Read Touched by Angels for Free Online Page B

him.
    He did, with visions of Borstal and the birch, to find Mr King instead, rent book in hand, and felt that same strange relief as a month ago, when he had thought it would be Mrs O’Brien.
    King was alone for once, without the muscle, but as he took his pen from the book’s spine, it was clear that, for whatever reason, rent day had come a day early.
    Lil stood and King smiled a slobbery smile, removing his bowler hat.
    She lifted the crystal ball off its ring, handed it to Robert, picked up the money she had hidden beneath and said, “I’ll have the remainder by next Saturday.”
    King’s smile vanished, and that soft voice, almost a wheeze, issued forth.
    “The rent, madam, for your tenure, is two pounds…”
    “Yes, I understand, but we have temporarily fallen on hard times. We have never once defaulted, in all the six years we have been here. I am a woman of my word, I will…”
    “Please don’t bandy excuses, madam. The terms of the lease are quite clear…”
    Robert snapped, “Look, she ain’t got it! She sez she’ll get it, an’ she will.”
    “Robert, that’s quite enough. Mr King is well within his rights to demand the agreed…”
    “No, he ain’t. This place is a loada shit! He never does a fing to improve it. Lenny’s place ain’t much better. It’s so damp, ’is mum’s got the consumption. Gone into a sanatorium. Prob’ly die.”
    He looked at the chain to King’s gold fob watch, hanging over his food-stuffed corpulence and added, “Sides, he’s so rich, he don’t need…”
    “Your lad would profit from a few good rump cuts, Mrs Smith. Our new children’s overseer will oblige when you come knocking. We’ll make it our first task.”
    He walked in to take the money, but Robert stepped in front.
    Unused to such defiance, King nearly blundered into him, but Robert stood his ground.
    It wasn’t until he was up close that he could see just how repulsive King really was. His greying, plastered down hair looked as though it had been cut round with a pudding bowl. His face was crimson, his lips like sausages and his double chin so restricted by his winged collar, Robert didn’t see how he could breathe, as he glared at him through small, watery eyes.
    His breath reeked so badly, Robert winced, feeling sick.
    “Get out of my way, boy,” he hissed, “or, by God, I’ll have my men thrash you and your whore of a mother so hard, you’ll crawl, not walk, for our sanctuary.”
    His cheeks had flushed purple.
    “Yeah? Well, your thugs ain’t ’ere, so what…”
    King pushed him to one side, and a short tussle ensued, before he shoved the boy backwards into the wall, winding him, before marching forward. Robert tightened his fingers around the ball and threw it at King with all his might.
    When it struck the back of his skull, there was a sickening crunch, like an egg breaking.
    It dropped to the boards with a thud, and King seemed to stand still for a long time, though his arms had suddenly become rigid. The rent book fell from one hand, and the bowler hat from the other, rolling in a circle before coming to a halt.
    Lil staggered back, her mouth dropping open, as King’s eyes rolled up into their sockets, exposing the whites.
    He tottered from side to side and Robert felt the bile coming up into his throat, as he saw that King had a deep, ball-shaped dent in the back of his head.
    As young as he was, he knew King would die.
    King started moaning, “Gaaah… gaaah!” in between hitched breaths.
    Then he dropped like a sack of spuds and crashed in a tangle of arms and legs on the floor. There he lay, bucking and twitching, hands clenching and unclenching.
    The “Gaaahhh!” sound was getting ever louder, as spit ran from the corners of his mouth, while blood snaked its way out of his left ear and dripped onto the floor. Through it all, Bob slept on, still without a care in the world.
    Robert stared at his mother, taking nothing in but the horror in her eyes. She stood up and