Witness by Alex Wheatle

Author:Alex Wheatle [Wheatle, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Profile Books
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Crongton General

I grabbed another hoodie from the peg in the hallway and opened the front door.

‘If I hear you’ve been blabbing to anyone about this, I’ll give you what for,’ Mum warned. ‘If you grass up Ryan Sinclair, it’ll make no difference to the stabbed boy. It won’t help him. Only God can save him now. Think of me and Angela. We still must live here and go about our business. I don’t want neighbours pointing at me saying she’s the mum of the boy who grassed up Ryan Sinclair.’

‘I just wanna see if the guy’s breathing,’ I replied. ‘Anything wrong with that?’

I closed the door behind me and pulled on my hoodie. I felt terrible, but I had to check on the shanked bruv.

A spit of rain was in the air. I pulled my hood over my forehead.

‘Don’t bring those crazy Sinclairs to my door,’ Mum yelled from inside.

Even if I stayed, I didn’t think I could keep Mum’s fish and rice down.

I skipped down the stairs and into the forecourt of our slab. Even if Maypen survived his stabbing there could be a grievous bodily harm charge … or attempted murder. Someone might’ve seen me. Though kerb-boppers are always pulling down CCTV cameras, there’s still plenty of them around. I left my grey hoodie at the scene. The feds had probably already picked it up. Their forensic people would be examining it. I wondered if Ryan had flung away the blade.

Crongton General was close to the town centre. It was a twenty-minute walk but I reached there in fifteen. By the time I pushed through the entrance, I needed another shower. Sweat collected around my belly-button and down my backside crease.

I marched to casualty reception. The woman behind the counter was sipping a coffee while reading something on a clipboard. Her nails were bitten. She wore a bad cherry-coloured wig.

‘Good evening,’ I greeted.

She didn’t look up.

‘Good evening,’ I said a little louder.

‘How can I help you?’ she asked. ‘Do you need to see a doctor? Any kind of injury?’

‘No, but I’ve come to find out what happened to a Maypen Butler, a tall bruv. He’s about fifteen or sixteen. Brown skin boy.’

Her eyes were still fixed on the clipboard. ‘Are you next of kin?’ she asked.

‘Er … no. Not really. I don’t really know him. Just wanna find out if he’s all good. You know. I wanna know if he’s been sewn up neatly and patched up. Wanna know if he’s up and about.’

‘We do not give out personal information.’

‘But I need to know.’

She circled something on her clipboard with a biro. Behind me someone had just been wheeled in on a stretcher. He had a white dressing over his left eye. Blood spotted his shirt. He was taken straight through. I sniffed disinfectant from the floor.

‘I need to find out.’ I raised my voice. ‘It’s important.’

‘May I repeat, it’s not policy to give out personal information about any patients.’

I bit my bottom lip and narrowed my eyes at the receptionist.

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.