Catwalk Criminal by Sarah Sky

department tells me you placed the entire school and its contents – including personal information about every pupil in year eleven – on eBay with an opening bid of one pence.”
    She stared at her dad in stunned silence. The hack on the school was about the time she’d used his computer to log on to the MI6 account. This had to be the work of The Collective. The hackers had seized the opportunity to attack their home software and get her into trouble.
    â€œDid you find your exploits amusing?” Mr Reynolds continued. “Because I can assure you I didn’t. Neither did any members of my staff. Teachers have already received telephone calls and email correspondence from the dating website.”
    â€œI can personally assure you that Jessica had nothing to do with this,” her dad began.
    â€œOur IT department traced the thread to her Facebook account, where she also posted about her exploits. For example, I’m told this went up at four a.m. today.” Mr Reynolds picked up a piece of paper from his desk. “‘Check out the website www.oapsneedlove2 – Hatchet Hatcham might find his soul mate. Not. Jessica ;)’.”
    She barely used Facebook now she had WhatsApp and Snapchat and she definitely hadn’t targeted her least favourite teacher at school. The message had been posted shortly after she’d returned from the botched raid at the International High School. Was LibertyCrossing exacting revenge after she’d rescued Henry Murray from the blaze? His attacker must have hoped he’d succumb to smoke inhalation after clobbering him with the baseball bat.
    â€œI didn’t write that.”
    â€œReally?” Mr Reynolds continued. “How about this letter, which was sent to the parents of every pupil at this school from your email account at four thirty a.m.?”
    Jessica groaned inwardly. “What did it say?”
    â€œYou’re insisting on keeping up with this pretence?” He gave her a withering look and read from the piece of paper.
    â€œâ€˜Dear Parent,
    I wish to inform you that school is shut today. Don’t bother sending your little brats because I won’t let them in.
    Yours insincerely,
    your miserable head teacher,
    Richard Reynolds’.”
    â€œAgain, it wasn’t me.” Jessica felt her face redden further. She must be puce by now.
    â€œThen how do you explain what’s happened?”
    â€œI think someone hacked into my dad’s home computer yesterday. They must have gained control of my email and Facebook accounts and set me up.”
    â€œDo you really expect me to believe that someone would go to such great lengths to get you into trouble?”
    â€œYes, I do,” she said simply. “And it’s—”
    â€œJessica!” her dad barked.
    She glared at him. Did he think she was that stupid? She wasn’t going to blurt out about the latest Westwood case.
    â€œJessica’s telling the truth about problems we’ve been having with our home computer,” her dad said. “I’ve checked with my bank. My account was definitely hacked into and funds frozen. I can get you a statement from their internet fraud department, which will verify that. I’d also like to employ the services of an independent IT professional who can examine the school’s equipment and our home computer. That way, we can get to the bottom of this unfortunate matter.”
    â€œThank you,” Mr Reynolds said stiffly. “That sounds like the most reasonable course of action to take. In the meantime, though, I’m afraid I have no option but to suspend Jessica until this incident has been thoroughly investigated.”
    â€œIs that necessary? I’m confident my daughter will be cleared within days.”
    â€œIf so, she will be welcomed back. Until then, I cannot have her on the premises. No member of staff will agree to teach her after what’s happened and I