Free Running Shoes (The Shades of Northwood) by Wendy Maddocks Page A

sleep here’til
morning and then I’ll be gone. Stop fussing, woman.”
    “Look,” began
Lainy in that voice Katie already knew meant people better shut up
and listen because she was in charge. “I think you’ll be fine but I
want to take you to the medi centre in case there’s infection.”
    “Am I your
first housemate to be dodging an ABH charge?” There was a silence
that Katie would have said was diplomatic. “Oh, I do feel
special.”
    “For Gods sake,
girl. I am fine.”
    The more people
insist things were okay, the guiltier Katie felt. She knew that
things were not fine. Nothing could excuse or justify such
violence. She told herself that she had a reason – that man had not
– and while that made her feel a bit less bad about it, it did not
make it forgiveable. “Uncle Billy, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I
never realised it was only you.”
    “Girl, this is
barely a scratch.” He let Lainy tape a circle of bandage over his
eye and tenderly prodded it. “Oh, your Mom sent this down.” He took
a letter from the back of his jeans.
    “They sent a
spy. Make sure I haven’t slashed my wrists yet. Their faith in me
is astounding.” The envelope was a large cream one with her name
written on it in curlicue lettering. Inside was a sheet of paper
crammed with tiny handwriting. Katie listened, with half an ear, to
the conversation going on above her as she skimmed through the
page.
    “I’ll go if I
have to but I’m not hurt. I get worse than this from my dog.”
    “I just want to
be sure.”
    “My van’s
outside and I have the keys now. Dope me up and see the doctor in
the morning. It’s fine.”
    “You are not
driving with that eye. You’ve got 50% vision and you’ll crash
somewhere along the way. I’m not going to be the last person to see
you alive and Katie’ll be worried sick.”
    That was a true
statement but not for the reasons Lainy thought. Uncle Billy could
go jump off the nearest cliff for all she cared; he wasn’t a bad
person, just insensitive and annoying – really annoying. The last
few lines of Mom’s letter had said how much everyone missed her
already and that she didn’t think this could wait until she came
back home. Another envelope, smaller and stamped with the police
crest.
    “Anyone still
sleep at night around here?” Adam yawned and dragged into the
kitchen. He was wearing grey boxers and yanking a t-shirt down over
his awesome chest. It was a sight to behold but Katie barely gave
him a second glance. “Get that man to hospital,” he said, then
stopped as if just realising a man with a bandaged eye was sitting
at his table with his fiancée and new young charge in the bunny
pyjamas. “Wait, why is there a strange, wounded man in my house?
And which of my girls tried to kill him?”
    Katie just
stared at the envelope in her hand and kept turning it over, not
brave enough to open it. “He broke in.”
    “That’s my
girl.” Adam sounded almost proud. “Anyway, you need medical
attention, mate.”
    “I’m not taking
advice from a bunch of kids. Mate.”
    “Uncle Billy,
just move. The sooner you’re out of my house, the better/”
    “Fine. Let’s
get this over with. Katie, you’re driving.”
    There was brief
discussion where Katie pointed out that she was too young to have a
license and had never even watched closely when her parents drove.
Uncle Billy couldn’t drive the van because he was liable to kill
them all. It couldn’t be Lainy as she would have to stay in the
back to look after him. Adam could drive but didn’t want to leave a
group of sleeping students alone in the house. During the course of
the conversation, Uncle Billy swallowed a couple of painkillers dry
and started to moan that his eye was really starting to hurt, Leo
stomped down and complained he couldn’t sleep through this racket
then mentioned he could drive, eventually agreed to drive them to
the medical centre, Katie hardly looked down at the police envelope
but couldn’t quite