“I have absolutely no idea what you’re on about. My car was collected. It’s been fixed. No bloody prank calls were made.”
“Language, Emily!” my mother scolded. “She’s right, though. Emily actually sorted it all out herself.” Mum said it like I’d organised some mammoth feat. It was a broken-down car for God’s sake.
“Whatever. I’m not a kid. I don’t do prank calls. Give me some credit.”
“It’s probably an oversight on their part,” Dad replied, not wanting to give any more time or effort to something which was obviously insignificant in his life. “You can’t get good staff these days.”
I plonked myself down onto the sofa and let them wander off, caught up in their own little world. I wanted to ask my dad about the account Ryan had questioned me on, but now wasn’t the right time. I didn’t have to wait too long though. About two hours later, my dad was in his study going over his post and emails, so I let myself in and closed the door quietly behind me.
“Something I can help you with?” he said, looking over his glasses at me. I felt like I was in the headmaster’s office. I wasn’t comfortable at all, but I was intrigued. I also wasn’t afraid to push myself forward and ask questions I wanted answers to.
“I wanted to ask you about something.” My dad flicked his hand and motioned for me to sit down in the chair in front of his desk, but he carried on reading something on his computer screen like I wasn’t there. “I heard something and I… I thought you could tell me what it is.” I didn’t even know what I was asking about. So, I decided to jump in at the deep end. “What’s the Rotherham account?”
My dad’s head jerked towards me and the fear in his eyes burned like flames from hell, and then, as if a switch had been flicked in his brain, he masked the fear with suspicion, throwing daggers of distrust my way.
“Where did you hear that name?”
I stuttered and shook my head. “I heard someone mention it.”
“Who? Tell me? Where the fuck did you hear that name?” The fact my whiter-than-white father was swearing told me everything I needed to know. He was pissed.
“Maybe one of your campaign managers or P.R. people mentioned it? I don’t know. What is it, Dad?”
“It’s nothing. Nothing for you to be delving into.” He narrowed his gaze at me in an accusatory manner. “Have you been going through my things? Did you come in here while I was gone? I swear to God, if you’ve been meddling in things that don
’t concern you…”
The guilt painted all over his face made me even more curious to find out what the hell was going on.
“I haven’t been snooping, if that’s what you think.” I threw a look of disgust his way and pushed myself up out of the chair. “Forget I said anything.”
I wouldn’t forget though. That name had got a reaction from him and I needed to know why. As I reached the door and opened it to leave he called out after me.
“Stay out of business you know nothing about, Emily. And don’t ever say that name in this house again. Do you hear me?”
I nodded, but inside I was primed and raring to go. There was a story there and I was gonna find out what it was.
It was two in the morning, and my house was deadly silent. I creaked the door to my parents’ bedroom open and saw them both asleep. Without making a sound, I crept down to his office and when I got to the door I turned the handle, surprised to find it was unlocked. I went over to his desk and tried a few drawers, but they were all bolted shut. I headed over to his filing cabinets, but again they were closed, and I had no idea where the keys were. The only thing left was his computer. I fired it up and when it asked me for the password I typed in a combination of Danny’s name, mine and then finally my mother’s. Third time lucky. I should’ve known he’d chose my mother’s name for his password. How original.
I opened a few folders, but nothing stood out to me and I had no idea what I was supposed to be looking for. So, I clicked on the search bar and typed in Rotherham. A folder came up straight away and inside were documents, spreadsheets and other information that pertained to some kind of bank account. It appeared to be a foreign account and I didn’t recognise any of the names that’d made deposits or withdrawals. But the amounts were big. Huge. The total on the whole account had more digits than I’d ever seen on a bank statement. Eight figures to be exact. How the hell did my father have access to that kind of money? Was it his money? It obviously wasn’t something he wanted anyone finding out about, especially me.
I grabbed my phone out of my dressing gown pocket and took a few photos of the statements. I had a feeling this was going to be something I’d want to keep evidence of. Definitely something to look into further. Was this money laundering? Or was it something worse? Whatever it was, even the mention of the name had my father spooked. So I knew that could only be bad news for me and my family.
Whatever this was, I knew it was just the tip of the iceberg.
A week later we got the next invite telling us they had us covered, along with coordinates, which after typing them into the Sat Nav, led us to an old Victorian swimming baths. It was due for demolition the following month and signs were plastered all over the security fencing to tell us to stay out. Like that was going to stop anyone once they’d heard the boom of the bass coming from inside. The car park and surrounding area was strewn with cars and bikes, so we knew this wasn’t going to be another exclusive gathering like before. No. They were going all out tonight.
There were no floodlights outside signalling Finn’s whereabouts like before. But the streetlights in this part of town weren’t too bad, so we didn’t have to take our lives into our hands picking our way through the debris to get to the building. Well, unless you countered in the fact that multiple signs told us the site was unsafe and displayed hazard warnings wherever we looked.
“Do you think the building itself is safe for this?” Effy asked, looking around her like she expected someone to jump out at any moment.
“It’ll be fine. They always put those warnings around disused places like this. They want to keep squatters out.” Liv pulled the fencing to the side to let us pass through, then I took over on the other side and held it open for her. Once I let go, the metal pinged back into place.
“Squatters and stoners. How long do you think it’ll be before they shut this party down tonight?” I asked.
Liv shrugged. “On a normal day, I’d say give it an hour. But tonight there’s a local derby across town. City and United. I think the police will be concentrating their resources that way, don’t you? These lads aren’t stupid. They know the best time to strike.”
I felt that familiar tingle of excitement, hearing the music and shouts coming from inside. I also felt trepidation. My intrigue for these four boys was growing by the day, and yet, the closer I got each time I met them, the more confused I became. It was like trying to hold water in your hands or feel the flicker of the flames. You could see it, feel how it affected you, but you couldn’t ever truly understand it, because the minute you thought you had it figured out, it altered, moved, reconfigured, and everything you knew was turned upside down.