The Girl From the Killing Streets by David Hough

Author:David Hough [Hough, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: darkstroke/crooked cat
Published: 2020-04-28T22:00:00+00:00

Friday 21st July 1972

1225 BST

Emily Foster was still at Aunt Judy’s house when Martin finally walked in the front door. She was busy at the kitchen sink, a diminutive figure in a light summer dress that emphasised her slender teenage figure, washing dishes that had probably not been touched since the previous day.

“Where’s Aunt Judy?” he asked.

Emily glanced back over a shoulder. “She went to the shops to get some bread. She wanted to make sandwiches for lunch. She should have been back by now.”

He stood beside her, knowing full well that their aunt would have done little if any of the tasks that needed doing around the house. “Have you been working hard here all morning?”

“There were things needed doing, Martin.” She pulled her hands from the water, wiped at them with a tea towel and turned to face him. “You look pale. Are you not feeling well?”

He didn’t answer the question because he was not sure exactly what was wrong with him. Was it self-recrimination? Was it anger from the discovery that Sorcha was not as innocent as he had once imagined? Or, most likely, was it the residual feeling of horror that came from seeing a girl shot dead and thinking it was Sorcha?

He picked up the kettle and asked, “Would you like a mug of coffee?”

“Sure. And there’s biscuits in the biscuit tin.” A pause and then, “What’s worrying you? Something is, isn’t it?”

“Something rather personal.”

“Is it the girl you’ve been seeing?”

He looked up suddenly. “You know about that?”

“I may be younger than you, Martin, but I’m not stupid. I’ve seen you sneaking off time and again, and I’ve watched from my bedroom window and seen you come home late. It has to be a girl.”

“Female logic.” He tried to rustle up a grin.

“I’m right, aren’t I? There is someone. Do you want to talk about it?”

Of course he did, and there was no one else he would rather talk to than Emily. But would she understand? Would she be prepared to keep his secret: that he had been to bed with a Catholic?

He poured hot water into two mugs of coffee granules. He knew she liked milk and sugar. In fact he knew more about Emily than he knew about any other girl, including Sorcha. She was, he sometimes thought, like a kid sister; a sister he could be at ease with. Someone who understood him.

They sat at the kitchen table. “There is someone, Emily. And I’ve been very naïve. Utterly stupid, in fact. I thought she was different to other girls. I thought I was in love with her. And now…”

“And now…?”

“I don’t know. The thing is… she’s a Catholic.”

A look of surprise crossed Emily’s face. She grabbed at her mug and it rattled on the place mat. “Oh God, Martin. That could be a real problem. You know what Aunt Judy says about Catholics.”

Yes, he knew well enough. The Reverend Ian’s condemnation of Catholic ideology made a big impact on Aunt Judy. “There’s more to it than that.

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