In which Dinah’s fate hangs in the balance
Addison enters the walkway with the light almost too dim to make out Steve’s form. The sun has been obscured by the rain clouds and Steve is some distance from the skylight. With a nervous smoothing of his sticky hands down his trousers, Addison starts towards man and infant. Each step on the metal floor rings out like the film soundtrack of David approaching Goliath. The image frightens him. David had God on his side, Addison may not have now.
He starts to speak soothingly to Steve: words of reassurance, casual comments about the baby, anything to fill the drum-marked atmosphere with a sense of normality.
As he nears the man, Steve sways towards him, swinging the child carelessly away from the low guard rail. ‘Peekaboo, I know you’re there. I know everything, you can’t fool me.’
The smell of alcohol floats menacingly on the air. Steve is not steady on his feet. The danger is tangible. ‘Shall I give her back to Carla?’ he says. He dangles the baby over the railing and Addison flinches at the grin, struggles to overcome a wave of nausea. He can see the girls below. Some Followers stand silent outside the doorway, latecomers awaiting the interval…
They are not his business. He’s being distracted.
‘Steve, Stefan, whatever you like to call yourself, we all do unwise things and no one is going to blame you… Shall we talk?’ Addison holds a hand towards him, as to a child, but regards him seriously as he would a sober adult able to talk man to man. Love the sinner, hate the sin.
‘Carla signed the deaf… death warrant. She tried to cheat me. A man needs a child. Wouldn’t you say so?’ He hugs Dinah to him. She starts to cry.
Her piercing wail is the worst tearing of his soul Addison has ever known. For the first time since he heard of the murder of the other baby, he can hardly contain the pain of knowing it. He forces his distress to distance itself and become focused anger – finely tuned on the baby’s tiny shoulders. This one will live. He takes a further step towards Steve.
‘Let me hold the baby, Steve. You look unwell. There are people who can help, you know.’
The words are calming, reasoned and careful – everything Addison is not. His insides are burning with agony, confusion and hate for the man who dares to perpetrate this evil. He has spoken what he does not mean. He’s conning the man into submission in order to win back the baby, when he should be confronting him with his sin, saving his soul, preaching hell and brimstone.
He descends deeper into the mire. At the bottom of them all is lust and hate, and the love of a woman is fuelling it. Both men are sinning because of Carla.
His eyes fall on Helen, who is moving across the floor towards them with something in her hand.
some sinners don’t respond to love…
I know – that’s part of the fun of writing it! Is Steve the sort to cave in or cause disaster?