Mackay: Four teenagers had set out from their house for a walk in the early evening. Through the residential area, a short cut through the industrial area, then along the river. Coming back, their conversation became just a tiny little bit - robust - shall we say. "So, Mackay, you really didn't have any idea of what Seff was up to?" said Carmen. This was not the first time they had thrashed out this topic. "No, not the slightest. I mean, how could I? He never said a word about Hyacinth, or Rose, and why should we have suspected anything?" "But he was so deceitful! Surely that part of his personality came through in other areas?" "Nope. He seemed as truthful and honest as Handel. Or me, for that matter." "Well, I suppose that is a reasonably high standard..." "Carmen." said Turquoise. In a voice that suggested that, maybe, someone ought to moderate their insinuations just a little bit. The two girls looked at each other; the air crackled briefly with electricity. Carmen folded her arms, looked ahead, and stepped out slightly, getting to the front of their little progression. Jenny and Mackay were amazed. Turquoise really was getting out of her shell. "You know, it reminds me of that book by Evangeline, where the boy was conducting a simultaneous relationship with a boy, and a girl, and their married teacher." said Jenny. "Yes! But, in that book, they all sort of knew what was happening, so it wasn't, technically, cheating." said Turquoise. "But it still didn't stop them from getting into all sorts of trouble. Quite entertaining, in a watching-a-train-wreck-happening sort of way." said Jenny. "Err, who is this Evangeline, again?" said Mackay. "Oh, she's that author who writes about school kids and romance and stuff, but all from an LGBT perspective." said Carmen. "Personally I feel no need to read such soap opera stuff. I mean, even if I do fit the L part, I still do not see why I should. And she doesn't even write very well." she continued. "Rubbish! Her books are very well written. Just because you don't like that sort of story does not mean you should be so critical!" said Turquoise. Carmen stamped her foot. "Now even Turquoise is against me! I'm going ahead!" Walking fast, she stormed ahead, like a power walker at the Olympics. She turned the corner disappeared behind a factory. "Oh" said Turquoise, coming to a halt. The others stopped also. "It's all right." said Mackay. "We all have these sorts of arguments." Jenny jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. "Don't we know it, hey?" Carmen: After galloping around the corner and losing sight of the others, Carmen had slowed down. Turquoise was so much more agreeable when we first met. She slowed down some more. But, I suppose, that was when she was still shell shocked from you know what. But she doesn't have to make such digs at me! Although, I suppose some of the comments I've made about Mackay have been far worse... Sigh. Perhaps the more she regains her normal personality, the more independent in her opinions she becomes? Relationships really are hard. Dragging her feet despondently, she made slow headway. Only to be startled into stopping, by a commotion happening just ahead. A man was arguing with a woman. He was a big man and loomed over the woman. Carmen scuffed her shoes on the pavement. Should she turn and run? But then she would be running back to the others. Kind of embarrassing. So she stayed where she was for the time being. "Hey! I'm on a mission from God to reclaim you girls!" he said. He was slurring his words and waving his arms around. "You are also stinking drunk, and last time you refused to pay. Also, it is a funny way to reclaim us. If you don't disappear I'll call the bouncer!" In fact, where was the bouncer? The lady looked back at the building they were standing in front of. The door was open, but no one was visible. By now, Carmen had seen the sign above the door. "The Hidden Valley" She decided it was time to swallow her pride and make a run for it back to her friends. Unfortunately, the man had just seen her. "Another fallen lady. I shall preach to you instead!" He started towards Carmen. Carmen started trembling and shuffled back. Sadly, she was off course, and backed into a low wall and ending up sitting down with a considerable lack of dignity. But I don't want to be preached at by him! She was picking up some nasty vibes. "Hey! Leave her alone! She's just some school girl out for a walk!" said the woman. She scrambled after the man and tried to hold him back. "Be gone, sinner Molly! It is my duty to reclaim innocent girls!" He brushed her off and she staggered and fell into the garden bed. Carmen was getting the distinct impression that his idea of reclaiming had nothing to do with the word's normal meaning. She was also realising that he was extremely drunk. His shadow fell over her and the alcoholic fumes he was breathing out made Carmen gag. His face was unshaved, his eyes bloodshot, his smile was weirdly distorted. His hand opened and moved towards her, Carmen could do nothing but watch his thick and ugly fingers approaching... "Leave her alone!" Mackay, panting hard after having sprinted around the corner, grabbed that hand and thrust it back. The man, shocked at being stymied in his evangelical endeavours, swatted Mackay and pushed him up against the trunk of a nearby tree. There was an audible thump as Mackay's back hit the tree; he ended up standing there, winded and not responding. The man, still furious, clenched his fist and wound himself up for a full power punch, with his entire body weight behind it. Two girls running up to him, and one girl getting up from a sitting position, acted as one. They grabbed hold of his arm and pulled back. "Arrgh!" he screamed. And tried to pull forward. There was a stalemate, with Mackay, still dazed from hitting the tree, watching this and slowly working out that things could get very dangerous to the girls when the man finally got his act together. He had better do something... Fortunately, at this stage the bouncer finally arrived. He must have done a lot of bodybuilding, since he was even bigger than the man, and not a sign of any fat. He wrapped his arms around the man, picked him up and dropped him on the ground, then sat on him. Not very dignified, but very effective. "Bloody hell, what took you so long?" said Molly, who was now standing. There was blood dripping down her arm, she was badly scratched. "Ah, sorry, I was sitting on the toilet. You know, I'm still not quite recovered from that flu." said the bouncer. "Jeez, what a nuisance." said Molly. Later that evening, at home. "My dear, I'm really glad everything ended well, but, perhaps in future, you don't get separated from the others?" said Charlie. "And, perhaps, don't cut through the industrial area at that location?" said Catalina. "But at least Turquoise remembered to ring the police." said Janet, "Actually the bouncer did also, but Turquoise's message got to us first." "It gave me quite a shock to see Carmen in the middle of it all." said Charlie. "Sorry, dad." said Carmen, "But at least we demonstrated that three girls can beat one man. At least for a short period of time." "Hmm, I think that bouncer played an important part as well." said Jenny. "Yeah, I suppose so." said Carmen. Reluctantly. "Also, I hate to bring this up, but, well, Mackay, you do need to be careful, you know. After all, the lives of two girls depend upon you." said Jiro. "Sorry, Jiro. I know. It was one of those pathological situations where any choice of action could be equally bad. I just can't help myself." said Mackay. "That's a serious burden you carry. But at least I can't fault your character." said Janet. Nods of agreement from three girls. Molly: Molly had gone home early; fortunately, one of her housemates was already there. "Here, Molly, just sit there and I'll bandage it up for you." she said, "And, what happened to the creepy preacher?" "The police carted him off, plus took copies of the security camera footage. Hopefully neither of us will have to be subject to his 'preaching' ever again." said Molly. "Now that's a relief!" Sigh. "I just wish I was qualified for some other sort of job." said Molly. "Why not become a politician? The skill set has some overlap, you know." said the housemate. They were both able to have a bit of a laugh at this weak joke. Daisy: The next morning. Daisy had been reading the latest news on her mobile. "Mum, dad, you know that preacher from our church, the one that is always preaching that I'm a fallen woman and will go straight to hell?" "Err, Daisy." said mum, without much energy. "Well, he's been arrested for attacking a teenage school girl, and attempting to bash up a boy, and what's more he was trying to force his way into a brothel and managed to also assault one of the workers. Apparently he was a regular customer and was always preaching to them." "Huh?" said dad. "So let's give up on that church and go to the nice one that I've already told you about, Ok?" So that Sunday, Daisy stood between her mother and father, holding their hands and singing hymns at the Church of the Fields. For once, she had enjoyed the sermon. Not a single mention of hell fire, nor of fallen women. She wished that she could have had Seff by her side also. But, that was never going to happen, anyway, was it? Janet: Back to the time that Inspector Parker and co were investigating the three prime suspects "Secondly, we have Father Joshi. There is no problem with his locations, but, what is of interest is that he holds fully encrypted communications with some third party or parties. Files are exchanged on a regular basis. We have managed to subpoena his backup server and look at his backups. Plenty of normal stuff, but also many fully encrypted files. We can't be completely sure, but we don't think it is the usual stuff like emails and their backups and what have you." "It wouldn't be the first time that a man of the cloth was caught exchanging pornographic images, would it?" said Parker. "But, he doesn't strike me as that type..." said Janet, "Not that my vague impression counts at the moment." Charlie made an exaggerated display of annoyance. "So, we will have to call him in, also, and see what he is up to." "It's probably something totally innocent like pictures of cute kittens and puppies, or something." said Parker, "But, yes, if Janet can make the arrangements?" Father Joshi went pale. Literally. Parker and Janet were impressed at how white his face went. "Oh, you actually suspect me of, of, doing that sort of things to anyone, let alone innocent teenagers..." Parker provided some smoothing words. "It's just routine investigation. There are a number of adults who are known to be at the various sites and we just have to go through them and check them off." "Ok, I suppose that makes sense." After some routine questions, Janet came to the subject that was of interest to the police. "And, by the way, what's in the encrypted files you send and receive on your computer?" "Ah, Oh, those. You mean my writing?" "Writing?" "Yes. I write novels under the name of Evangeline. I try to keep my novel writing life separate from my life as a pastor at a high school. It was one of the conditions of my superiors in my church. When I informed them about what I was doing, they dithered around and couldn't quite make up their mind what to think about it." Joshi paused, and then added in a reluctant voice. "Of course, as a priest, I get all of my expenses paid, so income from the sale of my novels goes straight to the church. And, as the royalties have risen, their hostility towards my writing has dropped. I guess they're not perfect, either." "Err, I still don't get it. Why should your superiors object to you writing novels?" said Parker. "Hah! I know!" said Janet. "My daughter reads his books, and she often talks to me about them. The novels are all about high school kids and their problems, all woven into some exciting, larger than life, story line, with a dash of fantasy thrown in for good measure. Evil occurs, but good triumphs eventually. And there is LGBT themes thrown in for good measure. And, what's more, while the characters in the stories suffer the consequences of their actions, the story is never sacrificed for any preaching or moralising." "I see, I think." said Parker. "Hey, that's a good summary of my work." said Joshi. "Just out of interest, why did you end up writing such novels?" said Janet. "Why? Well, then, yes." said Joshi. "I was once a young and earnest novice priest, working as the pastor at another school. And, students, some students, would come to me with their worries. And I would do my best with a bit of preaching and admonishments to work harder at being good. And I thought I was doing well. Until one of those students, who was confused about their sexuality, went and committed suicide." "Right. Us police sometimes have similar experiences." said Parker. "Yeah. From that point on I have striven to become worthy of such encounters, to actually be able to help such troubled kids, and not just sprout platitudes. And, after a decade of so, I realised that I had accumulated enough war stories to be able to start writing about them. It helped that I was always interested in writing, anyway." After some more questioning, Joshi was thanked and shown out. He had already volunteered his current password. "Another waste of time." said Parker, "But, nonetheless, we will have to check his files, just to be on the safe side. He gave that job to Janet. She spent half a day going through endless drafts of a dozen novels. "Amazing how much the early versions of a novel sucks." was her summary. And finally, with a certain amount of exasperation, they got around to doing a detailed investigation of Daskalov. "Ok, and what did you investigators uncover about Daskalov? Is he a secret author of subversive tracts which he distributes to students? Does he have a harem tucked away in some suburban house?" said Parker. The chief investigator, who by now had some idea about Parker's character, ignored the sarcasm. "Sadly, those are the sorts of questions we will have to ask him. What we do know is all in the report," He waved a thick wad of paper around. "Which, of course, is all in the computer system. Anyway, Daskalov's trick is to vanish every three or four weekends. His cell phone stays at home, there is no usage of his credit cards, his car remains in his carport, and there are no reservations in his name anywhere that we can find. He's not at home and we don't know where he goes to, or how." "Oh, it should also be noted that Daskalov is unmarried and lives alone in his house." Sigh. "Even if he does have his own secret harem, it's still probably none of our business. Oh well, call him in for a discussion." Janet agreed. "You actually suspect me of having something to do with that attempted?" said Daskalov, giving them a look of utter contempt and disdain. "I spend my professional life trying to build up their education and help turn them into worthwhile members of society, and this is what I get. It's a bit disgusting, actually." Parker put on his best diplomatic demeanour and did his best to soothe the ruffled feathers. "Sorry, it's all just part of our routine police investigations. We need to go through the list of people that were at various places and do our best to eliminate all the unlikely ones." "Ok, Ok, I get it. So, what, specifically, do you want to ask me?" Parker cleared his throat. "Well, the main question is, where do you go to on your weekends away?" "Oh, that." Daskalov laughed. "I would prefer to keep it a secret from the school, but, I'm a member of a social nudist club. I get picked up by some other members and we spend the weekend at the nudist club's holiday chalets in the country side." There was a long, drawn out, uncomfortable silence from the police officers present. "That's all, huh?” said Parker. There were some more, routine questions, and then Daskalov was let go. "Charlie, you can go and interview the club president." said Parker. "What a waste of effort." said Janet. "We have gained nothing from our interviews of our three suspects." said Charlie. Later on, Janet was noticeably grumpy at the evening meal, and left early to hole up in her home office. "Don't mind her, kids, she gets like that occasionally." said Jiro. Four Teenagers: It was now just over three weeks before the end of term. "Mum, I'm beginning to get a bit nervous about the end of term festival." said Jenny. "Just a bit nervous? I'm glad to hear it, since we're getting a lot nervous." said Janet. "Ah, do you mean you and Jiro, or all of the parents, or the police?" said Mackay. "All of the above." said Janet. "So, we're actually thinking of keeping you at home on that Friday. All of you. Oh, and also Daisy and Hyacinth." said Charlie. In past years, Mackay had enjoyed the last day. So had Carmen. But... "Yeah, I guess we have no choice." said Mackay. "And for time being, stick together even more than usual, Ok?" said Janet. The next morning the four made their lunches with the food provided by Janet, and set off for school. Of course, by now they were no longer making even the slightest attempt to hide their association with each other. Arm in arm, Mackay and Jenny strolled up to their lockers, and put their lunches and notes in them. Closely followed by Turquoise and Carmen, hand in hand. "It's still annoying, knowing that certain boys are ogling us with you know what thoughts in their heads." said Turquoise to Carmen. "Well, it's not like it's really any different for any other girl, is it?" said Carmen. Jenny overheard this. "That's right; it's one of our burdens. Isn't it?" She gave Mackay a pointed look. "Yeah, I guess I have been as guilty of that in the past as much as any other boy." At lunchtime, they all gathered together in the school ref. Sitting in row, in their usual order. However, Carmen and Mackay refrained from sitting all too close to each other as much as they normally do at home. It was too embarrassing, even if many of the school kids knew of their circumstances. They would only do it occasionally. Handel and Harmony sat down opposite them. "My my, Isn't Mackay lucky, sitting in the middle of three girls." said Harmony. She had gotten over her mistrust of Mackay, but she still enjoyed pointing out the situation. "Well..." said Mackay. "I don't know about that, he is totally owned by them, remember?" said Handel. "Hmm, I suppose that makes it all right. Well, better." said Harmony. Mackay did not hear this last bit. He was staring at the contents of his now opened lunch box. "Well, aren't you going to start eating...? Oh." said Jenny. She too stared at the contents. "Sorry?" said Harmony, "So what's so interesting - ah, what is that small purple plastic thingy amongst your food?" Carmen, who had been more interested in watching Turquoise, turned her head to look. "Arrgh!" The purple plastic thingy was a fully sealed sachet containing one of those poisonous purple capsules. There was a certain amount of confusion. After all, no matter how hard Mackay tried, the other students were not really going to take much notice of him, were they? Fortunately Turquoise had rang Janet and managed to convey a garbled account of what was happening. Janet rang the school administration office, and the office workers started contacting teachers on their mobiles. Daskalov was the first through the door. "Right, all students please leave the room immediately!" He was closely followed by Gagnon, who had been wearily checking yet another case of graffiti. The students watched from a safe distance as the fire brigade turned up, and as someone fully enclosed up in a Class A hazmat suit went inside the ref. She came out holding Mackay's lunch box, and carefully put it into an airtight box. It was taken away for testing. She went back, and checked all of the other lunch boxes on the same table, just in case. "Nyah, all clear." she said. The excitement over, Gagnon gave a little speech warning the students about what they should be looking out for. But they were not allowed back in. So there were a lot of hungry students in the afternoon's school classes. But when the news leaked out about what was in Mackay's lunch box, even the hungriest and most belligerent of students did not feel any further need for complaining. For a while, there were a lot police at the school. Janet was in charge. "You two go and interview everyone who was sitting at the table with Mackay." "Put the forensic tent over there." "Examine the table and the floor under it. Also find the lockers of those kids, and take more samples." "By the way, vice principle, who has access to the master keys for the lockers?" "Ah, well, I suppose everyone who has access to staff room?" "Oh, right. You really need a bit more security in future, hmm?" "I guess you're right." "Oh, Father Joshi, we want to interview you also..." Late that afternoon, there was an initial meeting in the police station. "So, what's the news from the company that uses those purple horrors?" said Parker. "Yes, it's definitely one of those. Nothing happened this time, since it was still safely in its sachet." said one of the investigators. "So what the hell does this mean!" said Charlie, as he bashed the side of his fist onto a nearby innocent bench top. Cups sitting on it rattled. "They could have all died! Jenny and the others, even other students!" said Janet, as she grabbed Parker's lapel, "You had better do something about this!" "Ah." She stopped, released his shirt and stepped back. She took a deep breath. "Ah, sorry about that." "Fine, fine, it's perfectly understandable." said Parker. He brushed off his shirtfront and straightened his collar. "I can only think that this wasn't an actual attempt murder, but a warning." There was silence, only broken by the sounds of Charlie and Janet sitting down heavily in their seats. "A warning. You mean, to Jenny, because she told people about her rape?" said Janet. "Yes. I guess." "So, so, that implies, that implies, that he intends to take action directly against Jenny in the near future?" said Janet. "Well, I can't think about any other reason why..." said Parker. His audience composed themselves and started planning. That evening. All six parents were present, as well as the four teenagers. "Right, you lot. In the last week of school, you're all grounded. You're staying home, and at least two parents will always be present. And from now on, up until the last week, you go to and from school in one of our cars. And you don't stay more than an hour at school after the classes finish. And you always stick together. If one of you wants to go to the toilet, all of the others will wait outside, Ok? And never ever go off by yourselves! And we intend to have various police officers tracking you. Although most of the time they will be plains clothed police officers who will be pretending to be someone else. Is that clear!" said Janet, in her best commanding voice, as she stood over that table and thumped it in cadence with her speech. "Y-Yes sir!" said Mackay. "Yes mum!" said Jenny. "Ah, yes", "Yes, yes" said Turquoise and Carmen. "Good." Janet sagged and collapsed into her chair. She put her heads in her hands. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to be so mean. But, you know, to go through all of what we've gone through, and to still have Jenny, and the others, die, is just too much to even think about." "That's Ok, mum." said Jenny, speaking for all four of them. Janet: Very late that night. Janet and Jiro hugged each other as they lay in their bed. "It's become a lot worse, hasn't it? Before we were only concerned about Jenny, but now we love all four of them." said Jiro. "Yes. Damn that monster!" She forced herself to go to sleep. She knew that, even if tomorrow was Saturday, it was going to be a very long day at the office. On Sunday, representatives from the police met with the school board and the principles at an emergency meeting. "In conclusion, we can only assume that he is going to be making some sort of move, and he could well be targeting Jenny. So therefore, we all need to ramp up the security over the next few days and maintain it until the end of term." said Parker. No one from the school dared to disagree. Although one did have the courage to ask: "But why did he give such a blatantly obvious warning of his intentions? You would almost think he wants you to catch him." Parker rolled his eyes. "Who knows? Probably he is thumbing his nose at us, and all the while being supremely confident in his ability to avoid being captured." Janet added her bit. "We will catch him. He can't avoid the full might of the police force for an indefinite period of time. We will definitely catch the bastard. The only doubt is how soon. And how much damage he might do in the meanwhile." With that, the school board had to be content. Sunday evening. There were four anxious teenagers in a row at dinnertime. "Anything could happen at any time, right?" said Carmen. "Of course. And the closer in time it is to the end of term, the higher the probability." said Janet. "So, for the next day or two we should train ourselves to be as cautious as possible, and as defensive as possible." said Mackay. "Yes." Mackay was aware that Jenny was gripping his arm tightly. Jenny, it's starting to hurt..." "Oh, sorry, sorry." "This is all such a painful nightmare." said Carmen.” Mackay: And that night, Mackay had another visitation. "Hello Mackay. I just want to say one thing; make a request to Janet that Tanner's dad be involved."