Stolen Souls

76

THEY ATE IN near silence, the occasional whispering between Ellen and Lucy the only conversation. Lennon watched Galya as she put away more food than he would ever have thought she could manage. She cleared one plate, then simply held it out to Susan, who dutifully reloaded it with turkey, ham, and roast potatoes. When the dessert came, trifle and ice cream, she devoured a bowlful, one heaping spoon after another. She burped when she had finished, and the girls erupted in laughter.

“Please excuse,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” Susan said as she set about gathering up the plates. “Why don’t you go and get some more sleep?”

“Thank you,” Galya said. She looked at each of them in turn as she stood. “All of you.”

Lennon smiled and nodded. “I think I’ll try for a nap too,” he said.

“No you won’t,” Susan said. “You’ll help me clear up.”

Lennon knew protesting would do him no good, so he sighed and collected cutlery and soiled napkins.

As he and Susan piled dishes in the sink, she asked, “What’ll happen to her?”

“She’ll be looked after,” Lennon said. “Even if the Public Prosecution Service goes after her for the killing, she’ll hardly do any time. Most likely Care NI will house her while the case is dealt with, then she’ll go home when it’s all done.”

“And after that?” Susan asked. “What she’s been through, the trauma of it. How is she supposed to cope with that?”

“That’s not for us to deal with,” he said, knowing how callous it sounded as he spoke.

“Christ,” Susan said. “It’s like she’s just rubbish to be thrown away when you lot are done with her.”

“It’s not like that,” Lennon said, even though he knew it was. “She’ll be cared for as well as we can manage. If she was an EU citizen, Polish or Latvian, anything, then she could stay here and get whatever treatment she needs. Counseling, medical care, all of that. But she’s Ukrainian. That means as soon as the system’s done with her, she has to get out of the country. We can’t do any more for her.”

“It’s a shitty way to treat a human being,” she said. “But I know you’ll do your best for her.”

Susan slipped an arm around Lennon’s waist. He put his around her shoulder and pulled her close.

“Dishes will do till the morning,” she said. “Fancy a lie down?”

Lennon looked over his shoulder to the children, who now lay in front of the television watching a Harry Potter movie.

“They’ll be fine,” Susan said.

Lennon watched his daughter as she rested her chin on her hands, her feet kicking idly in the air. He thought of every girl like Galya he’d met before, and remembered they had all once been small and full of wonder.

“I hope so,” he said.