Chapter 7: Justice For Oscar

Six o’clock Wednesday night, Mike picked up Danny round the corner from home, then they drove over and picked Oscar up a street away from his home. After introductions, Mike said, ‘I’m just here as a bit of extra muscle. Danny’s in charge.’

They drove up to Lee’s house and knocked on the door. When Lee opened the door, Danny put his hand out, ‘Hello sir,’ he said as he shook hands, ‘I’m Danny a friend of Oscars. This is Mike. I wonder if we could come in and speak to you about your son.’

‘I don’t have a son.’ Lee said much to everyone’s surprise. ‘When Oscar was working here a few weeks ago,’ Danny said, ‘He met an older lad who let himself in with a key.’

‘Oh yes, that would be Grant, my cousin’s lad,’ he said. ‘He’s been lodging with me for a couple of months between flats.’ ‘Is he in at the moment?’ Danny asked. ‘No, he’s not due in for about an hour,’ Lee told them, ‘What is this about.’

‘It’s a very serious matter,’ Danny said, ‘Could we come in and tell you about it in private.’ ‘Ok,’ Lee said, stepping back from the door. ‘Come through into the kitchen,’ he said, ‘We can sit at the table.’

‘I’m glad he’s not your son,’ Danny said, ‘It will make it a bit easier. Oscar is very embarrassed about what happened so I’m speaking for him. When Oscar worked here the other Saturday, you left him on his own to finish what he was doing.’

‘Before he left, the lad we now know as Grant arrived home. When Oscar was about to leave, Grant told him there was another job for him to look at. Oscar had already agreed with you to do other work as he had taken a liking to you. So, he followed Grant upstairs thinking nothing of it.’

‘Grant led him into his bedroom, grabbed hold of him, threatened him with a knife to make him strip off, then raped him.’ As Lee looked at Oscar horrified, Oscar nodded miserably. ‘I’m sure that this is hard for you to comprehend,’ Danny told him, ‘So can I suggest you pop up to Grants room and check in the third dressing table drawer down to see if the knife is still there.’

As Lee got up, Danny said, ‘If it is I suggest you bring it down with you for safety.’ A few minutes later Lee appeared holding the knife. He offered it to Danny who said, ‘Can you put somewhere out of sight for now.’ Lee took it out and when he returned, he said, ‘I’ve put it under the kitchen sink.’

Sitting down again he looked at Oscar. ‘I’m so sorry about what happened.’ he said, ‘I know he’s a bit on the rough side, but I had no idea he was like that. Are you ok?’ he asked, then shuddered as he thought about what had been done to him.

Danny answered for him. ‘Now that the pain has gone and he’s had chance to talk it over with me, he’s coped with it remarkably well. I doubt there will be any long-lasting problem. However, the memory will live with him forever.’ Danny had already warned Oscar that he would be laying on his suffering as thick as he could.

‘Apart from threatening him with violence, and with the knife, Grant took two very embarrassing photos on his phone. He said that if Oscar told anyone what had happened, he would spread them round the internet. We will be looking to delete those this evening.’

Lee sat in silence for several minutes then he said, ‘Now I think about it, his story about losing his flat was a bit iffy, but I had no reason to be suspicious at the time. When he comes in, I think I owe it to him to hear his side of the story. But my inclination is to believe you. In which case I will be throwing him out.’

He looked at Mike, ‘You look like someone who can take care of himself,’ he said, ‘Whereas I’m a bit of a coward. Once I’ve heard him out, could I go out and leave you to it.’ ‘Sure,’ Mike said, ‘Do you want me to evict him for you too.’ ‘Oh, would you.’ Lee said his face lighting up, ‘Thank you.’

‘If you give me your phone number, I’ll text you when we’re leaving.’ Danny said. He entered it in his phone.

Lee looked at Oscar, ‘I can quite understand if you don’t want to come here again,’ he said, ‘But Danny’s got my number. If you ever feel you can come and do more work for me just let me know. Grant will never set foot in here again.’

Oscar smiled at him, ‘I have no quarrel with you,’ he said, ‘It wasn’t your fault. Ring me anytime, I’ll be happy to come.’

Just then they heard a key in the front door. Everyone went silent and Mike got up to stand behind the door. A few minutes later Grant came breezing in, saw Lee, Danny and Oscar sitting there and turned to run.

Mike had stepped up behind him as he came past the door, so he grabbed hold of him. ‘Not so fast,’ he said, ‘We would like a word with you. Search him, Danny.’ he said. Danny came and stood to the side of him and starting at his collar he gave him a thorough search. As he came across anything he took it away and put it on the table.

The end result was his phone, a wallet, a handful of loose coin and another ugly looking small knife out of the back of his sock. Mike frog marched him over to a chair and pushed him into it. ‘You have two choices,’ he said. ‘You can behave and sit still, or I can tie you to the chair. Your choice.’

Grant glared at him but sat quiet. Danny handed the knife to Lee who left the room to hide it with the other one. Everyone sat in silence until he returned. When he was seated, Danny looked at Grant and said, ‘As I’m sure you realise, we are here today because you raped Oscar, a minor.’

‘However, looking into your circumstances I had a word with your previous landlord. Would you like to give us your version of those events?’ ‘It was all lies,’ Grant blustered, ‘I never touched him.’ ‘Did you take a photo of him too?’ Danny asked. ‘No, I didn’t think of doing that at the time.’ he said.

‘So, of all your rapes, is Oscar the youngest?’ Danny asked. ‘I suppose so.’ he grunted. ‘Why did you pick on Oscar?’ he asked. ‘He was here when I came in,’ Grant said, ‘I couldn’t resist.’ ‘What have you done with the photos you took?’ Danny asked. ‘And before you answer that, I will be able to tell from your phone if you’ve sent them anywhere.’

‘I haven’t done anything with them,’ Grant said, ‘I just knew if I had them, he would be scared of them being seen so he wouldn’t tell anyone.’ Then he looked at Oscar and said, ‘But he’s got more guts than I gave him credit for.’

Lee had listened in growing disgust. Grant was clearly making no attempt to deny what he had done. Although Oscar knowing where the knife was in his bedroom had already convinced him, he had half hoped to be proved wrong.

He stood up, ‘I’m going out,’ he said. Then looking at Grant he said, ‘When I come back I expect you to be gone and I never want to see or hear from you again. I’ll also be having a word with your father.’

He shook hands with Mike and Danny saying, ‘It’s been nice to meet you, just a shame it was under these circumstances. Oscar I can never apologise enough for what happened and if there is ever anything I can do to make amends you only have to ask.’ Oscar gave him a smile and a nod.

After they heard the front door close behind Lee, Danny picked up Grants phone and opened it. ‘I’m going to delete the photos you took of Oscar,’ he said. ‘What is your password?’ As he spoke Oscar left the room and headed for the stairs. Grant just glared at Danny saying nothing.

‘You have two choices,’ Danny said. ‘Give me your password and keep your phone, or the only other way I can delete them is by smashing your phone to pieces. I don’t mind either.’ ‘Three-Oh-Three-Six,’ Grant growled.

Danny opened it up and went into Gallery. He soon found Oscars two photos being the last two taken. He deleted them then looked back through the other pictures. There were three similar pictures, all of boys around Oscar’s age and spaced out over two years.

‘You haven’t been very honest with us, have you Grant?’ he said, ‘There were three others before Oscar and no doubt others before that. You are a danger to society.’ Danny sat typing for some time then put the phone back on the table.

Picking up his wallet, he searched through it, finding nothing but cash, a bank card and a letter from the benefits office. He put everything back in the wallet, then picked everything up off the table and put them on the sideboard.

Oscar returned with two black bin bags and an iPad. He passed the iPad to Danny then put all Grants stuff off the sideboard, excepting his front door key, into the bags. Then he took the bags and put them by the front door. Danny opened the iPad and tried the same pass code. It worked so he looked through it. He couldn’t find anything incriminating, but to be sure he did what he had done with the phone, he reset it to its original state knowing that that would wipe out every single thing Grant had ever put in it.