The Victim. Kimberley Chambers

you’ve no worries, ’cause Babbsy will look after you, sweet child.’

      When the posh woman ended her speech with, ‘May God bless each and every one of you,’ Frankie stood up with the rest of the girls. The girl who had been staring at her immediately approached her.

      ‘Are you Jed O’Hara’s girlfriend?’ she asked.

      Frankie was instantly on her guard. The girl was obviously a traveller; she had the same strange accent as Jed and his family.

      ‘Who wants to know?’ she asked boldly.

      The girl held out her right hand and smiled. ‘I’m Katie, Katie Cooper. I don’t know if Jed ever mentioned my sister, Debbie. She went out with him for a year when he was fourteen. Debs was older than him, she was sixteen at the time.’

      Frankie shook her head. ‘No, he didn’t and Jed’s not my boyfriend, he’s my ex.’

      Katie shook her head understandingly. ‘I heard what happened, news travels fast in our community. Jed’s a bastard and I don’t blame you for what you did to him. I wish I’d had the guts to do the same to him and that cousin of his myself as payback for what he did to me and my sister.’

      Frankie looked at the girl suspiciously. ‘All travellers stick together,’ Jed had always told her.

      ‘Mitchell, move, come on, and you, Lewis, back to your cells,’ the screw shouted at Frankie and Babs. Babs stared at the screw. She was going nowhere without her friend.

      ‘Come on, let’s go,’ Babs said, urging Frankie to move away from the girl.

      Frankie allowed herself to be led away. She didn’t like Katie – she was a traveller and Frankie had never met a decent one yet. Glancing around to make sure Katie wasn’t behind her, Frankie turned to Babs.

      ‘I don’t trust her. She’s probably one of Jed’s spies and he’s told her to befriend me.’

      Babs put a comforting arm around Frankie’s shoulder. She could tell that speaking to that girl had upset her, reminded her of the past. ‘There ain’t many people you can trust in here at all, honey.’

      Frankie linked arms with Babs. She trusted her with her life. ‘Especially travellers. I fucking hate ’em, Babs.’

      Back at the O’Haras’, Georgie and Harry were both being thoroughly spoiled rotten. Their dad hadn’t left their side all morning, neither had Nanny Alice or Grandad Jimmy and they’d been playing games with them, which was unheard of in the past. Usually Georgie and Harry were expected to amuse themselves.

      Alice heard a car pull up outside and looked out of the window. ‘Oh dordie, it’s the gavvers and they’ve got some woman in a smart suit with them. They ain’t taking the chavvies away, are they?’ she asked, petrified.

      Jimmy put a comforting arm around his wife’s shoulder and ordered Jed to answer the door. ‘It’ll be OK. They probably just wanna check that Georgie and Harry are OK,’ Jimmy assured his wife.

      ‘What’s the problem?’ Jed asked, as he opened the front door. There was a male and female copper and also an important-looking woman in a smart grey suit.

      ‘Are you Jed O’Hara, Harry and Georgina’s father?’ the policewoman asked. Carol Cullen had asked the police to accompany her, as she suspected a breach of the peace could take place.

      Jed nodded. He hated the Old Bill, wanted to tell ’em to fuck off, but he knew that kind of behaviour wouldn’t do him any favours. ‘Georgie and Harry are absolutely fine. They’re in the living room playing with their grandparents,’ he said politely.

      ‘I’m DS Fletcher and my colleague is PC Hughes. Could we come in, Mr O’Hara? Mrs Cullen needs to speak to you about the children.’

      Jed immediately started to panic and dropped his politeness. ‘Who is she?’ he asked, pointing at the woman in the smart suit.

      ‘I’m Mrs Cullen,’ the woman said, holding out her right hand.

      Jed ignored the gesture, ‘Who are you, then? What do you want? We ain’t committed no crime.’

      ‘I’m a social worker and I need to speak to you regarding your children’s welfare.’

      Jed unwillingly led the trio into the lounge. If they could see the kids were happy, with a bit of luck they would piss off and leave his family alone.

      Alice was shaking like a leaf as Jed handed out the introductions. The gavvers always scared her, but today the social worker accompanying them was scaring her more.

      ‘Hello,’ Georgie said beaming, as she spotted the nice lady who had come to Nanny Joycie’s house the previous evening.

      ‘Can we see Mummy now?’ Harry asked bluntly.

      Carol crouched down and patted both children on the head. ‘How are you both today?’ she asked.

      ‘OK. Daddy, Nanny Alice and Grandad Jimmy have been playing cowboys and Indians with us,’ Georgie replied happily.

      ‘That sounds like fun,’ Carol said, as she stood up and turned back to the adults.

      ‘You ain’t takin’ ’em away. I won’t allow it,’ Alice said, tears streaming down her face.

      ‘Stop worrying. Nobody’s taking the children away from you,’ Carol said kindly.

      DS Fletcher cleared her throat. She had only recently been promoted to DS after being in the force for many years and she took her new role extremely seriously. ‘Why didn’t you report the children missing yesterday?’ she asked.

      Jed felt his hackles rise. ‘I explained all this last night. We were searching for ’em ourselves. Us travellers are a close-knit community. I had my own reinforcements, so there was no need to bother you. I knew they’d turn up alive and well anyway, kids always do.’

      DS Fletcher looked at Jed in disbelief. Any nutter could have picked up those poor children yesterday. ‘Do you not realise the seriousness of not reporting the disappearance of children so young? They could have been abducted by a paedophile, run over – anything could have happened to them.’

      Jed was beginning to lose his temper now. What was the bitch insinuating – that he was a bad parent? ‘All kids run away. I did it loads of times when I was their age. It’s all part of growing up, ain’t it? Anyway, I’ve had a good chat with them and both Georgie girl and Harry have promised me faithfully that they will never do anything like that again.’

      Jed turned to his children. ‘Go on, you tell the policewoman that you won’t run off again, like you told me.’

      ‘We promise we won’t run off again,’ Georgie said.

      ‘I won’t, ’cause my legs hurt,’ Harry mumbled.

      ‘We idolise them kids and you can see that they’re clean, loved and well fed,’ Alice said proudly.

      Jimmy put a comforting arm around Jed’s shoulder. If his son lost his temper, which he was quite capable of, the kids might be carted off there and then.

      Carol Cullen turned to Jed. ‘Could I speak to you alone for a minute?’

      Jed led her out to the kitchen. He’d seen his mum give him a warning look and he knew he had to learn how to control his temper more, especially when dealing with the authorities. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit snappy, but what with my brother being killed and then Luke, my son, it’s been a tough time lately,’ he explained.

      Carol nodded understandingly. ‘The reason I’ve come here to see you today is about access for the children to visit their mother. I spoke to Georgie and Harry at length last night and it is clear that they miss their mother dreadfully and, in my opinion, it would be in their best interests if they were to have contact with her.’

      Jed stood with his mouth wide open. He couldn’t quite believe