Time To Play by KA Richardson (free children's ebooks online .txt) 📕

food, boxes containing sandwiches, yogurt, and other goodies, and one box that held something that looked like roast chicken with all the traditional English trimmings. Making her choice of chicken, she grabbed a couple of chocolate bars and some pop and headed back to the makeshift den under the stairs.

The guilt she’d initially felt at stealing had abated; at the end of the day, she had to eat and had no other means than those at her disposal to do so. One day she’d find a way to replace all she’d taken, but for now she’d eat whatever was left.

As she finished the cold chicken and vegetables, she realised she felt restless. She didn’t want to go to sleep or sit here thinking all day. It felt like forever since she’d spoken to another person. The last person had been Danny. She wondered again what had happened to him, why he hadn’t come to get her like he’d said he would. And Nita, what had happened to her? Nothing good, Elvie knew, not judging from how out of it she’d been in that horrid building on Wear Street. But was she even still alive?

Leaving the empty plastic tub that had held the dinner on the ground near the pile of coats and tarps she slept under, she grabbed the jacket and threw it over her shoulders, wedged the door open and went outside.

The people who worked there had taken one of the larger rubber-bottomed boats. She knew they had two more under the shelter in the yard. Wandering to the edge at the back, she looked out onto the sea. It was dark and menacing, nothing like the sea near her home. Thick black clouds raced over her head, and she shivered, pulling the edges of the coat tighter to her middle. The yard was only open at the side that backed onto the sea. Large pointy fencing surrounded the other sides and the only access to the yard was either through the building or through a mechanical gate that didn’t open unless something went over the sensor embedded into the concrete. Even if she decided to leave by it, she knew she’d never get back in.

Burning off some of her energy, she raced from one end of the yard to the other. It felt good to exert herself. She could feel her heart start to pound and her breath turned shallow and fast. Finally spent, she made her way back inside.

Sunderland Police HQ – 14 November

‘Anything else to add?’ asked Ali, glancing around the table at his team. Seeing the repeated head shaking, he nodded and closed his folder and stood, effectively dismissing them. Mumbled speech ensued as they left the room.

He hated these meetings. A known paedophile had been released from prison and had been seen near one of the local schools. The meeting had involved police, social services and the man’s probation officer. ‘Dirty Darren’ was well known around the nick and the neighbourhood. Ali had thought the last offence would have kept him locked up for much longer than the twelve months he’d served. Not long enough by any means: rehabilitation wasn’t an option for Darren, either. He got off on looking at images of young boys, and there was no way twelve months behind bars would change that. But until they had something definitive to get him on, they’d just have to watch and wait.

Leaving the room, he almost collided with the superintendent.

‘Sorry, ma’am, I wasn’t watching where I was going.’

‘My office, McKay,’ replied his boss, motioning with her hand for Ali to pass.

Bloody great, here we go. He couldn’t help but think about the last meeting where he’d been told there might not be enough funds to keep paying him.

‘I’ve had a look at the financial situation. At the moment it looks like we are OK to keep you on as a secondment – at least that’s how it looks at present. You’re a good cop, McKay, and I think the force benefits from you being here, so I’d rather not send you back up to Scotland. You hadn’t put plans in place to head back up, I trust?’

Ali felt lighter than a feather at that point and shook his head. ‘No, ma’am. I’m happy to stay here as long as you need me.’

‘Good to know. This may be a little pre-emptive, but why don’t you fill in your transfer papers. Cooper and Mathers are taking their thirties this year. It’d be helpful not to have to advertise externally. It’s no guarantee of acceptance of course, but I’d be happy to endorse your transfer and give you some coaching on the application if you need it.’

Ali sat back in his seat, shocked. Less than a fortnight ago he’d been told they mightn’t be able to pay him, and now they were telling him to transfer in on a permanent basis. He wondered if there was a hidden agenda he was unaware of, but nodded at the woman sat in front of him.

‘That would be great, ma’am, thank you.’ He left the super’s office and smiled to himself. Whatever the hidden agenda was, he didn’t care.

Even before the secondment had come up, he hadn’t been happy. Everything in Edinburgh reminded him of Tina. He couldn’t even walk down Princes Street without something slapping him in the face, forcing him to remember what he’d lost. He felt the ache in his chest, but today it seemed a little less severe. He let himself remember her wavy hair and sparkling hazel eyes, and the wide smile she’d given whenever she’d been with him. They’d been so happy. It wasn’t fair. Even now he’d have given everything to have gone instead of her.

Panic threatened to rise from his belly as he remembered the large expanse of dark water, and he found it difficult to push the memories back. He