Katie had tears in her eyes as she carried on talking. Speaking about what had happened was extremely difficult for her, but she was determined to tell Frankie, she wanted her to know the truth. ‘My sister started to date Jed properly when she was sixteen. My mum wasn’t happy; she didn’t trust Jed, and she hated his mum, Alice. My mum was a real lady compared to most travelling women. She never swore or drank and she kept herself to herself. Anyway, one night Jed and his cousin Sammy took me and my sister over to Tilbury in the truck. Jed’s dad had a trailer there and he said we were going to a party. Me and my sister thought loads of other people would be there, but when we got there, it was just the four of us. The trailer was on an old scrapyard in the middle of nowhere, so there was no way we could escape.’

Frankie felt tears running down her own face as memories of her mum infiltrated her mind.

‘Are you OK?’ Katie asked, squeezing her hand.

‘My mum died at that trailer,’ Frankie whispered.

‘I’m so sorry, perhaps I shouldn’t tell you any more. I really didn’t mean to upset you,’ Katie said apologetically.

Frankie wiped her eyes with the cuff of her sweatshirt. ‘I’m OK now. You carry on.’

‘Me and my sister were both virgins. Outsiders always think that travelling girls are slags, but nothing could be further from the truth. We do tend to get married young, but that’s because we are taught never to sleep with a boy until we have a ring on our finger. Travelling boys all sleep around, but that’s why they go out with gorjer girls, ’cause they can’t get what they want off us. Being a virgin on your wedding night is a must for a travelling girl.’

‘Really?’ Frankie asked, surprised. She’d always thought that travelling girls were tarts and was shocked by how little she really knew about them.

‘Honest, it’s classed as a sin to have sex before marriage in our community. Anyway, going back to that night, Jed and Sammy tried to get us drunk on vodka. Me and Debs weren’t big drinkers, but we drank quite a bit just to be polite. We were quite enjoying ourselves until Jed dragged Debs into the bedroom and left me with Sammy.’

Frankie immediately knew the outcome of the story. ‘You don’t have to tell me no more. I can guess the rest. Jed raped your sister, didn’t he?’

Katie nodded tearfully. ‘I remember my sister’s screams as though it were yesterday. I begged Sammy to do something to stop Jed hurting her, but he laughed and then did the same to me.’

‘What, Sammy raped you as well?’ Frankie asked, horrified.