Faraday 02 Network Virus (3 page)

“
I’ll find out.”

“
Well, it’s all in here.” The sergeant waved a sheaf of papers at him. “Under the Sexual Offences Act, 2003, you have to obey certain restrictions to your lifestyle. You are not to spend a night anywhere else but at this house without telling us. You are to give us at least a week’s notice if you wish to go away, even for one night. This house may be visited from time to time by police officers without warning so as to check that you are keeping to these regulations. You’d better tell your sister to be prepared for that. Do you understand?”

“
What?” Pullman was aghast. “Policemen in uniform?”

Mallinson’s sneer twisted more strongly. “Shitting yourself about being found out by the local mums and dads? Don’t worry. It’ll normally be me or someone else in plain clothes who visits you. We don’t want the additional job of protecting you from the mob if we can help it.” He wagged a finger at the fellow. “And if we’re confident that you’re behaving yourself we’ll not need to come so often.”

He turned and walked back to the fireplace. But he was watching Pullman in the mirror. As he saw the man relax he spun round, pointed a finger at him, and shouted, “But if we consider that you are not keeping absolutely to the regulations, Mister Sidney bloody Pullman,
or
if we have any reason at all to believe you may present a danger to any young persons in our area, we’re likely to turn up with a couple of squad cars with blue lights flashing and take you to the station. We will then apply to a magistrate to grant a temporary custody order while your behaviour is investigated. Do you understand all that?”

Pullman recoiled as though he’d been struck. He swallowed and tried to speak, but without success. At last he gasped, “Oh, my God.”

The sergeant nodded and smiled mirthlessly. “Just remember this - if you behave yourself, you won’t have any trouble.” He advanced on Pullman with his finger still pointing until it was a couple of inches from the man’s eyes. “But if we have any problems with you - anything at all -” He shook his head slowly. “I don’t think there’s any chance we would get to you before the mob had torn you apart and cut off your goolies. Do you understand me?”

Pullman stood transfixed as he surveyed his prospects.

“
Of course,” said Mallinson chattily, “you can always move somewhere else. Some forces are prepared to tolerate pathetic perverts like you. Inner city areas are probably the best choice. They’ve usually got too many other problems to have much time for a wet character like you.” He paused. “What do you think of
that
idea?”

The man shook his head. “I haven’t got anywhere else. Daisy’s the only family I’ve got.”

“
Not got any young kids, has she?”

“
No.” Pullman stared defeatedly at the floor. “She’s alone now. Her husband’s left her and her daughter’s married to a bloke in Exeter.”

“
Then it looks like I’m stuck with you.” Mallinson grimaced. “Just remember - if you so much as look at anyone under sixteen while you’re on my patch, I’ll have your guts for garters.” He snorted. “If you ask me, I think you should have been castrated before they let you out.”

There was a long pregnant pause.

“
Right then - so long as we understand each other.” The policeman thrust the wad of papers into the other fellow’s hands. “Read these. If you’ve got any questions you can ask them when you report to the station on Friday. Or you can ring to speak to me at the number at the top there.” He shook his head. “Just remember - you won’t be in any trouble if you don’t step an inch out of line. But if you do -” He made the classic throat-cutting gesture.

After another short pause he said, “Well, I’ll be off.” He pushed past the petrified Pullman. “I’ll see myself out.”

As Mallinson slammed the front door behind him the phone rang in the hallway. His sister answered the call and appeared in the doorway.

“
It’s for you.”

“
Oh.” Like an automaton he walked to the little table at the foot of the stairs and picked up the instrument. “Hello.”

“
Sidney Pullman?” It was an educated voice he had never heard before.

“
Who’s that?”

“
My name is Charles Hawardine. You won’t know me but my friends and I know about you.”

“
What do you mean?” He felt the rise of the old sensation of panic.

“
Don’t worry,” said Hawardine comfortingly. “I’m ringing to tell you that you’re not without friends. All we chaps have to stick together.”

“
Well.” Pullman cradled the phone against his cheek. “Well, I don’t
know
.”

“
I’m also ringing to warn you that the police are on their way. Just keep calm and -“

“
They’ve already been. The sergeant’s only just gone.”

“
I see.” There was a pause. “Would that be Detective Sergeant Mallinson by any chance?”

“
That’s right.”

“
The man’s a sadist. You need some help to deal with him.”

“
I don’t mind telling you he scares the shit out of me.”

Charles Hawardine took a breath. “I think, Sidney, that you and I need to meet as soon as possible. I’ll pick you up in my car outside the Bunch of Grapes at three o’clock tomorrow afternoon. My car is a navy blue Bentley. Carry a folded newspaper under your right arm so that I know who you are. Will you be there?”

Pullman nodded. He felt he needed someone on his side. “All right.”

“
Very well. Oh, and Sidney?”

“
Yes.”

“
Don’t tell anyone where you’re going - not even your sister.”

“
Oh. All right.”

The phone went dead and Sidney Pullman turned to see his sister watching him with a speculative expression.

-
3
-

Seventeen-year-old Jason Smart leaned back against the geological specimens cabinet and surveyed the row of miscreants in front of him. They stood in a line against the other wall of the entrance hall to the Old Building. That was the name given to the original grand old house which formed the nucleus of Torbay Upper School.

The teenage boys were lined up “under the clock” for committing some minor offence of bad conduct or disobedience during the school lunch break. Their hands were clasped behind their backs. They were not permitted to talk, except to the prefects. They fidgeted and looked longingly towards the sunshine of the playground and waited for the end of their fifteen minutes’ separation from the noise and kaleidoscope of activities which was going on outside.

This strange disciplinary ritual had been handed down over generations and formed the main power which Jason and his fellow prefects had over their less exalted fellow pupils. Actually “the clock” which had been fixed to the wall above their heads had been removed some years ago and so the timing of their detention was in the hands of the senior boys who lounged so elegantly opposite them - a source of discontent for those being disciplined.

Another cause of dissatisfaction was the fact that it was only boys who were allowed to be punished in this way. Girls did not suffer this ritual humiliation. In fact
they
were not allowed to enter the hall unless it was raining. It wasn’t because they were better behaved than the boys, or because they were less deserving of discipline. It was simply that, when the two single sex schools had been merged into a single co-educational school some years ago, the head teacher had decided to keep the old tradition for the boys but not extend it to the girls.

As a result boys “under the clock” became an object of ridicule, especially to the girls who would often stand outside the front entrance and taunt them until they were shooed off by the prefects. At this moment three girls were hovering outside the open doors. But
they
were trying to attract Jason’s attention.

”’
Ere, Smart,” called one of the lads nearest to the entrance, “there’s some of your harem wanting to talk to you.”

“
Shut up, Blaydon, or I’ll give you another five minutes.” Nevertheless he sauntered towards the front door, as if with the intention of telling them to scram.

Jason was a good-looking lad. Already grown to his full adult height, slim, fair-haired and blue-eyed, he was the subject of several young girls’ secret fantasies. He was aware of this with the self-conscious arrogance of the young who learn about power before they discover the accompanying responsibility.

He reached the top step and looked down on the three girls clustered below him. His attention centred on one. “What do you want, Karen?”

Karen Tilt was one of those girls who was physically mature beyond her fifteen years. As a result she was the object of a certain amount of furtive groping in odd corners about the school - attention which she selectively accepted or rejected. Her glossy brown hair fell in waves to her shoulders. Her curved lips were the dream of many a class-mate. But Karen valued herself above her peers. She was keeping herself for a certain prefect she had in her sights.

“
I’ve got someone you might be interested in,” she said and indicated the young girl to her left. “This is Tracey Bostock. She’s twelve. She says she wants to know more about it.”

Jason saw the other girl for the first time. He looked her up and down. He noted the long, fair hair, the cornflower blue eyes, the open innocent gaze.

“
Do you think she’d be all right?” asked Karen.

He stuck out his chin. “She might be.” He turned to Tracey. “I need to ask you some questions. Come into the prefects’ common room. You others stay outside.”

He turned and preceded the young girl back into the entrance hall and through a door into a small room on the left - scarcely more than a broom cupboard. There was another prefect sitting at the only desk in the room with his head in a book.

“
Piss off, Henderson. There’s a good chap,” said Smart good-naturedly.

Everybody knew Henderson was a swat. He was Smart’s equal in age and position and had no need to do as he was told, but in the strange world of schoolboy status he was far below Jason Smart. So he rose and left with his book to find a more congenial place to settle again to his studies.

Jason turned back to look at the girl. She didn’t seem frightened or overawed by being alone with such an exalted being. She faced him with confidence.

“
What did you say your name was?”

“
Tracey - Tracey Bostock.”

“
How old are you?

“
Twelve.”

He looked her up and down. “Put your hands above your head.”

She did so without hesitation. She was suitably skinny in her check summer uniform dress which was pulled in at the waist by a narrow belt. But she wasn’t completely shapeless.

“
Are you sure you’re only twelve?”

Her eyes opened wide. “Yes, of course.”

“
You’ve got quite a lot of tit for a twelve-year-old. Are you wearing a padded bra?”

“
No,” she protested. “I’m not wearing a bra at all.”

He reached out and felt her breast and she flinched only slightly. He could tell she had nothing on under the thin cotton except a vest.

“
Sorry, but I’ve got to check.” He tried to smile comfortingly. “These blokes want the girls to look very young. You can put your hands down now.”

“
Can you pull your hair back in a pony-tail?” He stepped back and looked at her. “Yes, that looks good. You’ll also have to look as though you’re frightened. They like that. Do you think you can look frightened?”

She gave a passable imitation of wide-eyed terror. “Will it be frightening when it happens?”

“
No, of course not.” He grinned. “Has Karen told you what it’s about?”

She nodded. “Some of it. She said you’d tell me the rest.”

“
She told you that you’d get a lot of money for it?”

“
She said a hundred pounds.”

“
That’s just for one video. If they like that you could do more.”

“
Will you be there?”

“
I’ll be there all the time. It’ll just be you and me. Did Karen tell you what sort of thing happens?”

“
Yes.” She turned a little pink. “She says she likes it.”

“
That’s right.” He pulled a face. “She likes it a lot. Unfortunately they’ve decided she doesn’t look young enough.” He switched. “You know you’re not to tell anyone anything about it.”

“
Yes. Karen said that.”

“
You mustn’t talk about it even to your best friend, not even to your mum or your dad.”

She shook her head. “I haven’t got a proper dad. My stepfather’s a bit creepy and he’s away at sea most of the time.”

“
That sounds all right. What about your mum?”

“
She’s out five evenings a week, leaving at six o’clock. She works at the Red Garter. It’s a nightclub.”

“
I’ve heard about it.”

“
She’s the barmaid. It’s very good pay. We have a neighbour who comes in until I go to bed. Then she goes home and comes back just before midnight to see my mum and get her cash. She gives me a pound to keep quiet.”

“
Right.” He changed the subject. “You realise you have to get undressed - take everything off?”

Tracey nodded. “Karen said that the room was nice and warm.”

“
I think you might have to wear something tight at the top so that your tits don’t stand out. They don’t want to see tits.”

Tracey said nothing.

“
They want you to look very young,” he said by way of explanation. “They tried it with a ten year-old but she was useless, even though they’d explained it all in advance and she said she understood.”