Too Close to Home

by Susan Lewis

  Jenna’s temper flared. “So it’s all right for my daughter to suffer at their hands, but not all right for them to face the consequences? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “I understand where you’re coming from, truly I do, and in your shoes I’d feel exactly the same, but I’ve been here before, so I know how the CPS will view the case. They prefer the situation to be handled by parents, or the school, or social services.”

  “And if Paige had ended up actually committing suicide? What would the CPS do then?”

  “It’s highly possible that the same would apply, as no criminal act would be involved in a suicide, unless of course someone is given physical assistance.”

  “So these kids can go on websites or send texts to anyone they like encouraging them to do away with themselves, and the law does nothing about it?”

  “Mrs. Moore, I swear I feel as frustrated as you do—”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “—but all I can do is tell you how it is, not how I want it to be. If you’re asking me do I think they should be held to account, then the answer’s yes, in some cases I certainly do. Having to face the full force of the law might make them think twice before they picked on someone again. But the power isn’t with me, I’m afraid. It’s with you and your MP and all the action groups that exist out there who are trying to come up with a better way of dealing with this.”

  Realizing she was heading up a dead end, and mindful of the fact that she wasn’t going to do anything without speaking to Paige first anyway, Jenna said, “I appreciate your candor. Thank you. I have one more question before you go. If we end up deciding that we do want to take it further, can we bring a private prosecution?”

  “Well, I don’t see why not, but that’s something you’d need to discuss with a lawyer.”

  After ringing off, Jenna said to Hanna, “I’d never be able to afford it, of course, but I needed to know.”

  “I could,” Hanna reminded her, “and I promise you, if it’s the way Paige wants to go, I’ll back her all the way.”

  Touched, Jenna said, “I’ll have to pick my moment to bring it up, and I guess I ought to talk to Richard first to make sure it’s a viable option, because we can’t have her deciding to go for it and then being told it can’t happen.”

  —

  “I have to advise against it,” Richard told them later that evening. “Not because I don’t believe you have a case—under Sections 2 and 4 of the Protection from Harassment Act you probably do—but the CPS won’t like it, and you also need to consider the amount of pressure it would put on Paige, when she’s already suffered enough.”

  “And she’s my first concern,” Jenna assured him. “I just want to know if it’s possible to bring a suit if she decides it’s the way she wants to go.”

  “Well, you have my answer, but I think you also need to take into consideration the kind of family you’d be up against.”

  “I’m not going to let them intimidate me,” Jenna hotly informed him. “People who’ve committed crimes need to pay like anyone else.”

  No one looked at Jack, who was sitting quietly in one of the armchairs, but Jenna could sense his discomfort. She wondered when he’d ever seemed more pathetic, more out of tune with his surroundings. It was as though he was collapsing in on himself, with only the shell intact.

  “All this is academic until we’ve consulted Paige,” Hanna reminded them.

  Richard nodded. “How is she today?”

  “She’s slept quite a lot,” Jenna replied, “and she’s been eating, so I’m going to take both as good signs.”

  “She’s concerned about Olivia Masters,” Kay reminded her.

  Jenna said to Richard, “We haven’t got to the bottom of it yet, but apparently Julie Morris is really Olivia Masters, Owen Masters’s sister. Do you happen to know the parents?”

  Richard shook his head. “I can’t say I do. I’m not even sure I’ve ever seen them.”

  Jenna looked at her mother and Hanna.

  “Well, what we do know,” Hanna stated, “is that something strange is clearly going on with the girl, but I don’t suppose we’re going to find out much more until they let her out of the hospital.”

  —

  “I guess I should be going,” Jack said a couple of hours later. Richard had left a while ago, as had Kay and Hanna. The time since then had been spent getting the younger ones off to sleep, which had taken far longer than usual.

  Picking up on his despondency, Jenna said, “She’ll come round.”

  He nodded and reached for his coat.

  “What do you really think of bringing a private prosecution?” she asked as he put it on. “I know you said you were for it earlier, but you haven’t passed any comment since.”

  “What’s there to say?” he replied. “You’ve already decided, and if it’s what Paige wants, it’s what we’ll do.”

  “But? I’m sensing a but.”

  He took a moment, seeming to decide whether to go further, and then said, “OK, what I really think is that you want a lawsuit to prove to yourself, and the rest of the world, that you’re a great mother who’ll go to any lengths to punish those who mess with her daughter. The trouble is, we’ve already failed her, and everyone knows it. We weren’t there, either of us, when she needed us, and no court case or public hanging is ever going to change that.”

  Jenna stared at him hard. He’d hit a truth even she hadn’t seen, and she wasn’t liking it much.

  “You asked,” he told her.

  “You’re right,” she eventually conceded. “I’m making it about me and my need for revenge, and I’d still give anything to get it, but I promise you it’s not going to happen if Paige doesn’t want it.”

  His eyes remained on hers as he said, “I’m not doubting you. And for the record, you are a great mother.”

  She didn’t agree, but to try to lighten things she replied, “Is that my cue to say you’re a great dad?”

  His eyes clouded again. “We both know that’s not true, so let’s not go there.”

  “You always used to be.”

  “Until I screwed up.”

  How could she deny it?

  As he turned to leave, she said, “Am I sensing regret?”

  Keeping his back to her, he said, “I’ll always regret hurting you.”

  “But you’d do it again?”

  In the end he turned to face her. “I’d try to handle it differently,” he admitted.

  She swallowed hard and tried to smile past the pain. Despite all they’d just been through, he’d still rather be with Martha than with them.

  “Are you and Richard…?” he asked.

  “We’re friends.”

  “He seems a good bloke.”

  “I’m not looking for your approval.”

  “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to give it.”

  For a while he stood staring off to one side as if there were more he wanted to say and he just didn’t know how to come out with it.

  “Mum!” Wills suddenly wailed from the top of the stairs. “I’ve got a toothache.”

  As they looked at each other, Jack raised a single eyebrow. Picking up his keys, he said, “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  Two days later Jenna was in the hallowed territory of the school principal’s sitting room, facing Olivia Masters across a hearth filled with dried flowers. Also present were Mr. Charles, Miss Willis, head of the pastoral team, and an elegantly dressed woman who’d been introduced as Judith Merchant, Olivia’s aunt.

  The call inviting Jenna to attend the start of what was being termed restorative justice proceedings had come late yesterday afternoon.

  “But I thought restorative justice was supposed to be about seeing someone face-to-face,” Paige had protested when Jenna had told her about it, “so why can’t I be there?”

  “All I can tell you,” Jenna replied, “is that Olivia’s asked to see only me at this stage. But apparently this is just the start, so I’m sure you’ll
be included further down the line.”

  “What about Dad? Is he going?”

  “No. Just me.”

  “So who else will be there?”

  “I don’t know at the moment.”

  Now, as Jenna gazed at Olivia’s pale, almost translucent complexion, taking in how stiffly she was holding herself—back ramrod straight, hands clasped together in her lap—she couldn’t help noticing how distant, or perhaps detached, she seemed. She was certainly a beautiful girl, with lustrous blond hair hanging loosely about her shoulders and a perfect oval face, yet the glimpses Jenna had caught of her almond-shaped eyes had shown a girl who seemed disturbingly empty inside.

  Empty and cruel?

  Apparently suicidal.

  With everyone seated, Mr. Charles opened the proceedings. “Olivia wants to explain her part in what happened to Paige. When you’ve heard what she has to say, I’m sure you’ll realize, Mrs. Moore, what tremendous courage it is taking for her to be here today.” To Olivia he said, “If at any time you want to stop, you must simply give the word.”

  Olivia’s eyes stayed down as she gave a barely perceptible nod.

  Not thrilled by the way this girl, who’d tried to persuade Paige to end her life, was receiving so much consideration, almost being treated as a victim herself, Jenna regarded her coolly. She guessed she was the victim of something if she’d tried to end her life.

  Judith Merchant whispered something into her niece’s ear. Whatever it was, it seemed to make Olivia shudder. A moment later the girl nodded again.

  “My niece would like me to speak on her behalf,” Judith said to Jenna. “If you want to ask any questions, either she or I will be happy to answer if we can.”

  As Jenna looked from one to the other she couldn’t help wondering why Olivia’s parents weren’t attending this meeting, lending the support their daughter so clearly needed.

  “The reason Olivia befriended your daughter through an alias,” Judith began, “is complicated, though I believe not hard to understand.” She let a moment pass as she squeezed Olivia’s hand. “She singled Paige out because she was jealous of her,” she stated.

  Jenna felt a beat of confusion.

  “To explain,” Judith continued, “Paige has everything Olivia has always dreamed of: she’s pretty, popular, intelligent, and has a way of bonding with others that Olivia has long craved but never had the confidence to attempt.”

  Though Jenna wanted to point out that the girl was exceptionally pretty and a gifted student where music was concerned, she sensed that confidence was probably more of an issue than looks or ability.

  “Paige is also part of a close and loving family,” Judith went on. “It’s this blessing, perhaps more than anything else, that drew Olivia to your daughter. She wanted to be Paige, or connect with her in a way she’d never managed with anyone else, but coming from the place she was in, she was afraid to get close. So her brother, Owen, befriended Paige in the hope of helping his sister in a somewhat vicarious way to get to know Paige. He’d talk to Olivia about her and what he knew of the relationship she had with you and your family, how happy you all seemed, what a noisy and loving house Paige lived in with her brothers and sister. As far as Olivia was concerned, Paige had the perfect life, and the kind of character she admired above all others. She wasn’t afraid to stand up and be noticed at school; she wasn’t too nervous to answer questions, or take part in a drama, or play on a sports team, or do whatever else was asked of her. Anything she became engaged in had the backing of her friends and, most importantly, of her parents.”

  As Jenna watched Olivia, so still and withdrawn, she was starting to pick up on a dispiriting remoteness, a kind of darkness even, that seemed to swallow her.

  What was it with this girl?

  “Olivia wanted desperately to be a part of Paige’s world,” Judith pressed on. “She wanted to matter to Paige in a way she felt she didn’t to anyone else. So she came up with the only way she could think of to make Paige interested in her. Or perhaps I should say, to make Paige depend on her. She thought if she could turn everyone against Paige, that Paige would eventually start to believe that Julie Morris—the name Olivia gave herself—was her only friend.”

  Jenna was still staring at Olivia, waiting for the girl to look at her, but Olivia didn’t lift her head.

  “Olivia began her efforts,” Judith went on, “by hacking into Paige’s Facebook account to make it look as though Paige was accusing Owen of being gay. Owen knew what she was doing and helped her, even though he was terrified of revealing his personal truth. It wasn’t so much his friends’ reaction he was afraid of as how his father would take it, but I’ll come to that. To continue with the posting, Olivia’s plan to befriend Paige could have backfired right there, and probably would have if Kelly Durham, the school bully, hadn’t jumped on it and started a campaign against Paige that apparently gained its own momentum.”

  Jenna said nothing, simply waited for the woman to continue.

  “So Olivia outed her brother on Facebook, and instead of turning against him, everyone turned against the friend they thought had betrayed him. It was what Olivia hoped would happen, because it provided her with a way of offering friendship.”

  Jenna was quietly stunned. How could a girl of Olivia’s age be capable of devising such Machiavellian manipulation, never mind carrying it out? “Where on earth did you think all this was going to lead you?” she asked Olivia curtly.

  Though Olivia’s eyes came briefly to hers, she didn’t answer.

  “I’m not sure Olivia had really thought it through at that point,” Judith said for her.

  Jenna waited for Olivia to contradict or confirm that, but she was apparently going to do neither.

  Judith continued, “It was largely through Owen, who became a part of Kelly Durham’s set, that Olivia was able to warn Paige what was about to happen to her, or offer comfort after it happened.”

  “Why didn’t you just report it?” Jenna demanded forcefully. “You’d brought about a dreadful, terrifying situation for my daughter. How could you possibly call yourself a friend? You weren’t even who you were claiming to be.”

  Though Olivia flushed, she didn’t reply. Her aunt said, “I need to explain my niece’s home situation. For many years she has been the victim of her parents’ bullying, as has Owen, though it’s been worse for Olivia. So bad that she doesn’t always evaluate situations the way the rest of us do. She has been severely affected by the abuse, which is both mental, physical, and sexual. The damage it’s done…” She took a breath that was almost a sob. “I’ve had my suspicions, of course, but living so far away…”

  Jenna’s eyes moved to Olivia. Naturally she felt pity for what she’d been through, but she couldn’t ignore what she’d done to Paige.

  “It was after a particularly brutal episode at home,” Judith continued, “that Olivia was online with Paige and Paige began saying that she couldn’t take any more of the bullying. This was when Olivia suggested they should take a way out of their misery together.”

  Jenna looked at Olivia again. No matter how damaged the girl was, she had to be made to understand that it wasn’t possible to get away with what she’d almost done.

  “After Olivia arranged to meet Paige last Friday morning,” Judith was saying, “she took a bus to Rhossili, in spite of having told Paige to go to Whiteford Sands. Olivia wanted to pay a last visit to her grandmother’s grave at St. Mary’s. While she was there her father found her and took her home, where he shut her in her room, confiscated her phone and computer, and left her there while he and his wife, my sister, drove Owen to a healer in North Wales to have him cleansed of his sins—his sins being his homosexuality.”

  Jenna shuddered inwardly. What kind of parents were they, for God’s sake? How could they behave in such a monstrous way to their own children? Cleansed for being a homosexual? Raping their own daughter?

  “It was Saturday evening before Olivia managed to break out of her room,” Ju
dith continued. “When she did, she went to the bathroom, smashed open the cabinets, and swallowed every pill she could find. Her parents returned early the next morning with Owen. When they realized what had happened they refused to call for help. Whether they’d actually have allowed Olivia to die I can’t say, but thank God Owen snatched his father’s phone, locked himself in a downstairs bathroom, and dialed 999. He was still in the bathroom when the police and ambulance services turned up, and he wouldn’t come out until they’d managed to convince him his parents had gone.”

  As a deep and terrible silence fell over the room, Jenna watched tears sliding silently down Olivia’s cheeks. To her surprise the girl spoke then, her voice soft and feathery, her hand still holding tightly to her aunt’s.

  “I’d have gone to Paige that night if I could,” she said, “not to carry out what we’d planned, but to see her, persuade her that it wasn’t the right way out for her. I was going to tell her about me, what my parents have been doing to me and Owen. I wanted to ask her to tell someone, but it was too late. There were no buses at that time of night and I had no other means of getting there. I tried to find my phone and computer, but I couldn’t, and we don’t have a landline at home. So I sat down and wrote a note for my aunt Judith that she never got. I guess my parents destroyed it before anyone could find it.”

  “I haven’t been allowed to see my niece and nephew since my mother died,” Judith told Jenna, “and that was over ten years ago.” She tried to swallow. “The abuse has been going on since then,” she said shakily. “As I said, I was always afraid of it, but I had no proof, and my brother-in-law, being a senior executive at the council, knows how to deal with social services. Nevertheless, I should have tried harder. I suppose I just couldn’t make myself believe that my own sister would go along with it. I know now that she was as bad as him.” As she put an arm around Olivia, Jenna noticed the girl stiffen before she relaxed.

  “Olivia and Owen were incredibly brave on Monday,” Judith continued. “They spent most of the day talking to the police, telling them everything that had happened to them. Owen had contacted me on Sunday, so I was with them while they were interviewed, and it’s being arranged now for them to come and live with me.”