Free Fighting Back by Cathy MacPhail Page A

doors, demanding they tell her what they saw!’
    Oh dear, I thought, and she was going to be so discreet.
    ‘At least she’s not sitting in the house, scared!’ I told him.
    His eyes narrowed. ‘My maw’s not scared!’
    And I wondered again what had happened.Something was going on with Ming’s mother. ‘I didn’t mean your mother, I meant mine. Is everything all right, Ming?’
    He snapped back at me and I was sorry for my concern. ‘Of course it is. What’s it to you?’
    ‘Absolutely nothing. I don’t care. I only want to know if anybody saw anything on the night of the fire.’
    One of his pals, the littlest one, leaned forward. He looked as if someone had sprayed freckles across his nose. ‘Kerry, hen – see, if the whole of the flats had seen the Laffertys carrying up a box of dynamite to your door, they wouldn’t say a word. So don’t ask.’
    I shook my head. ‘I don’t understand how you can all be so afraid of them.’ I looked at Ming, deciding I would appeal to his manhood. ‘You, Ming – you’re not afraid of anybody – did you see anything?’
    Ming’s eyes couldn’t meet mine. He screwed up what was left of his chips and aimed the paper at a wall. ‘Forget it, Kerry,’ he said, and he was off running, pulling his pals behind him.
    Mum had even less luck. Hardly anybody would even talk to her, and when they did they usually threatened her with grievous bodily harm.
    ‘I won’t give up, Kerry. I’ve only just begun.’
    ‘People did see something, Mum. I know it. They’re just too afraid to say.’
    She nodded and sighed. ‘If only there was something that could unite them against the Laffertys.’
    If only.
    It was after seven and just as we were clearing up the tea dishes Sandra’s television went on full blast.
    ‘Oh, no, not again!’ Mum clapped her hands to her ears. ‘That is ridiculous!’ She banged on the wall a few times, but to no avail. The television still blasted away. ‘Right, I’m going next door. I’ll tell her!’
    I pulled her back. ‘Give it a couple of minutes, Mum. Please!’
    But a couple of minutes later and the sound was still on full.
    Mum was out on the landing before I could stop her.
    She was at Sandra’s door when it was suddenly opened and there, in front of us, was Ma Lafferty. She looked surprised to find Mum there.
    ‘Have you got a problem?’ she said gruffly.
    ‘I might have known you would be with your “friend”,’ Mum said. ‘Does she really need the sound up so loud?’
    Ma Lafferty seemed to relax, and she called back intothe house, ‘Sandra hen, put the television down. You’re annoying your neighbours.’
    Then she pushed past us and hurried down the stairs.
    She had left Sandra’s door open and as we stood there she appeared at her living-room door. I gasped. My mum did too when we saw her. Her face was swollen, and she had a black eye. She wasn’t just surprised to see us. She was astonished.
    ‘Sandra!’ I’d never heard Mum say her name before like that. Concerned. ‘Did … did she do this?’
    It all fell into place. Sandra had lost her job, Sandra couldn’t pay. Sandra was scared. So was Ming. Yes, Ma Lafferty had done this.
    Sandra wobbled towards us as if she was going to fly at my mum. Mum stepped back and so did I.
    ‘I fell! OK? I fell!’ she screamed, and she slammed the door in our faces.

Chapter Twenty-Two
    I couldn’t sleep that night for thinking about Sandra. I thought about how hard she had worked for Ming. Always keeping up her payments, never falling behind – until now. She didn’t deserve this. No one did. It was the first time I had felt sorry for her.
    We had to do something about the Laffertys.
    Mum, however, had no sympathy for Sandra at all. ‘She says she fell? Why doesn’t she just tell the truth? Get them into trouble?’
    ‘Because she’s afraid, Mum. She has to live here.’
    ‘So do we. But I’m fed up with being afraid. I’m going to see Sergeant Maitland today.’
    I