Page 44 of Hard Road Home

His chest rose and fell in sync with a harsh breath sucked in and pushed out. “I have a theory about people and drugs.”

It didn’t seem a logical response to the question, but she waited silently for him to continue.

“For most people, the addiction sucks them in. They’re victims under a regime that will kill them if they can’t escape. It’s why I always felt sorry for Tinker, even when he was doing his best to pull us all down with him. It’s why we always gave him another chance.”

His hand reached out to capture hers where it lay on the sheet. He tucked it under his on his chest. “Other people deliberately choose it. They use it to give themselves power and they wield the power by creating slaves, using the drugs to control them.”

“Like Sid?” Bonnie guessed.

“Like Sid.” His grip tightened. “He was always controlling and had a vicious tongue. He and his mates were quick with their fists and boots. The whole atmosphere changed once Sid settled in, and after Charity Appleton died there was no one willing to stand up to him.”

He obviously didn’t want to answer her original question and she didn’t want to push him after his last reaction to talking about the past. “What did she die of? She wouldn’t have been that old surely.”

“In her forties maybe. When you’re a kid, adults seem ancient. I think it was cancer, same as Briar’s mum.”

“What happened after she died?”

“I told you a bit of it. Mostly people were afraid to leave. Sid and his goons would go after people who left and bring them back. Unless they were useless. He kicked out people he considered spongers, who didn’t contribute financially.”

“I remember the big scandal when the police were called in. I didn’t realise you were involved, until much later when Trudie mentioned something.”

“Someone called the crime stoppers line about the drugs and once they raided the place the social workers became involved. I wasn’t there by then.”

His breathing had quickened, and the rapid beat of his heart told her his placid delivery of the words was a cover-up. “Why not?”

“Sid went on the run. He took some women and kids with him. He relied on social security payments from the women for some of his money.”

“Was that why he took you and your mum with him?”

He discarded her hand, pushing up against the pillows, sitting tall with his head tilted back, his chest rising and falling with a long exhalation. “I don’t know. I suppose so. Mum was one of his favourites. When we arrived in the hills behind Byron Bay it was dark and I was still out of it. By the time I was well enough to notice, she wasn’t there. Maybe in all the confusion she had a chance to escape and took it.”

“Without you? Why would she leave you behind?”

“How would I know? It’s not like she told me before she left.”

There was a touch of bewildered anger in the words he didn’t seem aware of, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. It took a moment to pull herself into a sitting position.

“What about your brother?”

“I found out afterwards he went missing the night I was injured. It was probably the safest thing to do. He attacked Sid to try and protect me and it would have ended badly if they’d caught him.”

There was an edge to the words. He might understand his brother’s abandonment, but forgiveness came harder. “Did you ever find out what happened to your mother?”

“One of the other women said she left. That’s all I know.” He snorted an almost laugh. “I thought she must be dead. I couldn’t understand why she’d leave me behind if she was alive. Maybe she is dead. I think Don believes she might be. Flo still hopes, but it upsets her to talk about it.”

“Maybe she had no choice.”

“I was too injured to even walk. I suppose running with me was out of the question.”

“What did Sid do?”

“Punished me instead, he and his mates. They enjoyed it too.”

“They hit you?”

Blue eyes turned bleak. “There are worse things you can do to someone.”

Bonnie searched for words. What kind of horrors would a group of drugged-up sadists inflict on a pre-teen boy?