trafficking ring?’ My theory may sound far-fetched, but this whole situation is off-the-scale weird.
Sophie doesn’t reply. I can’t decipher anything from her blank expression.
Greg laughs again. This time it’s a proper belly laugh. ‘You hear that, Sophie? Apparently I’m running a trafficking ring.’ He turns back to me. ‘Who’s the one with the knife?’
I’m confused by his words until he jerks his head in the direction of Sophie’s hand. Sure enough, she’s holding the biggest, sharpest-looking knife I’ve ever seen.
My hands start to shake uncontrollably at the sight of it. What’s she planning to do? Why would Sophie need a knife? I shove my phone into my pocket and take a step back.
‘You need to sit down over there with your friends.’ She gestures to her left.
Friends? I don’t know what she’s talking about.
Greg picks up the lantern and walks across the room. I press my hand to my chest as the light picks out two seated figures. They’ve been tied to their chairs and gagged. How did I only just notice them? And then my skin goes cold when I see who they are.
Sophie strides across the room and holds her knife to Fiona’s throat. My friend’s eyes widen in fear.
‘What are you doing?’ I cry. ‘Don’t hurt her.’
‘I need you to sit in the third chair, Kelly.’
‘Why?’
‘Do you want me to hurt your friend?’
‘Of course not!’
‘Then sit down.’
On wobbly legs, I cross the room and do as she asks, sitting on the chair as though in a dream. A nightmare. Why the hell are Fiona and Tia here too? It doesn’t make any sense. And Sophie… she seems nothing like the scared, frail girl who was hiding in my house. Right now she’s strong-voiced, assertive, tough.
As Greg ties my wrists and ankles to the chair, I manage to spit out a couple of questions. ‘Why are we all here? What have we done to deserve this? We don’t even know you!’
Greg viciously pulls the zip tie tight against my wrists, making me cry out in pain. ‘Really? Are you sure about that, Kelly?’
Thirty-Six
History teacher facing child sex offence allegations killed himself
Married father of two, Brian Lawson (41) has committed suicide just three weeks before he was due in court.
Lawson was charged with committing sexual offences against three girls under 16. One of these offences is alleged to have taken place in July of this year. The other two incidents are alleged to have happened last year.
Lawson’s wife found him dead in a vehicle in his garage at his home in Ashridge Falls on Monday night. The post-mortem concluded that Lawson died from a combination of carbon monoxide poisoning and sleeping tablets. Police say there were no suspicious circumstances. An inquest into his death will be held in January.
Lawson, who was from Portreach, taught history at Ashridge Falls for 18 years. In a statement, the school said: ‘We value and promote the safety and wellbeing of all our pupils and take these allegations very seriously. We will be working alongside partners such as Portreach Council to look into the allegations independently.’
The council said: ‘We support schools in having effective safeguarding procedures in place, which can be followed in the event that any allegations are received.’
Portreach Police said the three victims in the investigation have been updated and offered support by specially trained officers.
‘Portreach Police takes all reports of sexual assault seriously and urges victims to come forward to report it, regardless of when it happened, safe in the knowledge that they will be treated with respect and dignity and that their allegation will be fully investigated,’ said a police official.
‘In circumstances such as these, where an alleged or suspected perpetrator is deceased, specially trained officers will continue to investigate a victim’s account as far as is possible. Victims will also have access to support from a range of partner agencies.’
A family member of one of the victims commented: ‘We know what’s happened. He obviously couldn’t face jail and he’s taken the cowardly way out.’
Lawson was also blasted online for taking his own life.
Thirty-Seven
Monday
FIONA
I’ve been tied up here for what must be over an hour now so it has to be after midnight. Aside from the fact that my wrists and ankles are burning where they’ve zip-tied me, it’s been torture seeing my two friends walk into the same trap I did, knowing there was nothing I could do to warn them. That all I could do was watch in mute horror as he tied them up. And now we’re