now. But something in his voice stopped me. I turned on the light above his bed. His eyes were red-rimmed from crying and one of his cheeks was swollen. I felt my stomach tighten. After that time in the barn with the shotgun, Dad had kept away.

‘Has he been here again?’ I whispered.

Carl just nodded.

‘Did he...did he hit you as well?’

‘Yes. And I thought he was going to strangle me. He was furious. Asked where you were.’

‘Shit,’ I said.

‘You’ve got to be here,’ said Carl. ‘He doesn’t come if you’re here.’

‘I can’t always be here, Carl.’

‘Then I’ll have to go away. I can’t take it any more...I don’t want to live any more with someone who...’

I put one arm around Carl, the other around the back of his head, pressed his head into my chest so that his sobbing wouldn’t wake Mum and Dad.

‘I’ll fix it, Carl,’ I whispered down into his fair hair. ‘I swear. You won’t have to run away from him. I’ll fix this, d’you hear me?’

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