’ She twisted the ring that sat on her middle finger and admired the pattern of light that the opal and diamond setting threw upon the walls – a p...etty distraction from the trauma of the past, a reminder of all she had to lose. The image of her as a child, small and crying, burnt beneath his eyelids, and he fought to supress the horror of her imagined, tearful face. ‘How old were you, the first time?’ ‘Eighteen,’ she responded quickly, her voice devoid of all emotion. ‘What happened?’ . Put this somewhere?” came a timid voice to her right.Alaina slowly looked over.Laura was standing on the other side of the dishwasher door, holding the pan containing the remaining lobster mac and cheese with an uncertain expression on her face. “I, um ... I’ll just ... I’ll put it here,” she finished in a rush, setting it down on the island and retreating hastily to her seat where she once again curled up and pressed her face into her knees.That was a little weird. She must know I’m on to her. "What do you mean down to me?" I asks."Clearing the streets of Pedos," he says."It ain't my job!" I says."Ah well," he says, "Not a job but there's a bloke offering ten thousand a throw for every Pedo bollocked." he says, "Of course there's commission, ten per cent each for Tony and me but it's a nice little earner." Christ," I says."Your mate Al's up for it," he says, "You better watch out or he'll have your job!" "Christ," I said, "Yeah, just as long as they are pedos." Oh yes, no worries,". ” I felt him pick up my wrist to take my pulse.The ambulance came to a halt and the rear doors were opened. With great efficiency, my stretcher was pulled out of the ambulance and I was wheeled through doors marked “Emergency”, the aroma of surgical spirit and strong disinfectant swept round me.A pair of nurses helped transfer me to a curtained bed and I lay there, eyes closed and glad not to be moving. Outside, I heard the ambulance man speaking to the nurse. “He was with a pair of damn.