Mute

Chapter 29. Blaze on the roof

From his lookout post Blaze watched Naomi leave the churchyard. She looked like she was in a rush even though there was nowhere for her to go. She walked down the slope to the wall at the bottom edge of the estate and put her hands flat against the stone in front of her. Blaze thought she was going to try and climb it, which would be impossible, it was far too high, but she just lowered her head and stood there, like she was praying. He watched her turn to her right and walk slowly along the edge of the grounds and back up towards the other side of the house. Blaze crossed the roof to keep watching but he lost sight of her as she passed underneath.

Blaze liked Naomi. Where he came from, the word 'respect' was used a lot. It was used so much that it didn't really mean much anymore. But Blaze had plenty of respect for Naomi. He knew he could look after himself, but Naomi, she could not only look after herself but everybody else too. When they'd been stuck in that hole it had been Naomi who'd kept them going. She'd been like a saint, like that Mother Teresa. That is, Blaze thought, if Mother Teresa had been hot, and proper hard.

But she'd seemed different since they'd got out.

One of Blaze's earliest memories was from before his dad had popped out for a swift half and never come back. Blaze was a few years older than Ronnie was now. The London Marathon was on the telly and Blaze remembered that with about five miles to go, the guy who'd been in the lead the whole time suddenly stepped off the course and stopped while the other leaders kept on going. Blaze had been confused. His dad had told him that the guy was called a 'pacemaker', that it was his job to put in the effort to get his team-mates up to the right speed and then, when he was knackered, he stopped. Blaze had wondered what was in it for the pacemaker. He was obviously a good runner and if he'd gone a bit slower to start with then he could have been in with a shout of winning, but he'd agreed not to go for the glory. He'd burnt himself out so his mates could benefit.

That memory had stuck with Blaze over the years. He'd realised that his dad probably hadn't known about pacemakers any more than Blaze had, he'd just repeated what he'd heard the commentator saying so his son would think he knew his shit. Blaze's dad always wanted people to think he knew his shit, like it was a weakness if he didn't.

Blaze thought now that Naomi was like that pacemaker. She'd kept them moving, kept them up to the speed they needed to be going. Now she'd done what was needed she'd burnt herself out. She'd stepped off the track. Blaze didn't have too much to go on, but he was worried about Naomi. He decided he'd try and talk to her, even though talking to women wasn't what he was best at.

Blaze liked it on the roof. He liked the views and he liked the silence. He liked being up as high as the trees. Blaze had never really paid much attention to trees, never really looked. But he was looking now and he liked what he saw.

He liked the feeling of doing his bit too. If anyone or anything showed up on the grounds then it would be down to him to raise the alarm. He was responsible.

When he'd taken over the shift from Douglas, Blaze had asked if he could have a shotgun. The answer had been no. He'd been told that until he'd been shown his way around a gun he should leave any shooting to what Blaze called the aristos; Lady Alice, Douglas and Arthur.

Blaze already knew his way around a gun, he knew it wasn't hard, you just pointed it and you pulled the trigger. The trick was to brace yourself, to be ready for what's coming so you can hold steady when the thing goes bang. Blaze also knew that the reason he hadn't been given a gun was nothing to do with him needing to learn how to use one, it was because the aristos weren't ready to arm their guests just yet. There'd been plenty of good vibes around that dinner table, a ton of talk about the new community, about everyone pulling together for a bright shining tomorrow, but nice though all that big, warm talk was, Blaze knew that they were still just two groups of strangers who had no idea what the others had in their locker.