Troy looked confused.
“Hospice patients?” he was almost afraid to ask.
“Well, when Mark said that you showed hesitance about taking memories, planting new ones, and then taking those and replanting the originals, for the paid projects I knew we needed test subjects. And what better subjects than ones that are about to kick the bucket anyway.” Matron Bradley grinned. “If you fuck it up, it won't last for long.”
Troy was at a loss. How could this woman have survived masquerading as a caring nurse for so long. He was just wondering what to say, when Hannah's vitriol spoke for the pair of them.
“I can see why Mark loves you so much, you sick fucking bitch! Preying on the dying, can you actually stoop any lower. You make my skin crawl.”
Matron Bradley grinned a conspiratorial grin.
“Keep your knickers on Princess. These patients are thanking us, they are loving us. We are paying their funeral costs, we are giving an inheritance to their families. It's no different to people donating their corpses to medical science. We are just getting these, how can I best say this, a little... fresher!”
She laughed at her own amusement, then her face returned to stone.
“We begin the tests in the morning. Whether you are done with your shit or not. Oh, and your little lab rat is being transported back to the NHS. We aren't wasting any more of our valuable resources on him.”
She walked out.
“I hate her.” Troy said.
“That's two of us.” Hannah replied.
36
Two years earlier
“Is it money you want? Because if it is, you know full well how much teachers earn.” Saga was angry.
“Why would I want money?” Jason replied.
“Well, what do you want?” Saga regretted asking, as soon as the words left her mouth.
“Let me, let you guess for a moment.” Jason unbuttoned his trousers.
Saga looked at him, he made her feel sick. He was just the same as the men who had coerced her into the sex industry in the first place.
Jason pulled down his pants, his penis was erect.
“Do you like what you see, Saga?”
“Jason, get dressed and get out of the drama hall.” Saga was firm.
“Oh come on Saga, don't play hard to get.” Jason reached out his arm towards the drama teacher.
Saga took a step back.
“This isn't funny Jason. I want you to leave.”
“And I want to fuck you up the arse. I suppose what this boils down to is how much you want to keep your job?” Jason replied.
“Once, Jason, OK, once, then you leave me alone.” Saga was resigned.
“That's my girl.” Jason replied. “God I want to fuck you right now.”
Jason thought of the video, today he was going to be that man taking her from behind.
...
Dan hid silently behind the curtains. He'd gone back into the drama hall as he was sure he'd left his pencil case behind. He was about to walk into the main stage from behind the curtains when he could see Mr Locke.
Miss Eriksson was leant over the wooden table that was part of the set for the upcoming performance of Fiddler on the Roof that they had been rehearsing.
He couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Mr Locke was having sex with Miss Eriksson. He was fucking her, she was calling out in pain, asking him to stop, pleading with him, but he kept on thrusting, harder and harder.
Then he stopped. He pulled up his pants and trousers.
“That was fucking awesome.” Dan heard Mr Locke say. “Next time, I'll be the bloke in the front.”
He slapped Miss Eriksson hard on her arse, and took the steps down from the stage, and walked out of the auditorium.
Miss Eriksson collapsed on the floor, she was sobbing heavily.
Dan didn't know what to do, he thought he could see blood as his teacher pulled up her underwear.
Should he say something? Should he check that she was OK.
Had he just seen his history teacher rape his drama teacher? Did things like this often happen in school? He only had a couple of weeks left in school, his GSCE's were already in full flow. In fact, he'd just done an English exam in the drama hall. A small number of pupils with dyslexia were sitting the exams in the hall as they had been allowed extra time.
From where he was stood, he could see the row of exam tables, his pencil case wasn't there. Dan stuck his hand in his rucksack and rummaged under his jumper, and felt the familiar plastic material of his pencil case. He left quietly, his teacher still sobbing on the floor. He didn't know how to process what he had just seen.
37
Two years later
“I need to speak to you.” Dan pleaded on the phone. “It's all gone to shit.”
“I can't speak to you right now, Daniel.” the voice on the other side was firm.
“Please!” Dan started to cry. “It wasn't meant to end like this. I'm going to go to prison. I thought you loved me?”
“I told you to make it look like you'd raped her, I didn't say you should actually rape her. How stupid are you Daniel?”
“But she wasn't willing to lie, I had to scare her. You said that she was a foolish girl, that she would listen. I did it for you. I did it because I love you. You said that once he was in prison that we could be together. That now I'd been out of school for a few years and I was eighteen, that we could be a proper couple.”
...
“Troy, let's just see what else we can piece together and worry about tomorrow later.” Hannah had never seen Troy so upset.
“Do you want me to get Jen? I'm sure she is still in the medical wing with Penny.”
Troy shook his head. “We have his memories saved, I need to quickly scan through, make sure we have nothing missing that could give us clues before they send him back to the hospital.”
“I wonder if Matron has told Penny that they are moving him back yet?” Hannah wondered.
“Don't be bloody stupid.” Troy replied “She's so spineless she will leave that dirty work to us, or better still the ambulance crew who are coming to move him.”
He paused for a moment.
“I need to speak to a solicitor. I need to know where I stand with my Intellectual property. Can they really insist that we do these experiments on these hospice patients?” Troy said.
“I don't know Troy. But it doesn't sit well with me either. I have said to Lisa that I am close to quitting.” Hannah said.
“Me too.” Troy said “But I can't quit until I know where I stand. I can't allow my years of research to be used in this way. I designed it to be used for good.”
Hannah thought “We need to find a way that it can be used positively, and used for profit. I think that is the only way I can stay.”
Troy sighed “How did it come to this Han? I know I'm extra grouchy at the moment because my Mom is over and instead of spending time with her, I'm working all the hours God sends whilst she's babysitting the neighbour’s dog! But we aren't over reacting, are we?”
“No Troy, we aren't.” she replied.
38
Two years earlier
Dan had finished his final GCSE. The day before he had been watching the drama hall. He had seen Mr Locke go in there again. Ten minutes later he had seen him come back out again, grinning like a Cheshire cat. He'd waited to see Miss Eriksson come out too, it was obvious that she had been crying. Her head was down as she walked to the teachers car park.
Dan had decided that he was going to say something. So even though all the rest of the dyslexic students had left the hall. He had stayed sat at his desk. He had told the teacher who had been adjudicating that he didn't feel well and needed to sit down for five minutes. The teacher had laughed and had said that science had always had that effect on him too. Dan didn't know the teacher, he thought he may have been the new French teacher, he'd dropped French a few years earlier. He struggled enough with English with his “issues”, he had been even worse wi
th languages.
He saw Miss Eriksson walk into the hall. She jumped when she saw him.
“Daniel Cook, I didn't expect to still see you here.” she said, smiling.
Dan smiled back. He knew some of the pupils made fun of her because of her birthmark, but he found her beautiful.
“Sorry, Miss, I didn't mean to scare you.” he said, gently.
“Wasn't that your last exam?” she asked.
Dan nodded “Yep, science, it was fucking solid.” he stopped himself, realising he swore. “Oops, sorry Miss.”
Saga laughed. “Well fucking solid or not, you are no longer a pupil here now.”
Dan hesitated before he started to speak.
“You've always been my favourite teacher. You made me love Drama, I didn't feel stupid in your class.”
“That's a very kind thing to say Dan.” Saga replied.
“You are lovely and you shouldn't let anyone hurt you.” Daniel continued.
Saga looked at him quizzically.
“You are beautiful, Miss, you deserve someone who loves you, not someone who makes you cry.”
Saga leant down, and gave him a peck on the cheek.
“That is the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a long time.”
Her face was close to his, he could smell the faint tobacco smell on her breath. She was intoxicating, exotic with her Swedish accent and her flowing blonde hair.
He kissed her lips, tentatively. She didn't pull away. He lingered on her lips again, she was reciprocating. He was snogging his favourite teacher. She stopped, she looked at him longingly. She pulled him to his feet, she kissed him again, then she ran her hand over the bulge in his trousers.
“Let's do something about that, shall we?” she said.
She grabbed his hand and started to walk him to the back room that they used as a dressing room during school productions. Daniel Cook was sure that he was about to lose his virginity.
39
Two years later
“I know who that is boss.” Donna, the young police officer said. “She's on that pornographic video footage on his laptop. There is no mistaking her.”
“What?” Lisa replied “I don't understand.”
“Look at the birthmark, that's an older version of the woman who is on those porn videos.”
“Well, well.” Lisa replied “I knew the face looked familiar, but how did a porn star end up stabbing Jason Locke in Cardiff? Who is that woman?”
She paused for a moment.
“OK, get the team together, our priority is finding out who she is and how she knows Jason. My guess is he was probably blackmailing her because of the porn. The sooner we work out who she is, the sooner we can arrest her.”
“How is she linked to the rape allegation and those two kids? If it wasn't an attack because he was accused of raping a school kid, then why? We are missing something here.” Donna replied.
Lisa smiled, Donna was certainly starting to develop the instincts of a detective.
“I think you have something there.” Lisa replied “We need to find out what connects this woman to Kylie or Daniel.”
“Shall I take the printout of her photo around to them, see if they recognise her.” Donna asked.
“We need to tread very carefully.” Lisa replied “Kylie is a victim of a horrific attack and is a minor. We can't put her under any more stress. Daniel is being charged, and we've offered him the deal in return for his guilty plea. I won't allow this to get in the way of that conviction. You could try one of the parents?”
“Ok, boss.” Donna replied “I'll nip and see Kylie's mum. We need to update her on Daniel's charges anyway. The CPS have agreed that he will be treated as a young offender.”
...
“What exactly does that mean?” Elaine asked Donna.
“It means he will get a lighter sentence and he will be sent to a young offender’s institution rather than a men's prison.” Donna replied.
“But he's eighteen. He's a grown man.” Elaine was angry. “He should go to prison for what he's done to my daughter.”
“I can assure you, that it is still a prison environment. But we do house young adults there, they can stay until they're twenty-one.” Donna confirmed.
“So, he will be moved to a men's prison then?” Elaine questioned.
“That's unlikely, Mrs Williams. He will likely be released on licence prior to his twenty-first birthday.” Donna explained.
“That's less than three fucking years!” Elaine was no longer able to prevent her anger from overflowing. “How can he be put away for less than three years? My daughter will still be a child when he is released.”
Donna placed a reassuring hand on Elaine's arm.
“The CPS will answer your questions. Kylie will be able to prepare a victim statement which will be read at the sentencing. However, I just want to make you aware of the deal that he has made.”
The calming nature of Donna's hand, changed Elaine's anger to tears.
“My daughter will never recover from this.” she sobbed. “He's ruined her life.”
“I need to ask you something else.” Donna began. “If I show you a photo, can you tell me if you recognise this woman. We think she may be linked to the attack on Jason Locke.”
Elaine nodded.
Donna brought the printout from her pocket.
“That's Miss Eriksson.” Elaine said “She's Kylie's drama teacher.”
40
Eighteen months before
Daniel rolled over on the bed in an exhausted heap. He reached onto the bedside cabinet, and opened the packet of Marlborough lights that was lying next to the condom wrapper. He took out two. He lit the first one and handed it to Saga with a grin.
She took a long deep drag, and blew out.
“That first drag after sex is almost as good as sex itself.” she said.
“Oi” Daniel replied, poking her in the ribs with his free hand. “Nothing is better than sex!”
Saga laughed.
“All boys think that at seventeen.” she grinned. “Especially when they are shagging a hot older woman!”
She leant over and gave him a long kiss.
“I'm making the most of this until you find a girl your own age.”
“I don't want a girl my age. I love you.” he said.
There, he had said it. He had wanted to say it since the first time they had made love in the drama hall, when she took his virginity on his last day of school.
“Ah Dan.” she replied. “You love me now, but it won't last.”
Daniel looked at her longingly.
“I don't ever want anyone else.” he said.
...
Jason Locke had become obsessive. The minute he had the house to himself he was searching, searching for more porn with Saga in a starring role.
He'd found a few more videos. A lesbian threesome, which whilst turned him on, he couldn't re-enact. He found a rather staid and boring one of her shagging some muscular dark skinned man. Then he had hit another jackpot, a bondage video, her tied up and being whipped. That video he could re-enact himself and he would perform himself with Saga.
His visits to the drama hall had become a weekly occurrence, since the autumn term had restarted. They had recently had the half term break, and his whole week off he had fantasied about being with Saga again. He loved that she played like she didn't enjoy it, but Jason knew different. She bloody loved it! Once a whore, always a whore.
41
Now
“Do you understand the charges?” DS Lisa Whitney asked, as the blonde bombshell Swedish teacher sat in front of her.
Saga nodded.
“For the benefit of the tape, Saga Eriksson has just nodded.”
“What I don't understand Saga, is why would you want to stab a fellow teacher?” Lisa said.
Saga sat in silence.
“You have been charged with attempted murder. Shall we start with the porn then.”
Saga sat more uprigh
t. “You know about the porn?”
“Can you answer why Jason Locke would have pornographic videos of you on his laptop computer?” Lisa asked.
“Because he's a fucking sick bastard, that's why!” Saga screamed.
“So, you aren't denying that it is you in those videos?” Lisa asked.
Saga began to cry.
“You know it is me. What I want to know, is how you knew it was me that stabbed him. I was so careful.”
“I take it that is confession Miss Eriksson.”
Saga hung her head in shame.
“I stabbed him, I'm only sorry I didn't kill the bastard. He has been raping me for the past two years.”
...
“I can't believe what we have just seen.” Hannah said, she was fighting the bile that was rising into her mouth, she tried desperately not to be sick. “I think I need to phone Lisa.”
Troy nodded “I can't believe that I am living next door to someone who could do that.”
The scientists were reviewing more footage from Jason's memories. They had witnessed a quite traumatic rape of a woman, the same woman who had stabbed him.
“To be quite frank.” Troy said. “I actually don't blame her for attacking him, after being subjected to that ordeal.”
“I wonder if that was the only time.” Hannah pondered.
42
One year earlier
Daniel held his sobbing lover in his arms. At seventeen years old, he was struggling to manage his emotions.
They had just tried to make love. However, Saga was too sore as a result of her latest encounter with Mr Locke.
“I'm going to fucking kill him.” Daniel said.
He ran his fingers gently over her back, Saga winced. The welts from the whipping she had received were red, sore and angry. Daniel pulled away as he saw the pain on her face.
“You have to go to the police.” Daniel said. “He's been doing this to you for a year. The sick fucking bastard should be in prison.”
Mob Justice (Sinister Minds Quick Reads Book 3) Page 7
