`Be careful,' said the man. `If she slips there's a thirty-foot drop under her.'

  `She ain't slipping, she's jammed tight as a fish’s arse in there.'

  They argued for a while then another bloke arrived and between them all they pulled me out. I was still bent up like a pretzel, even stretching an ankle was agony. I still wasn't too sure what was real and what wasn't, either. I could finally breathe but it would take time for my muscles to stretch out normally. Someone handed me a bottle of water. I gulped it down. I hadn't realised how thirsty I was. I was hungry too, but first I had some questions to ask.

  `How long was I in there?'

  `Don't know, love. Don't know when you went in.'

  I looked around at the screws. I didn't know what day it was. One of them said I'd been missing since that morning.

  `Before nine last night,' I said. I gave the screw a look. `Before the doors were locked.' Shelby must have been asked if she missed me and she'd lied to them.

  `Shit. Sorry, love. That would make it…let's see…nine and…twenty-one hours.'

  `How did you find me?'

  `Aircon wasn't working properly so we got called in and…well…there you were blocking the system. Lucky too, if you'd moved even a couple of centimetres you would've fallen thirty feet straight down. Would have made a mess of you, that would. Still, didn't happen, so you was lucky.'

  I reckoned if I was lucky I would never have been put in there at all. The nurse from the infirmary came up with a wheelchair which I refused. Between them they got me up and bit by bit I stretched out my legs until I could walk with the help of a couple of the screws.

  As we moved slowly away one of the blokes said softy but still loud enough.

  `They're tough, these kids. That girl could have died in here, but look at her, walking away.'

  I couldn't keep the smile off my face. It was another battle won. I was doing okay.

  They insisted I go to the infirmary. I cringed. First, I'd have to run the gauntlet of the curiosity of everyone in the place who was still breathing. Second, I’d get the third degree from the screws and the administration including the Director.

  One good thing though I probably wouldn't be back in my room until the next morning. Shelby would know I'd been found but would she know I had no idea who or how I got to be jammed in the aircon duct? Right now I bet she was packing shit thinking I'd remember her doing it. The longer that lasted the better.

  The doctor came to the infirmary in spite of me telling everyone that I was just cramped and a hot shower would fix that. He checked me out for needle marks and found one spot on my thigh that might or might not have been from a drug.

  He pulled the nurse and our senior screw, Mrs Felton, over and they had a whisper fest for a while, Felton and the nurse shrugged while the doctor shook his head. They were talking about drugs in the place for sure but the trade kept going no matter what they did.

  The quack came back to me and wagging his finger under my nose told me that, `It's really stupid to take drugs. They'll ruin your life.' Shaking his head he walked out.

  My life hadn't been ruined by drugs because I never took them, particularly the ones he prescribed to all and sundry. The nurse told me that I was lucky because the drug I'd used would have been out of my system by then. That meant, she said, as they had no evidence, I wouldn't be in trouble. I left it at that. Stupid sods. If they thought I put myself in an air-conditioning duct because I was stoned, let them. I had a killer to catch.

  I stayed in the infirmary for the night as I expected and in the morning the Director came in with a folder.

  `I'm glad you've recovered so well. You missed your parents yesterday. They left this for you. They were worried because they said you were very eager to get this information.' She looked at me for a long time, her face softer than I'd seen it before. Then she spoke quietly, `It wasn't just a game gone wrong, was it, Hannah?'

  I ignored the question and reached for the folder. She handed it to me.

  `You read this I suppose?' I said.

  `Yes, I did. I'm wondering what your interest in this case is?'

  `Research.'

  `I hope if you find anything…er…untoward, you'll come to me.'

  `I don't think there'll be anything, ma'am.'

  `But if anything serious…you know where I am.'

  Yeah right. I did too. In her smart office surrounded by security against…us. I didn't live in her world, so she could jam her help right where the sun don't shine.

  When they finally let me out I had to pass through a crowd of prisoners who I knew were desperate to know all the details of my missing hours. If it was interesting enough they'd try it too. A day with all the screws running around like beheaded chooks because of them would be a feather in their cap. Lots of feathers. I'd gained a heap of status which might be lost if I told them I was kidnapped and sent to die in an air-conditioning duct. So I didn't.

  I couldn't see if Shelby was in the crowd. Was she still stewing in our cell or was she behind the crowd once again waiting for someone at admin? Or was she hiding now that her reputation as a gran-basher had come out? If it had. Whatever, she'd keep. I had to go through Shannon's court case. In the library.

  Tony had done himself proud. He'd got hold of newspaper reports and even given me a USB stick with TV reports. It wasn't given a lot of space because the people were just a bunch of kids and not anyone special. Shannon had had court appointed legal representation that Tony described as not up to the job. -The girl should have got off- he wrote. It was the witness who swung it.

  10

  Shelby's full name was Taylor Shelby Hanson. She was fourteen at the time of the trial and was treated with kid gloves because of her age. Shannon's young solicitor sounded as if he was intimidated by Shelby's youth and she would have played it to the hilt. She tried it on with me too. A naive young man would be a sucker for a bad girl like Shelby.

  He hadn't asked her even simple things like why she was in the alley or why hadn't the police found her phone? Shannon had testified about the messages on Greg's phone but it was not at the scene and the lawyer didn't follow that up either. Both phones were missing and the defence lawyer hadn't wondered why?

  Shelby told me she'd seen Shannon stab Greg and then she'd run away. Both Shannon and the police told the court that Shelby was at the scene when the cops arrived. Where were the phones? Shannon was arrested just after Greg died. According to the police she didn't have his or any other phone. They claimed she must have thrown them away, but she needed them to back her story, so why would she do that?

  That meant Shelby must have had them. It didn't say if the police had searched her at the time. Just that she was taken to a hospital shortly after the police arrived because she was hysterical. Yeah, she did a good line in that. That meant she could have stashed the phone in one of those bags they give you for your belongings. She could easily have made sure it wasn't around when the cops came to interview her. Easy peasy for a devious little bitch like her. She'd probably been hiding evidence for years.

  But Shelby had a phone now. Was it the same phone she'd had then? If it was, were those messages still there? And if they were, could they be found now after all this time? Even if I stole the thing I couldn't dig the old stuff out if it. I'd have to ask around and see if any of the girls was a hacker.

  It took me over an hour to get through the stuff Tony had dug up and the videos on the USB stick which included some interviews Shelby did. Talk about playing the innocent baby. It almost made me throw up. I didn't think the media was allowed to talk to child witnesses but since they were paying Shelby had found a way.

  She was a celebrity. Except she didn't boast about it here and that was odd. She even used her middle name instead of the famous one. Was she really afraid of what Shannon might do to her if she exposed her as a killer? Or was she more afraid of what the gang who would then get Shannon on their team might do to her for snitching?

  The shonky stories, the waiting at admin, the blaming of Shannon but only to me were all pointing that way. Would she let something slip when I confronted her? I had to decide when to do that. She wouldn't get me again, so when? After the doors were locked at nine might be good. But before all that I needed to sort out her phone.

  The first thing I wanted to do was to tell Shannon about Shelby's lies and Tony's assessment of her case. But I didn't want to raise any expectations. I needed that phone. I looked for a girl I knew who had a reputation for being good with computers. She was sitting in the lounge area where the big TV was and had her head buried in her phone. I slid into a chair next to her.

  `Megan, do you know anyone who can hack a phone?'

  `That's illegal, Hannah.' We traded grins.

  `Really? But do you know anyone?'

  `I might. What's your problem?'

  `Maybe nothing…but finding some old messages might be a bit too hard for me.'

  `Oh, yeah?'

  `Mmm. If I gave you the phone could you find somebody who could do that kind of thing?'

  `Maybe. What does this person get for doing that?'

  `She just has to ask.'

  `Right, you get the phone, I'll get the hacker.'

  `You're a hero, Megan.'

  She was the hacker of course and we both knew it. It was fun haggling though.

  I kept walking, wondering how I could get hold of Shelby's phone for any length of time. She was a dedicated game player and the only time it was out of her hand was when she was asleep or the phone was on its charger. Both were often around mid-afternoon. That would be my time target. I sniggered to myself. I was sounding like a superhero getting her plan together.

  When I looked up I found I'd wandered to the admin office area. A fat red-haired girl was being escorted out of the infirmary next door. Everyone gets the once over by the doc when they come in. Then they take you to your cell, your new home for however long. Two years for me. Not bad compared with the scars for life for those boys.

  I stood watching this fat girl looking as I guess we all do the first time at least, a combination of scared and defiant. I wanted to reach out and tell her to chill, it wasn't that bad. But I didn't. I'd done as much of that recently as I ever would.

  I turned away to head back to the lounge when I heard the screw say the girl's name. Carly. That was the name of Shelby's friend. The one who was there, then wasn't there that night. If Shelby thought she'd seen anything and it was my bet she had, and this was the right Carly, she was dead meat. I wouldn't let her out of my sight until she was shut inside her cell.

  I kept a respectable distance behind the little group. Two screws and Carly. They stopped at Chloe's old cell. I almost freaked. Was it an omen? Not if I can help it, I thought.

  Carly was looking around nervously rather a lot. She must be aware that Shelby was here. I wondered what her plan was. How she would stay away from her murderous friend. Or would she? Was she not a bystander after all? Was she gone before Shelby did her thing to Greg? Was it all my imagination?

  It was lunchtime by then. I hadn't set eyes on Shelby since she'd tried to kill me so I was looking forward to seeing her reaction. Right now though I took a seat next to Shannon. She nodded but said nothing. I checked around from time to time but I didn't see Shelby. That was fine and I turned my attention back to Shannon. She must have been busting to know about the duct story. I was busting to hear the ones that were circulating too. They were bound to be far more interesting than what really happened.

  After we'd eaten what we could of our stodge we leaned back.

  `Walk in the park,' said Shannon with a grin.

  `Absolutely.'

  It was a fine day and we did a couple of circuits without saying much. Her curiosity was too much for a third so we sat and I told her about being trapped in the duct and about how I thought one of the girls here had done that. I didn't tell her anything about Shelby and my suspicions, or what Tony had thought about her case. It would be too cruel to build any false hopes. If I could nail Shelby that would be soon enough.

  I was in the toilets when I heard the beginning of something bad. It wasn't the first time. The toilets were as useful as the laundry for fights and bullying. I stayed in my cubicle whenever anything blew and I did again. But this time I took note. It was Shelby. She was threatening someone with death. Lots of the kids say stuff like that and you know it's not going to happen. But not with Shelby.

  `You are dead, Carly. Believe it.'

  I stepped out of the cubicle. The fat red-haired girl stood staring at the closing bathroom door. Sweat beaded her forehead and she was stone white and shaking.

  `She means it too, doesn't she?' I spoke. Carly nodded and kept staring straight ahead. I continued. `She tried to kill me yesterday.'

  That caught her attention. `Really? In here? Don't they keep ya safe?' A newbie.

  `Sort of, but there's only a few of them and a lot of us. We have to keep ourselves safe. And we watch each other's backs.' Well, some of us do, but I didn't tell her that. `Why does she want to kill you?'

  `I can't say. Sorry, I gotta go.'

  She fled out the door. I followed her long enough to see her go into her cell and close the door. She was safe for now. It was time to get Shelby.

  I headed back to my cell. Shelby wasn't there, so I climbed onto my bunk and started writing out my whole case against Taylor Shelby Hanson. About ten minutes later she came in. It was the first time we'd been face to face since I was stuffed into the duct.

  I was interested to see how she'd deal with it. I guessed right. Complete ignorance. I let her have her fantasy.

  `I was worried when you weren't there, Hannah. I didn't even know you used. Was it a bet or a dare?'

  I wasn't going to let her take it too far though. `Give it a rest, Shelby, it's all over now.'

  She'd put her phone on its charger and because of her games playing I knew she'd probably run it flat. Our phones were the same brand and model so I needed her out of the room for only a few minutes while I switched them.

  `I wonder if you can do me a favour, Shelby. I'm having some trouble getting around right now. Like from being scrunched up for so long.’ I took a quick look at her face. It stayed completely bland. The little bitch. `Can you get me a drink from the machine?'

  At least she couldn't poison that. As soon as she'd gone I switched the phones. As I thought, hers was nearly out of battery, but Megan could deal with that. I didn't wait for her to come back either. The lounge was closer than the machine, so I ran to it and handed Megan the phone. `About nine months ago, messages to Greg. ASAP. Life and death.'

  `Yesterday, Hannah.'

  I ran back to the lounge door just in time to see Shelby turn into the corridor. I leaned against the doorway looking worn out.

  `I thought I'd meet you halfway. Thanks for that.' Her look was questioning, but she nodded and went back to the cell. I followed slowly. I didn't want to risk her finding out about the switch. When she flopped on her bed to listen to her iPod I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Shelby was set for an hour, maybe more if she dozed off. I hoped against hope Megan didn't need longer than that.

  I didn't know whether Shelby had deleted the messages to Greg, but I bet she hadn't. To a weirdo like her they'd be a sort of trophy. Like serial killers keep. I suddenly wondered if she had any film of her other triumph, the hanging of Chloe just two days ago. Or of me after she shoved me into the duct. But stupid as she was I couldn’t believe even she'd be that stupid.

  When I saw that she'd gone to sleep I headed for the lounge and saw Megan running towards me. She was white-faced and waving Shelby's phone.

  `I've found the texts, Hannah, but look.' Her hand was shaking as she showed me a video. It wasn't of me or Chloe. It showed a man lying on the street. Blood was pouring out of several wounds on his body and his hands were raised in front of him. He was begging, `No, don't, stop, please.' Then a hand with a knife in it slashed down into his neck as Megan's voice, screamed, `Bastard, bastard, you're mine, you filthy shit!' Blood spurted out of his neck and he fell back and lay still.

  In the background stood the fat red-headed girl, Carly, with a look of utter horror on her face. The camera moved closer to her and she turned and ran. The camera stayed still and the bloody hand reached down and picked up a blood covered phone. Shelby then reversed the camera to take a selfie. She was smiling and said, `That'll teach you to dump me, arsehole.' The video stopped.

  The murder of Shannon's boyfriend Greg was laid out right there in front of us. We looked at each other. I pushed Megan. `Go! Take the phone straight to the Director. Don't talk to anyone else. Tell her this is from Hannah Trevelyan.'

  `But what are you going to do, Hannah?'

  `Not your problem, Meg. Please just do it. Now.'

  She ran.

  11

  I walked towards my cell. This would be the moment of truth. Shelby might be wiry and strong, able to control me when she stuck a drug into me but not at any other time. I walked in. She wasn't there. Shit. Carly. I ran to Carly's room and pushed the door open. Nobody was in there. I raced for the bathroom and shoved all the cubicle doors open, terrifying the girls in two of them.

  Outside, in the corridor I looked up and down. At this time of the afternoon quite a few of the girls would be dozing or listening to music so I pushed the door of the first one open as I passed yelling, `Anyone seen a fat red-haired girl and Shelby? They're together. Shelby’s going to kill her!'

  Then I slapped open the next and the next. A few people joined me but many stayed put. I was breaching the code. Don't get involved, stay cool, mind your own business. I'd stuck myself out on a limb.

  Shannon came ripping out of her room. She was in for a nice surprise in the future but in the meantime I had to find Carly and Shelby. We checked the laundry but Raina had a thing going and hadn’t seen our fugitives.

  `What about the other bathroom?' cried Chloe's friend, Sophie.

 

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