Cruel Shame (Knights of Templar Academy #3) - Sofia Daniel Page 0,13
stared at the smartphone’s glowing screen, letting Gideon’s words filter through my skull. The hotel room suddenly felt too cool, too vast, too quiet.
Back in the sanctuary, when Lady Liddell cornered me with that ridiculous paternity test, she told me there were plenty more copies. Now that there was concrete evidence of her using Myra as a tool for my assassination, the wretched old bag wanted to distract everyone with allegations of child abuse.
“Lilah?” Gideon’s voice projected out of my phone.
“She’s still there,” said Maxwell.
I pushed back the dining chair and stood. “We’ve got to go back to the academy. Someone’s got to speak up for Mr. Burgh and say it’s not true.”
Kendrick raised his smartphone. “I’ve just checked Twitter. Someone up at Templar says he just walked out with a pair of uniformed policemen.”
A breath caught in the back of my throat. “He’s been arrested?”
Orlando wrapped an arm around my middle, engulfing me in his strong, hard body. “You know what these gossips are like. If they marched him out in handcuffs, they’d make it sound like the police brought in a SWAT team.”
Maxwell stood. “Mr. Burgh probably just decided to help them with their inquiries.”
“It’s likely that they took him to Glasgow,” said Gideon on the other end of the line. “The police in Templar can’t cope with anything more serious than lost property.”
“Thanks, Gideon,” I rasp. “Will you keep me updated if you find out anything else?”
“How did you know to look on that channel anyway?” asked Orlando.
Gideon paused. Without being able to see his face, I couldn’t tell if he took that question as an implication that he was somehow connected with Elizabeth. He wasn’t, of course. Gideon wasn’t the underhanded type, but my insides stirred with curiosity. I’d never known him to be religious, and why would he watch TV when he was staying with two smoking hot guys?
“My parents are in London,” he muttered. “Mother watches that show whenever she’s in the UK. She called, asking if I knew any of the people involved.”
“Oh.” I turned to Orlando, hoping he was satisfied with that reply. Right now, I didn’t want my sort-of boyfriend arguing with my best friend.
“Thanks Adewale,” said Maxwell. “We’ll take Lilah to the police station.”
“Shall I come and meet you?” Gideon asked.
“Thanks for telling me, but no,” I replied. “Try to enjoy your weekend.”
Gideon said goodbye and hung up, leaving me staring at Kendrick from the other side of the dining table. He stared down into his smartphone and scrolled down the screen with his thumb.
The entire left side of my head pounded so hard that I had to squeeze an eye shut to process the pain. Right now, I couldn’t face reading through tweets about those false and disgusting accusations.
“Any more news?” I asked.
“Security staff has locked up the headmaster’s house, pending investigation,” he said without looking up. “Mrs. Campbell is confining everyone to their rooms right now. It looks like she wants to hold an emergency staff meeting.”
Orlando helped me back onto the dining chair and rubbed my tense shoulders. Maxwell sat beside me and took my hand. Even Kendrick glanced up to offer me an apologetic wince. I wanted to make a rousing speech, saying we’ll destroy the Liddells and life will return back to normal, but it won’t. Even if they found out Elizabeth was making it all up, accusations like this have a way of sticking.
My mind rolled back to a guy in Richley, who lived on the same road as my junior school. Everyone called him a flasher, and people used to throw crap at his front door for sport. Two older girls said they caught him wanking off in the park, and from that moment he was branded a pervert. What did they call him again?.
Dirty Des.
Years later, the girls fell out, and one of them told the truth. They’d broken into his house to steal weed and walked in on him wanking in his own living room. The truth didn’t matter, because the lie was more salacious, the name still stuck.
Because of the Liddell’s, people will always wonder if there was a grain of truth in the accusations against Mr. Burgh.
There’s no smoke without weed, as everyone said in Richley.
“When did he leave with the police?” I asked Kendrick.
“Just now.”
“Let’s get there before they arrive, then.”
The boys convinced me to take more painkillers so I could get through the next few hours. Only the strongest drugs could take away what was going on