Girl Alone: Joss came home from school to discover her father’s suicide. Angry and hurting, she’s out of control. by Cathy Glass Page B

sex.
    ‘Joss, you went to your mother’s. You were supposed to come straight home after, not go to Chelsea’s flat.’
    ‘But I wanted to see Zach. He’s my boyfriend. I knew you wouldn’t let me.’
    ‘For good reason. How old is he – twenty-three?’
    ‘Twenty-two. He’s Chelsea’s uncle,’ Joss said, as though that made it all right.
    ‘And you are thirteen, Joss. Who was the other man?’
    ‘Zach’s friend. Chelsea’s boyfriend.’
    ‘Does he have a name?’
    ‘Carl,’ Joss said.
    ‘And their surnames?’ I wanted to find out as much as possible about them.
    ‘Don’t know.’
    ‘Are these the men you’ve been seen with at school?’ I asked.
    Joss gave a reluctant nod. I continued to look at her, trying to work out how I could begin to make her see the danger she was placing herself in.
    ‘We weren’t doing anything,’ she said again. ‘Zach respects me. He treats me nice.’
    ‘Joss, it didn’t look like that to me. The place reeked of cannabis and clearly you were all drinking. When I came in he was groping you on the sofa – I don’t call that respectful.’
    She shrugged dismissively.
    ‘Does Chelsea really live in that flat?’
    ‘Yeah. Can we go now? I’ve got to do my homework before I can go out tonight.’
    I looked at her aghast. ‘You’re not going out tonight.’
    ‘I’m allowed to! It’s Saturday!’ she shouted.
    I started the engine and pulled away.
    ‘Joss, it would be completely irresponsible of me to let you go out this evening now that I’ve seen what’s going on at Chelsea’s flat with those two men. I want to speak to your social worker first, on Monday.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘To see how best to keep you safe. Who else lives in that flat?’
    ‘Dunno. Chelsea’s dad, and some of his friends, I guess.’
    ‘And Zach?’ I asked as I drove.
    ‘Sometimes.’
    ‘Where’s Chelsea’s mother? Do you know?’ I navigated the traffic.
    ‘She left years ago.’
    ‘I’m sorry to hear that. Who was upstairs with the television on?’
    ‘Her dad. He never gets up until evening. He’s a lazy sod.’ Joss gave a little laugh.
    I didn’t think it was funny. ‘So he knew that you and Chelsea – two underage girls, one of whom is his daughter – were downstairs smoking drugs and drinking alcohol?’
    ‘He doesn’t mind,’ Joss said. ‘He’s cool. He smokes and drinks too.’ As if that made it all right!
    ‘It’s not cool, Joss,’ I said, pulling up to the traffic lights. ‘It’s completely irresponsible. I appreciate you and Chelsea can’t see the danger, but he should be able to. He’s an adult and her father.’
    ‘I don’t care what you think,’ she said. ‘I like him. He’s my friend.’
    I was even more worried now than I had been before when I’d believed Joss had been on the streets with friends more her own age. She’d got into trouble with them, but what I’d discovered this afternoon raised my concerns to a whole new level. Not only was Joss placing herself in an unsafe situation by going to that flat with those men and smoking and drinking, but also Chelsea appeared to be living with it on a daily basis. I would telephone Amelia first thing on Monday to inform her of what I’d found and discuss what could be done to better protect Joss (and Chelsea). I would be pushing for Joss to stay in more.
    The rest of the journey continued in silence, with Joss staring straight ahead, clearly very annoyed with me. Once home she stomped up to her bedroom, and then she stomped back down again a few minutes later and joined Paula in the garden. I took the opportunity to telephone Linda as I’d promised. Eric answered and said that Linda had popped to the local shops and would be back in about half an hour.
    ‘Could you tell Linda I’ve found Joss,’ I said. ‘She was at Chelsea’s.’
    ‘That is good news,’ Eric said. ‘Our Joss can be a little minx sometimes. I hope you punish her.’
    ‘She’ll be staying in tonight,’ I said.