Free Rotten to the Core by Casey Kelleher

battered ; s he felt bile rise up in her throat, but thankfully she managed to keep it down.
              “Who did this?” she cried , her hands trembling .
              “ He hasn’t spoken yet . ” Sonia patted the chair next to her and gestured to Kate to sit.
              Kate was a good girl and she loved Jay deeply, Sonia could see that, b ut she couldn’t help feeling that Kate just wasn’t enough for Jay. He was rarely home and Sonia had lied to Kate when she had phoned on many occasions ; he had all sorts of girls at their house.
    Sonia had spoke n to her son about it once, after she asked him to move in with her when Den had died . S aid she didn’t want her home to be used for his sordid one - night stands with random girls . H e had laughed in her face . A fter that, when he did bring girls home , he was even louder with his goings-on, for her benefit.
    Sonia felt that she couldn’t ask him to leave ; she had only just got him back. She also knew that Jay sensed this and played it to his advantage.
    Kate stared at Jay lying in the hospital bed, silent tears sliding down her cheeks . S he felt sick. She knew her brother was after Jay, but he couldn’t have done this, not with her being pregnant : s urely not ?
              “ S top your tears , honey , ” Sonia said , in a voice that sounded more confident than she really felt . “ W e need to be strong for Jay now . ”
              Kate nodded and took a couple of slow breaths ; she couldn’t get herself into a state ; she had to think of the baby, something she had to keep reminding herself of lately . Poor Jay , s he’d had enough, knowing that she couldn’t go back home and carry on as normal with her brother now, not after he had done this to Jay.
    “The police are looking into it , ” Sonia informed her , as she pushed the curtain slightly so that Kate could see the two male detectives at the front desk talking to a female doctor. The younger of the two was writing information in a notebook, as the doctor spoke. The doctor pointed over to the curtain, seeing them look over at her. The older of the two men pulled the curtain across as the two policemen entered the now crowded cubical.      
              “Mrs Shaw ? ” H e addressed Sonia . “I’m D etective Carlson , and this is my colleague , PC Fowler . I appreciate that you are with your son now, but we need to start our investigation as quickly as possible, so I hope you don’t mind if I ask you a few questions ? ”
              The two woman exchanged glances, both knowing that Jay wouldn’t want the police involved. Sonia knew that a number of people could have done this to him . L ike his father before him, he had pissed enough people off . Kate , however , was sure that it was her brother, but as much as she could kill Billy right now, she knew if she so much as hinted at his involvement, then there would be a whole world of trouble in store for her. As angry as she was with Billy for what he had done to Jay, she would deal with him herself. The p olice didn’t get much information from the two women: they hadn’t expected to. This sort stick together , D etective Carlson thought , after he had asked several questions and got nothing much from them .
    Kate decided that she would go to Emma’s place for a couple of nights . She couldn’t face going home to her brother, not now. Seeing Jay in such a bad way had knocked her for six, and what if it was all down to her ? S he watched as the two policemen walked off and then looking back at Sonia’s pale , worried face , she knew she had to tell her the truth.
              “Sonia, I don’t know how to say this but I think I know what this is all about , ” she said , looking over at Jay again.
              Sonia looked at the girl with doubt, she was sure that Kate didn’t know half