The Legacy by Gemma Malley

uninhabitable buildings for its premises, and it wasn’t that easy being a housekeeper in a place that was full of dust and where no one really seemed to care if the floors were clean or not. It soon turned out that Sheila wasn’t that great at cleaning anyway, nor at cooking, unless charred food was your idea of haute cuisine. Which meant that she spent most of her time trailing around the place, a slightly defensive look on her face. Jude could relate to that; he felt like he was continually trying to defend his position, his value, his usefulness.
    ‘I was rescued ,’ Sheila said, evidently deciding that attack was the best form of defence. ‘I was in a Surplus Hall because the Catchers stole me from my parents. You’re . . . well, you were just living in a house, weren’t you? I mean, you don’t really need to be here at all.’
    Jude took a deep breath. Always the same digs, the same pointed comments, as if life was a competition and if Sheila didn’t attempt to put him down at least three times a day she’d somehow be losing in the game of life. Trouble was, she’d already lost so many times and Jude knew it. A life spent at Grange Hall, her first taste of the world outside being strapped to a bed in Unit X, Pincent Pharma’s dirty little secret.
    Sheila had never been on her own but he knew she’d been lonely – desperately lonely. She’d been very hazy about her friends at Grange Hall, but she sometimes told him stories about the vicious games they played there, the bullying and the punishments regularly dished out, which made Jude ache when he thought about it. He would forgive Sheila anything because of what she’d been through – her biting comments, her twisted morality, the way she watched him quietly then skulked into the shadows the moment he turned round.
    ‘Not like me,’ she continued. ‘I mean, I was Legal too, but the Catchers stole me from my grandparents and my parents couldn’t find me again.’
    She shot Jude a meaningful look and he sighed inwardly. She’d told him this story a million times. More than a million. And last week, stupidly, stupidly , in a moment of weakness he’d agreed to see if he could track her parents down for her. Even though Pip had made it clear that he didn’t want him to. Even though Sheila had been told not to look for her parents under any circumstances.
    ‘Palmer, their name was,’ Sheila said, looking at him cautiously. ‘In Surrey . . .’
    ‘Palmer. Right,’ Jude said awkwardly, noticing a piece of paper in front of him, a list of names and addresses. He sighed. ‘OK. Look, Sheila, maybe I did a little bit of digging. The thing is . . .’ he said, biting his lip.
    Sheila looked up at him excitedly. ‘Yes? The thing is what? You’ve found them? Oh, tell me, Jude. Please. I know Pip doesn’t want me to find them, but you have to tell me. You have to –’
    She was interrupted by Pip himself walking into the room suddenly. ‘Sheila,’ he said, ‘we have a nurse along the corridor who could do with some help, if you’d be so kind.’ Jude looked up in surprise; he hadn’t noticed him, didn’t know how long he’d been standing there.
    ‘Have you found out what happened? What was wrong with that woman?’ he asked hopefully, but Pip didn’t answer; instead he looked at Sheila pointedly.
    She opened her mouth as though to protest, then, catching Pip’s immovable expression, shrugged heavily and wandered down the corridor.
    ‘So?’ Jude asked when she’d gone.
    ‘Sheila has had a difficult life, wouldn’t you say?’ Pip remarked, walking towards him.
    Jude nodded warily. He’d learned to watch what he said to Pip, who had a way of twisting his words, making him seem to agree to things he’d had no intention of agreeing with.
    ‘She hasn’t seen her parents for years, I believe.’
    ‘Not since she was about four, I think,’ Jude said.
    ‘And now, for the first time in her life she is comparatively safe. She has you,