Absolom, of the News .
When he is done, Staffe says, ‘Hardly a coherent pattern of voting behaviour; not the actions of a moral crusader.’
‘I judge each case on its merits. You have to take voting into its wider context. You are being a little naïve.’
‘You have always gone where the Whip blew you. Until now.’ Staffe places the sheet of A4 on Vernon Short’s desk. ‘And you, Mr Short, are the naïve one, if you think I won’t find out exactly what you do from now on – and what you have been up to, all the way back to the sixth of January.’
‘The sixth?’
‘Ask Lesley Crawford. Ask Sean Degg. Ask the baby when she grows up and can answer you. Because I’ll have to answer to her, when she asks who murdered her mother.’
*
Josie carries the drinks into the room where Sean Degg sits beside his daughter’s incubated cot. A dark-haired nurse had sat with him but leaves as soon as Josie returns.
She hands Sean his black tea and sips from her own machine-made mocha. ‘You were going to tell me how you and Kerry met. She was much younger, right?’
Sean sips his black tea, pops a pill into his mouth. Soon, he looks relaxed and he talks, low, almost to himself. ‘Kerry was sixteen when we met. I was booking gigs. I had a couple of clients but I never made much money. Too soft, I suppose.’
‘You met her at a gig?’
Sean stands and looks down on his baby, her eyes closed and her skin still pale. He mumbles, ‘She was adopted. Never even knew her dad. And when Kerry was six or seven, her new father was killed in a crash. I tried to get Kerry to see someone about it, but she wouldn’t.’
‘What about her sister, Bridget?’ says Josie. ‘Maybe you should go and see her. It might help both of you.’
‘Kerry wouldn’t want that.’
Josie knew the answer to her next question, asked it anyway. ‘Have you seen Kerry – since she … passed away?’
‘She wouldn’t want that.’
‘And what about you?’
‘The first time she performed for me was an open mike up at the Angel. She could make herself anything on that stage. I saw it from the first look, the first sound of her. I saw it.’ He is transfixed by the motionless baby. He looks at Josie, then quickly away, as if afraid of her response. ‘Do you believe them, when they say Grace’s chances are good?’
Josie reaches out with her hand and Sean takes it. He grips Josie hard. Together, they sip from their drinks.
*
Staffe settles into his nook in the Hand and Shears, drinks lustily from his pint of spiced-up tomato juice. He eyes up the Adnams.
April catches him at it from behind the bar and throws a tea towel over her shoulder, laughs, ‘I don’t know why you deny yourself, not when Dick’s beer is so good.’
‘Some of us have work to do,’ he says.
‘Oh, dear. Someone’s in for it, then.’
‘Hopefully,’ he thinks, breaking open the early evening edition of the News . He scans the front page and sees no outcome from his earlier conversation with Nick Absolom. Flicking through, he spots it on page seven, a two-column piece.
He has another draught of the Virgin Mary and takes in a cube of ice, sucks on it as he reads.
New developments in the Baby Grace case suggest that police are looking beyond the claims that members of the Breath of Life Group are responsible for the kidnapping of Grace’s mother, Kerry Degg. No official statement has been made by City Police, but we have cause to believe that the claim, by Lesley Crawford, a member of Breath of Life, that Kerry was kidnapped by their members, is simply a smokescreen.
The upcoming private members bill, presented by backbencher Vernon Short, has gained a dramatic surge in support following the saving of Baby Grace.
Our reporters attempted to seek clarification that Vernon Short condemned the actions of Breath of Life, but the MP was unavailable for comment. After four days, and even in the light of the death of Kerry Degg, no arrests have been made in
When he is done, Staffe says, ‘Hardly a coherent pattern of voting behaviour; not the actions of a moral crusader.’
‘I judge each case on its merits. You have to take voting into its wider context. You are being a little naïve.’
‘You have always gone where the Whip blew you. Until now.’ Staffe places the sheet of A4 on Vernon Short’s desk. ‘And you, Mr Short, are the naïve one, if you think I won’t find out exactly what you do from now on – and what you have been up to, all the way back to the sixth of January.’
‘The sixth?’
‘Ask Lesley Crawford. Ask Sean Degg. Ask the baby when she grows up and can answer you. Because I’ll have to answer to her, when she asks who murdered her mother.’
*
Josie carries the drinks into the room where Sean Degg sits beside his daughter’s incubated cot. A dark-haired nurse had sat with him but leaves as soon as Josie returns.
She hands Sean his black tea and sips from her own machine-made mocha. ‘You were going to tell me how you and Kerry met. She was much younger, right?’
Sean sips his black tea, pops a pill into his mouth. Soon, he looks relaxed and he talks, low, almost to himself. ‘Kerry was sixteen when we met. I was booking gigs. I had a couple of clients but I never made much money. Too soft, I suppose.’
‘You met her at a gig?’
Sean stands and looks down on his baby, her eyes closed and her skin still pale. He mumbles, ‘She was adopted. Never even knew her dad. And when Kerry was six or seven, her new father was killed in a crash. I tried to get Kerry to see someone about it, but she wouldn’t.’
‘What about her sister, Bridget?’ says Josie. ‘Maybe you should go and see her. It might help both of you.’
‘Kerry wouldn’t want that.’
Josie knew the answer to her next question, asked it anyway. ‘Have you seen Kerry – since she … passed away?’
‘She wouldn’t want that.’
‘And what about you?’
‘The first time she performed for me was an open mike up at the Angel. She could make herself anything on that stage. I saw it from the first look, the first sound of her. I saw it.’ He is transfixed by the motionless baby. He looks at Josie, then quickly away, as if afraid of her response. ‘Do you believe them, when they say Grace’s chances are good?’
Josie reaches out with her hand and Sean takes it. He grips Josie hard. Together, they sip from their drinks.
*
Staffe settles into his nook in the Hand and Shears, drinks lustily from his pint of spiced-up tomato juice. He eyes up the Adnams.
April catches him at it from behind the bar and throws a tea towel over her shoulder, laughs, ‘I don’t know why you deny yourself, not when Dick’s beer is so good.’
‘Some of us have work to do,’ he says.
‘Oh, dear. Someone’s in for it, then.’
‘Hopefully,’ he thinks, breaking open the early evening edition of the News . He scans the front page and sees no outcome from his earlier conversation with Nick Absolom. Flicking through, he spots it on page seven, a two-column piece.
He has another draught of the Virgin Mary and takes in a cube of ice, sucks on it as he reads.
New developments in the Baby Grace case suggest that police are looking beyond the claims that members of the Breath of Life Group are responsible for the kidnapping of Grace’s mother, Kerry Degg. No official statement has been made by City Police, but we have cause to believe that the claim, by Lesley Crawford, a member of Breath of Life, that Kerry was kidnapped by their members, is simply a smokescreen.
The upcoming private members bill, presented by backbencher Vernon Short, has gained a dramatic surge in support following the saving of Baby Grace.
Our reporters attempted to seek clarification that Vernon Short condemned the actions of Breath of Life, but the MP was unavailable for comment. After four days, and even in the light of the death of Kerry Degg, no arrests have been made in
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