Mob Justice
Sinister Minds - Quick Reads
D. A. Longman
Published by Balar Books, 2021.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
MOB JUSTICE
First edition. December 21, 2021.
Copyright © 2021 D. A. Longman.
Written by D. A. Longman.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
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Buy the next book in the series – The Surrogate
Author note
Also like other styles of books?
Mob Justice
1
Penny could hear Oscar barking as the door was knocked. She placed the plate she was currently washing onto the rack on the draining board and wiped her hands in a tea towel.
“Quiet Oscar.” she said to her barking dog, as she shut him in the living room before opening the front door.
She was greeted by two police officers. A man and a woman, it was the woman who spoke.
“Mrs Locke?” the officer enquired.
Penny nodded. “How can I help you?” she asked.
“Is your husband home?”
“No, he’s at work, he’s working late. What is this about?” Penny replied.
“We have a warrant for his arrest and to search the premises.” the male officer said.
“I don’t understand.” the confusion clear in Penny. “What do you want with Jason?”
“Can we come in please?” the man continued.
“Yes, of course.” Penny replied.
She stood aside, letting the two officers into the hallway and shut the front door.
“What is this about?” she asked.
“Your husband has been accused of having sex with an underage girl.” the female officer replied.
“Jason?” Penny laughed. “You have to be mistaken. Jason would never do something like that.”
“When is your husband due home?” the man asked.
“He should be home soon, but I’m telling you, you are wrong.”
“We will start searching the property while we wait for him.” The woman said.
Both officers took plastic gloves from their pockets and started to put them on.
“Does your husband have a computer?” the man asked.
“Yes, it’s in the study.” Penny replied.
Oscar continued to bark from within the living room.
“Can I ask you to take your dog outside please.” The woman asked, firmly.
Penny began getting annoyed.
“No, you can’t. This is Oscar’s home and this is my home. You’re lucky I’ve let you in.”
“Then can you please get your dog to be quiet. You can leave us to it thank you Mrs Locke.”
Penny opened the living room door, stopping Oscar from running into the hallway.
“Come here Oscar.” she said as she closed the door behind her. She guided Oscar out to the kitchen.
She sat at the table and took the phone from her pocket and text her husband.
Jason, you need to come home now. The police are here. They have a warrant for your arrest.
She sat there for a moment in contemplation. The Jason she knew and loved would never be capable of such a thing. She was sure that in their twenty-year marriage he had never been unfaithful, let alone with an underage girl. The whole thing was preposterous. Besides, he would never have time for an affair, he was a real home bird. They did everything together. The only time they spent apart was when Jason or her were at work, or when he was out walking Oscar, but even then, if she wasn’t on shift, she would walk Oscar with him.
This didn’t make any sense. Jason was a well-respected history teacher. The school loved him; his pupils loved him. Didn’t they?
Ok, their sex life had waned in recent years, but didn’t every married couple lose interest in sex in their forties and fifties? She had certainly lost her desire when her hormones started playing up as she hit perimenopause. That was normal, wasn’t it?
Or could it be possible that Jason had sought sexual pleasure outside the marriage? He had never had that high a sex drive anyway. It had brought issues to their relationship in previous years, when Penny’s desire had been greater than his. But even if he had been tempted to stray, he would have never have even considered sex with an underage girl. He was a teacher for God’s sake.
No, Penny couldn’t believe it. This was bound to be a terrible mistake. There was no way that Jason had done these terrible things. No way at all.
2
“I’ve found something.” the female officer called out to her partner.
Penny overheard the shout and ran from the kitchen and up the stairs.
“What do you think you have found?” Penny demanded.
The officer ignored her.
Her colleague came out from the bathroom and entered the bedroom.
“Pornography.” the female officer said, as he walked towards her.
“This is Andrew’s room.” Penny said.
“Who is Andrew?” the man asked.
“Our son, he’s in Birmingham University, he’s studying biology, they must be his.”
The man smirked, as he saw his colleague standing there with a copy of Mayfair. “This anatomy study material then, is it?” he laughed at his own joke, it amused him.
“Whatever you’ve found, I’m saying it’s my son’s and not my husband’s.”
Penny was fighting the urge not to cry. She prayed that Jason was nearly home.
“Do you have an attic?” the man asked.
“What kind of question is that, of course we have an attic.” Penny answered in frustration.
“I’m going to need to go up there.” he said.
Penny led him back out to the landing.
“There!” she said, pointing at the hatch. “Happy?”
The officer poked at the hatch and pulled down the ladder.
“There is nothing up there.” Penny said. “Just our Christmas decorations and our suitcases.”
“I’ll see for myself, shall I.” he said.
He climbed the loft ladder. Once inside the loft, he took his phone from his jacket, he turned on the torch feature and began scanning the loft space.
A moment or two later he yelled down.
“Jackpot. More porn.”
Penny heard the key in the front door, Jason was home.
3
Three Months Earlier - February
“Surprise!!”
A cheer ran out in Gemma’s living room as Jen walked in.
Jen looked at Troy, confused. “What’s this in aid of? It’s not my birthday?”
&
nbsp; “Gemma’s idea.” Troy replied. “She thought you’d like a ‘divorce is final’ party.”
Gemma came running over to greet her startled friend.
“You are bloody nuts.” Jen laughed. “Or is this a ‘yay, I’m getting paid back from my freeloading friend’ party. Be honest.”
“Thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.” Gemma replied.
She handed Jen a glass of champagne and held her own glass high.
“To Jen, my best friend, my hero. Let’s drink to her taking the shithead to the cleaners.”
“To Jen!” rang out.
Jen blushed. “Any excuse for a party hey, Mrs Party.”
Gemma took Jen by the arm and guided her out towards the kitchen.
Mavis, the cat, was perched on top of the fridge-freezer.
“All these people are scaring my godkitten.” Jen said, whilst tickling Mavis under the chin.
“She’s hardly a kitten, anymore Jen, she’s seven years old.” Gemma laughed.
“She’s always a kitten to me.” Jen replied, as the cat rubbed her head affectionately against her hand.
Gemma sat down at the kitchen table.
“So, what did the solicitor say?”
“Oliver is keeping the business. It’s been running surprisingly well since he’s been in prison. The valuation has come back, and it’s higher than we expected. The final figures are through. I’ve got the house, less the outstanding mortgage, and £300,000 has been transferred into my bank account from the business today.”
“Fucking hell!” Gemma replied.
“I know, right?” Jen replied. “The house has been valued at three quarters of a million. My solicitor is dealing with Oliver’s solicitor, but they can force the sale now. The mortgage is about 250 thousand, I think. When it sells, even if it goes for less than I thought and even after paying all my solicitors fees, I reckon I should still get about 400 thousand.”
“Shit, Jen.” Gemma replied. “How do you feel about it?”
“I’m just relieved it’s all over. And at least I don’t have to worry about paying for university. I can enjoy it. And more importantly I can pay you and Marcus back.”
“Bloody hell Jen, there is plenty of time for that.” Gemma answered hastily.
“I know.” Jen replied. “But I want you to sit down and work out how much I owe you.”
“You’ve barely been here since we got back from Lanzarote, you are always in Troy’s.” she looked at her cat, who was still watching them from the safety of the fridge freezer, obviously wondering why so many people were in her living room. “You’ve missed your Auntie Jen, haven’t you Mavis.”
Mavis let out a little meow.
“See!” Gemma replied. “So now the divorce is through, are you moving in with him officially?”
“I think so.” Jen replied “But I want to do it properly. I want us to buy something together, or I buy something myself and he can live with me. It’s a big decision, but I want us to be together officially.”
“So, are you ready for the long-term commitment then?” Gemma asked, ever concerned about Jen’s well-being.
“Oh Gem, I really am. I’ve never been so in love.” Jen beamed as Troy walked into the kitchen.
“Why do I get the feeling you are talking about me?” Troy said.
“I was just telling Gemma that we are going house hunting.” Jen replied.
“There is a house going in our cul-de sac.” Gemma replied.
“Already got the agents on it.” Troy replied.
“You have?” Jen asked.
“Yep, we’ve got a viewing tomorrow. I knew you’d want to see it.” Troy said.
“I am liking this plan.” Gemma said, and seeing her friend plant a kiss on Troy’s lips she knew that Jen liked the plan as well.
4
Three months later - May
“Bloody disgusting.” Jason muttered under his breath.
Oscar was pulling on his lead.
They were on one of their favourite walks. One of the main reasons that Penny and Jason had bought their house was that it backed onto a country park. They could step out of their back gate and would be in the glorious woodland within seconds.
Many centuries before, the park had housed a magnificent manor house. Jason, as a keen historian, had enjoyed researching about the manor house. It had been owned by a wealthy industrialist and his family in the seventeenth century. All that remained of the manor house was ruins, however, every day Jason enjoyed walking around the ruins and wondering what life would have been like in this bygone time.
However, today, as he reached the clearing which housed the ruins, he saw canisters upon canisters strewn around the ruined walls. He pondered for a moment whether he should pick them all up. He checked his pocket, he only had the one doggy poo bag in there and Oscar hadn’t gone to the toilet yet. He felt guilt as he left the cannisters where he had found them.
He had heard that kids were getting high on nitrous oxide cannisters these days. Emptying the contents of the cannisters into balloons and inhaling the gas from the balloons. He saw a few discarded balloons, proving his suspicions correct. He then found a used condom.
“Bloody disgusting.” He muttered to himself again.
He walked up the hill, amongst the trees, and walked around the woodland path. The trees surrounded a small clearing. As he reached the clearing, he could see a couple of tents. Next to the tents were empty beer cans, empty bottles. He was glad that he had kept Oscar on the lead today, as he spotted some broken glass. As he walked past the tents, he could see a young man, he was leaning against a tree and urinating.
He turned and saw Jason, recognition on his face.
“Alright, Mr Locke.” The young man said.
“Daniel Cook. I should’ve known it would be someone like you responsible for this carnage.” Jason replied.
“Keep your hair on Sir. Just having a laugh with my mates.”
“You know it’s illegal to camp in this park, do you?” Jason said.
“I don’t fucking give a shit.” Daniel replied.
“Well I do, and I’m reporting this to the police.” Jason replied.
“Fuck you! I ain’t in school anymore.” Daniel said.
“No, you ain’t in school, you probably ain’t got a job either.” Jason said, emphasising the ain’t, a gesture of poor English that most likely went over the young man’s head. “And you ain’t got a clue of what it’s like to be a decent human being.”
A head popped out from one of the tents.
“Dan, what’s going on. Who are you talking to?”
Jason recognised that voice. He knew the girl in the tent, Kylie Williams, a pupil at Jason’s school.
Jason continued walking. He didn’t want to continue the confrontation. He was taking Oscar home, and when he got to work, he was going to phone the safeguarding team to get advice. Kylie was in Year 10, she was 14 or 15. She shouldn’t have been in a tent, with an 18-year-old, she should be home, getting ready to go to school. Gosh, he was even taking her for history that morning, if she turned up.
5
One week later
“What the hell?”
Jason ran up the stairs. He found his wife sobbing at the open hatch of the attic.
“They are saying they have found pornography, Jason. I told them it’s only our Christmas decorations and our suitcases that we keep up there.” Penny said.
Jason shifted uneasily, unsure how to admit to his wife that there was indeed a large quantity of old magazines in the attic.
He didn’t get the chance as the female officer spoke.
“You will need to come to the station with us, Mr Locke. A very serious allegation has been made against you.”
“Don’t worry, Penny. You know this is a mistake.” Jason said.
...
Jason chewed at his finger nails as he sat in the interview room at the police station. The officers who had brought him in had left him alone in the room.
He couldn’t believe that he had been accused of such a thing. He felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment as he thought about his porn collection that they could have found. He knew they had found his old magazines in the attic, but they’d taken his laptop. That was where he kept his downloaded videos. He didn’t want to think about it. Ok, what red blooded male didn’t have pornography on their computers? But still, it felt like an infringement of his privacy that his sexual tastes were now being shared by the local police force.
Who could have accused him of sleeping with an underage girl? He guessed it must have been a disgruntled student, out of revenge. And then it struck him, he was betting it was Kylie Williams. That lowlife Daniel Cook must have put her up to it after the incident in the park. The more he thought about it, he was sure of it. This was Daniel’s doing, and he was about to hear that it was Kylie that made the claims. She was naïve enough to make accusations to help her boyfriend gain revenge.
As Jason convinced himself that this was the case, a woman dressed in plain clothes entered the room.
“Mr Locke, I’m Detective Sergeant Lisa Whitney and I will be conducting your interview.”
“This accusation has come from Kylie Williams, hasn’t it?” Jason said.
Lisa raised an eyebrow.
“Is that a confession, Mr Locke?” Lisa asked, before she even had chance to sit across the table.
6
Three months before - February
Hannah sat next to Troy in the conference room at the facility. She nursed a bottle of Pepsi, taking tentative little sips.
“Feeling rough?” Troy asked, with a grin.
“I’m never drinking again!” Hannah replied. “And you look fresh as a daisy.”
Troy smiled, he thought back to the night before, at Jen’s divorce party. He remembered Lisa and Hannah arriving at Gemma’s house late. Hannah had already seemed slightly worse for wear at that point, as she’d almost fallen through the front door in her rush to hug her colleague. The memory made Troy’s smile turn into a grin.
Mob Justice (Sinister Minds Quick Reads Book 3) Page 1