easyeast: Sick! Lisa Stiller?

Habbybln85: Yup. I’ve had her too.

Tao I: She’ll do anything for cash.

sventhebam30: Quality’s shit. Just a blowjob, no fucking? Boooooring.

JoeGeothe: Fuck me, what a slapper. Bi@t€h!

GuestI: Yes, filthy whore. Hate sluts like that.

‘Can this be deleted?’ Julia asked. She felt numbed.

‘Hardly. The server’s in Togo. And even if we locate the provider, which I doubt, it can be found on half a dozen other portals. This shit stays on the web forever.’

‘It’s nonsense. It’s got to go. My daughter doesn’t do things like this. I mean, she’s not a prostitute! It’s… You—’

Tom interrupted her. ‘I’ll say it again: it’s completely irrelevant whether she does these sorts of things or not. Your daughter lives in a world where rumours are stronger than the truth.’

‘How long has this filth been on the internet?’ Julia’s voice was quavering.

‘About six or seven weeks, if the date when the file was uploaded is right. I only discovered it today in the playground when the kids were handing round their mobiles to watch it.’

‘This explains everything!’ Julia said in a fluster.

Her bad marks, why she’s barely eating anything, her ghastly clothes.

She slapped her forehead in anger. ‘And I thought these were the perfectly normal excesses of puberty!’

Or the after-effects of our separation. Or both. But surely not that!

‘You mustn’t blame yourself,’ Tom said, but this wasn’t any comfort. What Max had said when she was awarded custody was right.

I’m not up to it.

Once again she felt helpless. The world around her was teetering; she felt dizzy. No wonder – the carpet had just been pulled out from beneath her feet. Never before had she been so painfully aware that she’d failed as a mother. In every respect.

‘Now do you understand why the two of you have got to get off that boat immediately?’ she heard Tom say.

Yes. Of course. That means…

She was unable to order the thoughts in her head.

‘I’m not sure. I mean, Lisa seems to be happy here, perhaps—’

‘Of course she’s happy!’ Tom protested.

‘—this holiday’s good for her!’

‘No. No way!’

‘Why not? Surely a bit of distraction is exactly the right—’

‘No!’ Tom was almost screaming. At that moment she heard the first bang.

A shot?

Julia jumped and looked at the balcony door. The explosions in the port grew ever more frequent. Behind the curtains the light had changed. Outside there were flickers and flashes.

‘Because I know teenagers who’ve done things to themselves after far less cyberbullying,’ Tom said imploringly.

Suicide?

Julia got up laboriously from the table, yanked open the glass doors to the balcony and stared at the blue-and-gold sea of light in the evening sky from the fireworks shooting into the air to mark their departure.