was holed up in that cottage and scarcely came out. They’d been there
three days and this was the first time I’d seen her outdoors.
And she had the saddest eyes I’d ever seen.
F raser does text me after we get back from the park. To ask me out. He wants to take me ice skating at the weekend. I’ve been to ice rinks
before and I’m good enough not to make a total fool of myself so I say yes. Maybe he’s one of those boys who don’t like to mix time with his friends with time with the girlfriend.
Is that why he blows hot and cold?
I feel like saying no and telling him to forget it permanently after the way he looked at Katie, but I hardly know anyone in Daneshill who isn’t associated with him and I don’t feel
brave enough at the moment to have no one to talk to in school.
I can live with them leaving me out of stuff away from school because I’ve got my family and it’s not like being left out by my old friends. I don’t feel anything for these
guys. There’s no connection.
I want to open my Facebook account so badly. Just to see their photos again – Tasha and Co. of course, not Dan. But it won’t make it any better. We’re never, ever going
back.
They told me that. This is a forever thing.
Three days after the policewomen visited me in hospital, the doctor pronounced me well enough to be sent home. My head wound was healing and the headaches had stopped. They were still sedating
me at night for the nightmares but no one seemed surprised at that. I was collected by a detective and she took me to a police station just outside London where a man came to meet me and told me he
was the Witness Protection Liaison Officer. ‘Just call me Tim,’ he said, the original name he introduced himself with being something long and unpronounceable that sounded Polish, but
he said it so fast I wasn’t sure. Mum and I nicknamed him Tim W-P eventually, like it stood for a double-barrelled surname or something. He had a nice smile and a face I wanted to trust, and
for the first time since I walked home from my music lesson over a week ago, I felt safe.
‘How’s your head?’
‘OK now, I think.’
‘You’re a very lucky girl. And a very brave one. I hear you put up quite a fight.’
‘I didn’t have much choice. Is there any chance of them being caught?’
‘We’re trying. But you’ve got to understand, these men are working for a powerful group in the criminal world with a lot of connections. That’s why we’ve advised
your parents that the safest option for all of you is to go into witness protection. They’ll stop at nothing to remove a witness who could link them in any way to the Chernokov
kidnapping.’
‘Where are Mum and Dad?’ In retrospect, I wonder why this didn’t freak me out. But after witnessing Katya’s kidnapping and then escaping from an attempted murder, I
didn’t feel very freaked by the idea that the police wanted to keep us
safe
.
‘In a hotel in Norfolk waiting for you. As soon as you can join them, we’ll move you to a holiday cottage in Devon. It’s all arranged. You’ll stay there until we can set
up your new identities, which will probably be January now that Christmas is so close, so your story will be that you’re having an extended family break over the holiday season.’
‘And when the new identities are ready? What does that really mean?’
‘Then you’ll be moved again. Gloucester, we think. We use these short transition moves in the beginning to prevent you being tracked, and the one after Christmas will be for a couple
of months so that you have the chance to get to know a town well enough so that when we do move you on, you can sound as if you came from there. You have to be convincing enough to fool anybody who
knows the place.’
‘Oh.’ It was all getting a bit much to follow. I needed space to think.
‘As to what the new identity means, well, basically you cease to exist as Louisa Drummond. We give you a new name and
three days and this was the first time I’d seen her outdoors.
And she had the saddest eyes I’d ever seen.
F raser does text me after we get back from the park. To ask me out. He wants to take me ice skating at the weekend. I’ve been to ice rinks
before and I’m good enough not to make a total fool of myself so I say yes. Maybe he’s one of those boys who don’t like to mix time with his friends with time with the girlfriend.
Is that why he blows hot and cold?
I feel like saying no and telling him to forget it permanently after the way he looked at Katie, but I hardly know anyone in Daneshill who isn’t associated with him and I don’t feel
brave enough at the moment to have no one to talk to in school.
I can live with them leaving me out of stuff away from school because I’ve got my family and it’s not like being left out by my old friends. I don’t feel anything for these
guys. There’s no connection.
I want to open my Facebook account so badly. Just to see their photos again – Tasha and Co. of course, not Dan. But it won’t make it any better. We’re never, ever going
back.
They told me that. This is a forever thing.
Three days after the policewomen visited me in hospital, the doctor pronounced me well enough to be sent home. My head wound was healing and the headaches had stopped. They were still sedating
me at night for the nightmares but no one seemed surprised at that. I was collected by a detective and she took me to a police station just outside London where a man came to meet me and told me he
was the Witness Protection Liaison Officer. ‘Just call me Tim,’ he said, the original name he introduced himself with being something long and unpronounceable that sounded Polish, but
he said it so fast I wasn’t sure. Mum and I nicknamed him Tim W-P eventually, like it stood for a double-barrelled surname or something. He had a nice smile and a face I wanted to trust, and
for the first time since I walked home from my music lesson over a week ago, I felt safe.
‘How’s your head?’
‘OK now, I think.’
‘You’re a very lucky girl. And a very brave one. I hear you put up quite a fight.’
‘I didn’t have much choice. Is there any chance of them being caught?’
‘We’re trying. But you’ve got to understand, these men are working for a powerful group in the criminal world with a lot of connections. That’s why we’ve advised
your parents that the safest option for all of you is to go into witness protection. They’ll stop at nothing to remove a witness who could link them in any way to the Chernokov
kidnapping.’
‘Where are Mum and Dad?’ In retrospect, I wonder why this didn’t freak me out. But after witnessing Katya’s kidnapping and then escaping from an attempted murder, I
didn’t feel very freaked by the idea that the police wanted to keep us
safe
.
‘In a hotel in Norfolk waiting for you. As soon as you can join them, we’ll move you to a holiday cottage in Devon. It’s all arranged. You’ll stay there until we can set
up your new identities, which will probably be January now that Christmas is so close, so your story will be that you’re having an extended family break over the holiday season.’
‘And when the new identities are ready? What does that really mean?’
‘Then you’ll be moved again. Gloucester, we think. We use these short transition moves in the beginning to prevent you being tracked, and the one after Christmas will be for a couple
of months so that you have the chance to get to know a town well enough so that when we do move you on, you can sound as if you came from there. You have to be convincing enough to fool anybody who
knows the place.’
‘Oh.’ It was all getting a bit much to follow. I needed space to think.
‘As to what the new identity means, well, basically you cease to exist as Louisa Drummond. We give you a new name and
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