‘The time for bullshit is over,’ he said, forcing her to meet his eye. ‘One, we know Larry was there that night. He just told us. He said that you and he spent the evening having sex.’

‘No way.’

Patrick almost said, ‘Yes way,’ but stopped himself. Instead, he said, ‘Two, and more importantly, we know about the video.’

Alice blanched. ‘What . . . video?’

‘The video starring two pupils at St John’s that you and Larry made. Don’t even bother denying it, Alice. We know. So, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I believe you when you say you aren’t directly responsible for whatever happened to Frankie. Indirectly – well, yes, you are. But that’s not a crime.’

He willed Alice to refrain from crying before he finished. Her lip wobbled and she swallowed several times, but no tears came yet.

‘The bad news is that making and distributing pornographic material featuring minors is an extremely serious crime, one for which you and Larry could face a pretty lengthy prison sentence.’

This was a gamble. Winkler had said he didn’t know how old the kids in the video were.

Alice let out a terrible keening sound and started to sob. ‘No . . . No . . . It’s not fair. I didn’t know how old they were. I didn’t find them, I hardly even know them. I thought they were sixteen.’

‘So it’s all Larry’s doing, is it?’

‘No. He didn’t know them either.’

‘What are you telling me? That they just walked in front of your video camera one day and started getting it on?’

Alice wept into her hands. Janice reached out to comfort her and Alice shrugged her off violently. ‘Get off me!’ But this time she accepted the tissue Janice offered, blowing her nose loudly.

‘It was . . .’ She hesitated. ‘It was Georgia.’

Patrick checked his notes quickly. ‘Georgia Hardy-Wilson? Your best friend?’

‘Yes. She persuaded the kids to do it. She said they’d get a share of the profits. They were, like, a couple of real, you know, chavs. They don’t actually go to our school – she met them on the Kennedy Estate and lent them the uniforms. Jerome knew them. But Georgia told me they were sixteen.’

Patrick believed her. She was just a silly girl, who had got herself mixed up in a stupid scheme. He couldn’t stop the anger burning in his veins, though.

‘So, what, Georgia found the kids and then you and Larry did everything else?’

Alice blew her nose again. ‘No, she was there through the whole thing.’ Her eyes glistened. ‘She was there.’

‘Tell me that again.’

‘She was there that night. At my house.’ And she dissolved into another round of wet, gasping sobs.

Chapter 36

Chapter 36
Georgia – Day 1