Read Online Dead in the Water by Aline Templeton - Free Book Online Page A

square-jawed and brown-haired.
    ‘You are very late.’ Karolina greeted him in the Polish they always used at home, trying not to sound accusing, but knowing she had failed.
    ‘I expect you managed to fill in the time.’ Rafael had the sort of excited aggression about him she’d seen in people on the way to being drunk, but he wasn’t a drinking man and he was entirely sober.
    ‘Cup of tea?’ she said, trying to defuse the situation. ‘I finished what I needed to do and I made some apple cake.’
    ‘Fine.’ He sat down by the dying fire, looking into it as his wife switched on the kettle. He didn’t seem inclined to talk.
    ‘Was the pub busy tonight?’ she asked.
    ‘Yes. A lot of us gathered there – and there were some strangers.’
    ‘Strangers?’ Karolina frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘They were looking for us. They had come into Kirkluce from different places.’
    ‘Oh, Rafael! There wasn’t – there wasn’t trouble, was there?’
    ‘Not of our making. But they challenge us – so . . .’ He shrugged.
    ‘What happened? Was there a fight?’
    He shrugged again. ‘Sort of. It turned nasty.’ He mimed someone slashing with a knife. ‘We had to protect ourselves.’
    Karolina was dismayed. ‘Were the police involved? It won’t do us Poles any good—’
    ‘No, no police. Someone was a little hurt, that’s all. Kasper, in fact.’ He turned to look at her coldly. ‘You didn’t tell me Kasper had come here. But you knew, didn’t you?’
    Karolina’s face flamed. ‘I – I forgot. It wasn’t important. I saw him when I went to Mass this morning.’
    ‘Why here?’ Rafael said, a dangerous edge to his voice. ‘He knew we were here – has he come all the way from Poland to find you?’
    ‘No, Rafael, no!’ She came over to kneel on the hearthrug in front of him. ‘That isn’t true! He has just come to make a new life, after he was in so much trouble. And you remember – I turned him down. I chose you!’
    ‘But you could change your mind. He showed he could make money – what can I offer you? So little that I cannot support my wife and son, that you have to work—’
    Tears came into Karolina’s eyes. ‘It isn’t like that! You make enough for a good life, but I like to do this. It could be even better for us, that’s all. Here in Britain it is right for women to work. Bill has this farm and the lovely house, so Marjory does not need to work. She works because it is important to her.’
    ‘She has to have you to do a wife’s job for her. And Bill has to do things a wife should do.’ Rafael sounded stubborn, but what his wife heard was hurt pride. He took his responsibilities as the breadwinner very seriously.
    She said gently, ‘Everyone respects Bill. No one thinks he can’t support his family because she has an important job. It is good for them both.
    ‘Anyway,’ she said, a dimple just showing at the corner of her mouth though her eyes were still wet, ‘cooking good Polish food for more people than my husband and son isn’t a big important job. I’ll be back in plenty of time for Janek’s bedtime and your supper. That’s what I want – to be here with you.’
    He looked almost ready to be convinced. She leaned forward and kissed him and felt him respond. Then she said, ‘And Kasper? Pooh! He is a—’ She added an extremely rude word.
    It persuaded him to laugh. He got up, pulling her to her feet. ‘Never mind the apple cake. Come to bed.’
     
    The nurse unwrapped the blood-stained towel from the young man’s arm and looked at the deep, ugly wound from his elbow to his wrist.
    ‘What happened?’ she said.
    He was tall and dark, with very dark brown eyes which did not meet hers. He shrugged. ‘ Nie mówie po angielsku .’
    There was a name on the form he had brought in with him from reception, and an address in Ardhill; he had communicated to that extent, anyway.
    ‘Kasper Franzik. Polish?’ she asked, and he nodded. ‘Is anyone with you?