“As I am speaking to you now, copies of every document, video and tape recording you are about to see is on its way to the chief of police, the prime minister and every tabloid newspaper editor in this country. We will not be silenced.”
I watched my dad try to move out of his chair again and he was pushed back down by the hoodie. My mum spoke to him, but it didn’t help. He looked ashen-faced, like he was at the gallows about to meet his maker.
“There will be three truths you hear tonight. Listen and listen carefully. Those in power want us gone. They want us weak. They use us. We won’t be used anymore. We will make a stand.”
People dressed in black hoodies like the ones on stage started to ming
le in amongst the crowd, handing out papers to anyone who’d take them. I took one and when I looked down I saw the Morgan Rotherham account my dad had flipped out over, with every transaction listed, some highlighted too.
“The papers you’re looking at are account documents. Evidence of the dirty money that one man has cleaned using our town and the people in it. That man is Mr Alec Winters.”
My dad started to protest, trying to flee this character assassination that he was being forced to witness, but he wasn’t going anywhere. His hooded guardian made sure of that.
“He’s taken companies run by hard-working, honest people, and made them trust in his good name. Convinced them that he’d do what was right for them, for the town we’ve all grown up in. But that never happened. Our upstanding Member of Parliament, Mr Alec Winters, has used each and every one of those businesses to wash his money. To bleed this town dry. You were nothing but a means to an end. A legitimate way he could launder millions.
“And whose money was he cleaning? The scum of the earth. Drug lords. Criminals who run this town and the cities of our country with their filth and corruption. It was easy to point the finger at the delinquent youths of society. To use them as a soundbite for his fucked-up political campaigns. Create a smokescreen that covered the real fire that he’s started. A fire that threatened to destroy this town. Alec Winters is a thief, a liar, a criminal with no remorse. He will try to talk his way out of this, but Mr Winters, the writings on the wall. The accounts with every name in your little black book are out there. We will not be silenced.”
The tension running around the room was palpable. No more whooping and hollering. No more dancing like it was party hour. Everyone was stood staring at the screen like we were all trapped in a horror movie and no one knew what the next move was.
“Shortly, there will be police here to take Mr Winters to his rightful home. A jail cell. Forty-eight square feet with his name written all over it. But we aren’t finished yet. We will be heard. And there are two more truths that you must hear.
“On December sixteenth last year, Danny Winters was tragically killed in a car accident.”
I went cold. Hearing that date and my brother’s name being spoken made my whole body tremble in fear. I felt sick. But I couldn’t leave. I had to know what they were going to say.
“His father told us all it was a case of drunk driving. Even hinted that Danny may have had worse in his system. But this was not the case. Tonight we stand for justice for Danny. Tonight the lies end. If you look at your handouts, you will see that a large sum of money was transferred to a Troy Barker just twenty-four hours after Danny died. We will now play you an audio tape of why that transaction needed to be made. This is our truth.”
The screen went black and then a hissing sound of a phone conversation started to play. The screen in front of us provided the script so we were in no uncertainty about what was being said. I listened and read the transcript with my stomach in knots.
Troy Barker: “Talk.”
Alec Winters: “Oh God. Oh God. I don’t know what to do. Shit. It’s fucking… Oh God, please. Troy. I don’t know what to do.”
Troy Barker: “Calm the fuck down and tell me. What’s happened?”
Alec Winters: “It's bad, Troy. It’s fucking bad.”
Troy Barker: “Just spit it out, Winters. I haven’t got all night. Tell me where you need me, and I’ll be there.”
Alec Winters: “Curborough Lane, just past the bend. You need to come quickly, Troy. I think he’s dead.”
Troy Barker: “Who’s dead? Give me details. I need to know what I’m walking into here.”
Alec Winters: “My son. Danny. I think he’s dead.”
Troy Barker: “I need more than that. Is it a hit?”
Alec Winters: “No. I… Shit. I picked him up… I’d been drinking. Fuck, Troy. I’ve been drinking. This is gonna ruin me. I can’t lose my position.”
My heart ripped open and my legs almost gave way underneath me. I watched as my mum pulled her hand away from my dad’s, wrapping her arms around herself and rocking back and forth. She was crying, and I felt the urge to go to her. But I couldn’t. I had to hear this out. I needed to know it all.
Troy Barker: “So let me get this straight. You picked up your son.”
Alec Winters: “Yes.”
Troy Barker: “In a car.”
Alec Winters: “I used Danny’s car. It was the last one on the drive and I just took it. All the others were boxed in.”