None So Blind

NONE SO BLIND CAROLYN MAHONY Text copyright © 25th May 2023 by (Carolyn Mahony) All Rights Reserved The right of Carolyn Mahony to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher and author. All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Acknowledgements A huge thank you to my Beta readers and friends/family, for their contributions at different stages of the creative process. Our 'team' has been going for a number of years now and I'm enormously appreciative of the time you give to help me make my stories the best they can be. Thank you all. Contents 1. PROLOGUE: 2. CHAPTER ONE 3. CHAPTER TWO 4. CHAPTER THREE 5. CHAPTER FOUR 6. CHAPTER FIVE 7. CHAPTER SIX 8. CHAPTER SEVEN 9. CHAPTER EIGHT 10. CHAPTER NINE 11. CHAPTER TEN 12. CHAPTER ELEVEN 13. CHAPTER TWELVE 14. CHAPTER THIRTEEN 15. CHAPTER FOURTEEN 16. CHAPTER FIFTEEN 17. CHAPTER SIXTEEN 18. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 19. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 20. CHAPTER NINETEEN 21. CHAPTER TWENTY 22. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 23. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 24. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 25. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR 26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE 27. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX 28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN 29. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT 30. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE 31. CHAPTER THIRTY 32. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE 33. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO 34. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE 35. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR 36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE 37. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX 38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN 39. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT 40. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE 41. CHAPTER FORTY 42. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE 43. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO 44. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE 45. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR 46. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE 47. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX 48. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN 49. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT 50. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE 51. CHAPTER FIFTY 52. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE 53. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO PROLOGUE: ‘I’m sorry we killed your husband.’ The words dropped into the air, bald and ugly. Barbara Harding sat in the visitor’s office in her local community centre trying to hide her distaste at being there. She wasn’t sure she believed the person who’d spoken. Was he genuinely sorry? It was difficult judging such things when you were blind. It was also difficult hiding her anger. This man was responsible for everything that had gone wrong in her life, but she tried to keep her voice unemotional. ‘Really? Could have fooled me. That wasn’t the message I got when I heard you all whooping for joy at the pathetic sentences you were given. Are you the one that shouted out, “Serves you right, you bitch”?’ The youth was sitting directly opposite her, and she could hear the nervous tapping of his fingers on the table between them. She knew he was mixed race and twenty-one years old but other than that, she knew little about him. Her choice, and her way of distancing herself from what had happened. ‘No. I felt bad about what we did. We killed a man and that ain’t right.’ ‘So, who was it? Your best buddy? I heard he’s an important man on the estate where you live. Isn’t he your gang-leader?’ ‘He ain’t no friend of mine and I ain’t in no gang. There’s no way you’d get him here saying he was sorry for what we done to your husband.’ And what about me? she wanted to scream. My life was taken, too. It was stupid to have come here. What did she think she could achieve? When her victim support worker had suggested this so-called restorative justice meeting, her instinct had been to reject it. Why on earth would she want to meet the man who’d been responsible for Roy’s death and her blindness? By all accounts, the youth in front of her was from a rough estate and probably spent most of his days pilfering and living on the wrong side of the law. She should never have agreed to this. Melanie, the victim support liaison officer, stepped into the awkward silence. ‘This is difficult for you both, I know, but I hope you can both gain something from the meeting.’ ‘You can’t begin to imagine how your recklessness changed my life,’ Barbara finally said. ‘My husband and I had been married over thirty-five years – no children, and I have no siblings. He was all I had. And as if losing him wasn’t bad enough, look at me now – I’ve been blind since you ploughed into us. Can you even begin to imagine what that’s like?’ It was a relief giving vent to feelings that had been suppressed for so long. She hated the pity she sensed as she moved around with her stick, diligently counting out her steps, feeling her way with her hands; not a day went by when she didn’t feel a burning rage. Her husband had lost his life. The man who’d killed him – this young man sitting opposite her now – had been given a pathetic seven years and was now out, after less than five. Where was the justice in that? ‘I didn’t mean to hurt no one,’ the young man said. His name was burned onto Barbara’s memory. Offin Abara, although evidently he preferred to be called Finn. ‘What did you think was going to happen? How old were you? Sixteen? Not even old enough to have a licence. And yet there you were, behind the wheel of a car, going too fast and on the wrong side of the road. What chance did we have?’ ‘It weren’t my fault.’ ‘Whose fault was it … ours?’ Barbara snapped back. ‘Why don’t I pop into the kitchen and make us all a cup of tea?’ Melanie said. ‘I think you might find it easier if I’m not here. I’ll just be in the kitchen through the hatch here if you need me.’ Barbara heard her footsteps receding. They were alone. Another