Chapter 3: A New Safe House

‘I don’t know,’ I told her honestly, ‘But lots of people who are very happy together have had previous relationships, so it’s no different really. And after all it wouldn’t have been your fault, you would have been forced into it.’

‘I stopped and turned to face her. I took hold of both hands and looked into her eyes. ‘I can’t imagine anything that would ever stop me loving you as I’ve always done and wanting to spend the rest of my life with you.’ I told her.’

‘She pulled me tight to her and we kissed for ages standing there on the pavement. ‘That’s the first time you’ve actually told me that you loved me.’ she said. ‘I’ve wanted to for ages,’ I said, ‘But I didn’t want you to think I was getting too serious, too soon, and scare you away.’

‘Silly Billy,’ she said, ‘I’ve felt the same about you ever since that first night you walked me home.’ We carried on arm in arm. When we got to hers, we usually just had a quick kiss at the gate, but today we went up to the front door and kissed for ages.’

‘I’d better go in now,’ she said at last, ‘I love you.’ ‘I love you too,’ I told her. That resulted in another long kiss. As I walked home on air, the only cloud on the horizon was the recording. I’d had a nightmare the first night too, so then I decided to text you.’

‘Ok,’ Danny said, ‘Let me tell you what happened the moment Clarkson was caught. He was pulled off his victim with such force he was knocked out. When he was taken to hospital, he was told he’d be arrested on his release the following day.’

‘When he ran away from the hospital and scarpered, it was decided that that would save having to have a court case, so none of the victims would have to publicly admit what had happened to them. He has lost his house and his job, plus he’ll never get employment in education ever again, so he has been punished quite severely.’

‘Before he left here he was searched, and I looked through his phone. In my experience sexual predators often take pictures of their victims to keep some control over them. So, I checked through the gallery and found nothing. It didn’t occur to me at that time to check voice recordings.’

Danny got up and went over to a drawer. He showed Jordan a phone. ‘This is his phone; does it look like the one he used to record you?’ ‘Yes.’ Jordan said sounding hopeful. Danny opened the phone and searched through it.

When Jordan told him the date he had been recorded, Danny found a recording made on that date and pressed play. They listened to Jordans voice for a few moments then Danny stopped it. He pressed a few buttons then said, ‘The recording is deleted.’

‘Now I know how he was operating I’ll check it again later for recordings of any other people. Danny told him, then I’ll destroy the phone completely. So, you can forget all about the recording now. Jordan threw himself into Dannys arms and kissed him. ‘Thank you so much,’ he said with tears running down his face, ‘That’s such a relief.’

With Jordan lying with his head on Dannys lap, Danny told him, ‘With the relief of the recording being destroyed, the support you have from Samantha and having shared what happened to you with me, I don’t think you will have any more nightmares and will soon forget all about it. Especially as your relationship with Samantha is clearly going to develop further.’

‘However, from what you told me earlier, that needs some help. Danny took him through from first date to waking up after making love and managed to fire him once more. He even managed to coincide it with Jordan firing in Dannys story of him making love to Samantha.’

A very exhausted and extremely happy Jordan got dressed, gave Danny a very long hug and a kiss, thanked him again and walked home feeling on top of the world. Danny made himself another coffee and had another look through the phone.

He found two similar recordings, one mentioning a boy called Adrian who was sixteen and one a boy called Stephen who was fourteen. From the dates of the recordings Danny could see that Stephens first visit had been six months earlier whilst Adrians was eighteen months ago.

He made a few notes from their recordings into his own phone, along with their names. Then he went out to the garage, found a hammer and smashed the phone to smithereens. After putting all the bits in the bin, he locked up and went home.

SAFE HOUSE

The previous weekend, Danny and Lorraine had come home for a visit and met up with Lewis and Ella. When he had a chance to chat to Lewis alone, he told him about Clarkson’s house. ‘It’s very handy,’ he said, ‘I’ve been able to use it for a couple of counselling sessions. But it’s a shame, sooner or later it’s bound to be repossessed and sold off.’

Lewis asked him about the previous owner, ‘He’s been dealt with as an Item,’ Danny told him, ‘So he’ll never return. As far as we can ascertain from the school where he worked, he has no relatives.’

‘I have an idea that might save it, yet still let you have occasional use of it,’ Lewis said. He took all the details and said, ‘Leave it with me. But if anyone contacts you over it, they won’t know anything about the Supers group.’

That night Lewis sent a text to Major Edward to ask if he had any use for a potential safe house in the area around the university. The major rang him the following morning as he was on his way to school. Lewis explained about it and gave him Dannys number.

‘You can safely treat Danny as you would me,’ Lewis told him, ‘But whatever you tell him, he won’t learn anything different from me.’ The major thanked him and after a brief chat hung up.

Later that day Danny found a text message to ring the enclosed number. After checking he was speaking to Danny, and that he was Lewis’s friend the major arranged to meet him at the house.

He introduced himself as Edward and Danny showed him around the house. Then they sat in the kitchen over a coffee. Danny explained he had counselled a young teenager who had been raped by the owner. ‘Before he could be arrested, he did a bunk.’ Danny explained.

‘The local police spoke to the school and the entire education system has been warned not to employ him. As far as they could find out there are no relatives, so I presume that sooner or later the bills will get into arrears, and it will be repossessed.’

‘I’ve used it a couple of times for counselling,’ Danny said, ‘It’s very handy as there’s nowhere suitable for me to use at the university.’ ‘I don’t know you,’ the major said, ‘But this is too good an opportunity to miss, and Lewis says I can trust you completely.’

‘As part of my job,’ the major told him, I occasionally have to find somewhere safe for someone to stay under guard for a few days or a few weeks. It can be anyone, good or bad, president or pauper. I have some places I can use, but this one isn’t traceable to me, so it’s perfect.’

‘What I would do is to find someone to take over acting as Mr Clarkson. He would take over the paying of all the bills on the property. Then in the unlikely event that anyone connected to anything I was doing checked up on it, it would just show up as being in the long-term ownership of a local schoolteacher.’

‘So, after I’ve fitted it out with full security, whenever I’m not using it, you can continue to use it. I’ll arrange for the gardens to be looked after, and you can open any mail and let me know if I need to take any action. If you’re agreeable to pop in once a week and check on it, I’ll arrange a payment to you for your trouble.’

‘Thanks, that would be great,’ Danny said, ‘But how will I know if it’s being used. ‘I’ll see you’re informed by text,’ the major said. ‘I’m sure there are students at Uni who’d love to look after the garden.’ Danny said, ‘Do you want me to find someone?’

‘Excellent, yes please. I just want it kept reasonable, so it doesn’t attract attention by becoming derelict looking. Let me know an idea of costs and I’ll see you get funds to pay them.’ The major looked at Danny as another thought occurred to him.’

‘How would you like another job?’ he asked. ‘You become Mr Clarkson’s relative and contact all the relevant people to take over all the payments on the house. I’ll arrange a bank account for you as say, Danny Clarkson. I’ll keep it topped up with funds and you pay the bills.’