A Woman of Courage by Rita Bradshaw

Author:Rita Bradshaw [Bradshaw, Rita]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2023-07-10T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

‘It’s been over two months since she vanished into thin air, taking my son with her.’

‘I know, man, I know.’ Bruce’s tone was consoling. ‘I’m doing all I can.’

Adam had raised his upper body on his elbows when his brother had first come into the bedroom, but now he sank back against the pile of pillows propped behind his back. The room was dark although the sun was bright outside – he kept the curtains closed day and night – and it smelled strongly of antiseptic with an underlying, more unpleasant smell of stale air and faeces. His tone aggressive, he said, ‘Well, whatever you’re doing it’s not enough. Someone has to know where she is. How much have you offered for information?’

‘Plenty, you know I have.’

‘I don’t believe that Bell woman doesn’t know anything. Thick as thieves they were.’

Bruce harboured his own suspicions about the part Adam’s cook had played in Josie’s departure, but after speaking to her he knew he wasn’t going to get anything out of her and it was easier to deny it to his brother. ‘If she knew owt she’d say, with the amount of money I waved in front of her nose. Don’t forget she and the maid are out of a job now and they’ll be lucky to get something that pays as well.’

When it had become clear that Adam was destined for the life of an invalid, their mother had insisted her youngest son, her baby, came to live with her. At the time he and Phyllis had thought it was a bad decision but Adam hadn’t cared one way or the other and so his mother had got what she wanted. Adam’s house had been put on the market and the staff had been dismissed. Adam was already regretting it as Bruce had known he would. Their mother fussed about everything and was constantly in his room, arguing with the nurse he had employed to take care of his brother and causing one upset after another.

‘I want her to pay for what she’s done and I want Luke back under my roof, damn it,’ Adam growled.

Bruce didn’t point out that it wasn’t Adam’s roof he was living under. Instead he said gently, ‘So do we all.’ Every time he visited his brother he wanted to wring Josie’s neck and he wouldn’t rest until she was six foot under. It was eating his mother up too; all she spoke about was revenge. As for Adam, he believed the only thing keeping his brother alive was the thought of his wife getting her just deserts. Even having his son back paled into insignificance beside that. His hate was consuming him. They’d had several leads in the last weeks which had proved false and sent his men scurrying here, there and everywhere, but as Adam had said, it really was as if she and Luke had vanished into thin air.

Now Bruce broached the topic his mother had urged him to raise with Adam. ‘Look, lad,’ he said softly, ‘you’ve got to eat something now and again.

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