Read Slipknot for Free Online Page A

take him back to Monkmoor to wait for it.’
    She nodded and Talith closed the door.
    It was the wrong time now to say that she wished it hadn’t happened, that she wished none of it had happened, not the bullying nor the deed itself. Instead she did her best to cheer him up. ‘Mr Stephenson says you won’t be in for long, Call,’ she said. ‘He says Stoke Heath’s all right.’ She made another brave attempt at a smile. ‘He says it’s quite civilised.’ She stretched out one hand to touch his shoulder. ‘I’ll come and visit you in Stoke Heath. Every week. You’ll get sick of the sight of me, Call. I’ll bring you things. You’ll probably see more of me there than normal. It’s not the ends of the earth, is it?’ But Callum was staring out of the window at the rows of cars glinting in the September sunshine. His face was frozen.
    ‘What’s it going to be like,’ he asked, ‘not to be able to just walk out of the door and go where you want?’
    She couldn’t speak.
    ‘What’s it like to be locked up every night? To have no choice – no freedom?’
    She tried to say something helpful but for once words failed her. There was nothing she could think of to console him.
    ‘Mum’, he said desperately, his hands shaking. ‘I can’t go there. I can’t do it. I just can’t.’
    Shelley glanced at the doorway. Plainly visible were the figures of two policemen. Standing guard. ‘There’s nothing I can do, Call,’ she said.
    She was fighting back the tears. Call was right. He did not belong here. She wanted to take him home. For nothing she would have beaten back the guards single-handedly, and taken him away from here. Instead all she had to offer were platitudes. ‘Stoke Heath isn’t far,’ she said again. She tried to laugh. It came out as a bray. ‘You’ll see too much of me. More than when you’re at home. We’ll sit and have chats. Talk. Just watch. I’ll bring in cigarettes and video games and all sorts of stuff. The time’ll fly, Call. It isn’t long. Just hang on in there.’
    ‘Why would you bring in fags,’ he asked curiously. ‘I don’t even smoke. I’m not even old enough.’
    ‘Maybe buy you a few pals,’ she said. ‘I’ll bring you in some books as well. They said you can have a telly and a DVD player. Maybe even a computer as well. The time’ll pass quick,’ she said again. ‘Just think what you’re going to say when it comes to court. Listen to Mr Stephenson and take all the help you can.’
    Her anguish was threatening to engulf her.
    ‘Mum,’ he said again urgently, ‘you’re not pickin’ up on me. I can’t do it.’
    ‘You haven’t got any choice, Call,’ she said. ‘It’s the law. You can’t fight that. It’s the law.’
    But when she watched him being loaded in the back of thepolice van she felt as though her control would break. She watched the white van with its high, secure windows, swing out of the car park. One or two reporters held flash cameras high up and tried to catch a picture.
    For a while she stood on the court steps, paralysed, watching the spot where the van had left. People passed her by and eyed her curiously. But they were used to dramas being played out on the court steps. No one accosted her.
    Finally the doors swung open and Wesley Stephenson came down the steps, two at a time.
    ‘I’ve been having a talk with the police, Shelley,’ he said. ‘Callum’s a first offender. He’s no previous record at all. With a bit of luck –
if
we can persuade some of Roger Gough’s gang to testify about the bullying and particularly if the teacher, Mr Farthing, is willing to speak up, he might not be in for long. Let’s look on the bright side, and hope that Roger Gough makes a swift and full recovery. If we can expose the bullying they may well reduce the charge to GBH. That’s our best chance.’
    She managed a watery smile, knowing that Stephenson was doing his very best.
    He clapped her on the shoulder and moved on, to his car,