The double-hanging on the Millennium Bridge tips The People of Choice page over 100,000 followers. The majority are based in the UK but believers and haters all over the world are clicking their like buttons and joining the discussion.

There have been instances across Europe and North America, Japan and Australia. It’s possible for the page administrator to run the figures on how many countries are involved in dialogue about the cult, the same person could respond to some of the messages. Not as themselves, not opening up their identity as the invisible leader, but as the collective voice for The People of Choice.

But that can’t happen. The page was set up more than four years ago under a fake account, which is dead and unused. It’s not hard to set up an account under a name that isn’t real, on a public computer in a cafe or library, then create a page for people to follow and never return again. Never log in from a different Internet location. Never have a sneak peek from your phone.

Just leave it.

Wait.

The Branch Davidians page only has 197 followers. And it’s clear who runs it.

The Peoples Temple has 910 followers. That’s eight fewer than the amount of people who died in Jonestown.

The Charles Manson Official Music page has up to 15,000 subscribers. Charles, you were better at the guitar than getting away with murder.

Understanding Bundy: 22,000.

Scientology: 662,000.

This is what people are judged on now. This is their impact, their contribution. They all just want to be liked. They want to be followed. Everything is a cult now. Everyone is a leader.

The leader of The People of Choice doesn’t care about followers. They are the other people. They are there to promote the brand and validate the cult. That’s as far as it goes. Other people ruin things. They get in the way.

The only number he cares about is the 238 people that Harold Shipman killed.

After Millennium Bridge, he’s only three behind.

73

There’s a drawing pin pushed into the Millennium Bridge. Not in the centre, a little closer to the South Bank, that’s where they jumped. A piece of red string is wrapped around the pin, one end is fastened to the left, and one to the right. To the right, Old Levant scribbles the word student. That’s what it said on the news. To left he writes three question marks.

???

He hears Ergo scratching around at the door.