The Deadly Game(39)
Ronnie looked at him angrily, and then turned to Jez.
‘I told you it was a mistake helping him,’ she said.
‘No,’ Jake assured them. ‘You can trust me. I won’t say anything.’
‘You say that now, but what about when you get out of this flat?’ demanded Ronnie. ‘For all we know you go runnin’ to the police!’
‘That ain’t likely, Ronnie,’ pointed out Jez. ‘He’s on the run, remember.’
‘Yeah, but he might try and cut a deal. Sell us out to get himself off the hook.’
In spite of himself, Jake couldn’t help smiling at her accusation.
‘Really, you don’t need to worry,’ he said. ‘That is so not me!’
‘Oh yeah?’ demanded Ronnie, still angry. ‘How we know? You, with your good clothes and the way you talk.’ Angrily, she turned on Jez. ‘Why we helpin’ this fool again?’ she demanded.
‘Because I got a feelin’ about him,’ said Jez defensively. ‘He’s OK. He’s just a guy in need of help. He’s clean.’
Ronnie shook her head.
‘You said that before, and look what happened. We nearly ended up back in the home . . .’ Then she realised what she’d said and shut up abuptly, whirling back to glare defiantly at Jake.
They’re runaways from a children’s home, realised Jake.
‘I won’t say anything,’ he said. ‘I know what some of those places can be like. Children’s homes. Foster homes.’
Jez hesitated, then shook his head.
‘You don’t know,’ he grunted.
‘Oh, but I do,’ countered Jake.
Ronnie looked at him scornfully.
‘Yeah, from things you read in the papers and see on the TV,’ she snapped at him angrily. ‘But that ain’t the same as livin’ it!’
‘But I did live it,’ said Jake quietly. ‘I was raised in foster homes, some good, some bad, some I never even wish to think about ever again.’
Jez and Ronnie looked at Jake, astonished.
‘You serious?’ asked Jez.
Jake nodded.
‘What happened?’ asked Ronnie. ‘You taken into care?’
‘No,’ said Jake. ‘I never knew my parents. Never knew who they were. I was left on the doorstep of a police station with a note saying “Please look after him”. They reckon I was about three months old.’
Jez and Ronnie stared at him, stunned expressions on their faces.
‘So you know the system,’ said Ronnie, awed.
‘Yep,’ said Jake.
‘You never find out who your ma was?’ asked Jez.
Jake shook his head.
‘At first I never asked, I just got on with it. There were too many other things to worry about, like staying away from the bad kids in the home.’
‘Tell us about it!’ nodded Ronnie in fervent agreement.
‘Then I got farmed out to foster homes.’ He smiled at a memory. ‘There was one couple, they were really nice. Mr and Mrs Danvers. John and Mary. They were really good. Kind. They looked after me.’
‘How old were you then?’
‘Eleven,’ said Jake.
‘Why didn’t you stay with them?’ asked Ronnie.
‘Maybe he did,’ put in Jez.
‘No,’ said Jake sadly. ‘They both died from cancer. Her first, then him. So I got taken away and sent to someone else.’ His expression darkened. ‘It’s always worse when you’ve been somewhere good, and then it gets snatched away and you end up somewhere really bad. Anyway, I ended up back at the home, and then got sent out a few more times, and then back to the home, until I was sixteen, when I left.’
‘That’s what me and Ronnie gonna do,’ nodded Jez. ‘We got six months left till we sixteen, then we can be legal. Get proper papers and jobs an’ everything. Till then, we got to keep our heads down and not get in any trouble.’
‘It ain’t easy out there, even being legit,’ Jake told them.
‘You did OK,’ said Jez. ‘Look at you, with your suit and a good job.’
‘And on the run,’ added Jake.
‘So why is that?’ demanded Ronnie.
‘Hey, Ronnie, that ain’t our business,’ protested Jez.
‘Yes it is,’ said Ronnie. ‘We spending our precious time with this guy, we puttin’ ourselves on the line for him, we deserve to know why.’
‘Yes, you do.’ Jake nodded in agreement.
And so Jake told them. About the Order of Malichea. About Lauren. Gareth, Pierce Randall and the Watchers. Finding the book at Glastonbury. Robert being beaten nearly to death. When he’d finished, Jez and Ronnie were staring at him, dazed.