Читать книгу Damaged Goods - Helen Black, Black Helen Cecelia - Страница 7

Grace worried the kitchen surface with the corner of a J-cloth, trying once again to remove a mark made years before by a hot spoon. The phone call had unnerved her and her hands shook. She bent over the cooker and lit another cigarette on the gas ring, hoping it would calm her. It didn’t. What she needed was a hit. A £10 bag would do, just enough to put her in a better place, just enough to allow her to explain things properly. To make herself clear. Just one hit to get through this.

She checked her watch. Five past eight. That should give her ten minutes, enough time to race downstairs to the dealer on the ground floor. He charged over the odds but what could you do?

The tap on the door was soft but Grace jumped all the same. No time to get the brown now, this was one conversation she would have to do straight.

She took a last deep drag on the cigarette and answered the door. ‘Oh, it’s you.’

‘Who were you expecting?’

Grace shrugged.

Outside, a dog scratched and barked.

‘Get out of it,’ Grace yelled.

‘It’s probably hungry.’

‘Aren’t they all,’ said Grace, and turned on her heels. ‘Shut it behind you, it’s fucking freezing.’

‘Hardly. Are you clucking?’

Grace rubbed her arms, their skin barely able to support the scars that ran like the rungs of a ladder from shoulder to wrist. ‘Not really.’

‘I thought you’d be back on the gear.’

‘Sorry to disappoint you.’

‘I don’t really care one way or the other.’

Grace sighed and picked up her cigarettes. When this was over she’d have that hit, get completely out of it. She clamped a cigarette between her lips and turned to the cooker. In one sweeping and familiar action she bent over the front gas ring, one hand holding back her hair, the other reaching for the ignition. But before her finger pressed the button she felt the back of her head explode.

Grace was confused. Had she finally got her hit? Funny, she couldn’t remember cooking up. She anticipated the melting sensation that the drugs would bring when they moved through her bloodstream.

Instead, the back of her neck felt warm and wet. As dazed as she was, she knew it was blood.

‘Why did you …’

There was another explosion and everything went black.