Page 81 of The Last One to See Him

‘He’s a paedophile, Kate. And I need to put a stop to him before he does it to someone else. What he did to me has changed me for the rest of my life. I can’t let him get away with that.’

‘That’s why we need to go to the police. It’s the only thing to do, Mona.’

‘They won’t be able to do anything.’ Mona is strangely calm now; she’s already made up her mind. ‘It’s his word against mine, and any DNA he left behind on me will be long gone. It was weeks ago and I’ve had a million showers since then. And washed everything I was wearing – I couldn’t stand the thought of him all over my clothes.’

‘You should have told me!’ Kate protests. ‘I would have helped you. That’s what friends are for. I thought you trusted me, Mona!’

Mona reaches for Kate’s hand. ‘Course I do. Best friends forever, right? Nothing can come between us. And that’s exactly why I’m telling you all this now. It’s just between us, nobody else can know what he did to me. Ever.’

Kate leans back against the changing room wall. ‘So what’s your plan exactly?’

‘We’re going to terrorise him. Let him know that he can’t get away with abusing girls. Ruin his life. I know where he lives. He has a girlfriend too. I’m sure she’d be sickened to know what he did.’

‘What if he calls the police?’

‘He won’t know it’s me doing anything. And even if he does, he doesn’t know where I live. I was just an anonymous girl in a park – an easy target.’

Kate exhales. She doesn’t like the sound of this, but she needs to support her friend. That’s all that matters.

For weeks the girls torment Graham White. They post used tampons through his door, and dog excrement they find in the park. They follow him around, pulling their hoods over their faces so he can’t see them. They sit on the low wall opposite his house, sprinting off when he opens the door to question them about what they’re doing.

And after her initial reservations, Kate throws herself into their mission, for the sake of her friend. It brings her to tears when she pictures what that man did to Mona. They are vigilantes seeking justice for the sake of all young girls; this is what Kate tells herself.

Then one day, Mona ups the ante. ‘We’re going to break into his house,’ she whispers, as they’re making their way to double science. ‘Tonight. Do you think you can sneak out?’

‘Mum will never let me out late on a school night.’

‘Please, Kate,’ Mona begs. I can’t sleep at night when I think about what he did to me. How…he violated me.’ Her eyes brim with tears.

‘Okay, I’ll do it,’ Kate says, silently praying that Mona will have second thoughts.

The second they’re in Graham White’s house, Kate’s hands begin to shake. Shards of glass from the window they’ve smashed shimmer on the floor; they’ve crossed a line there’s no way back from. What if he comes home and catches them? There’s no telling what he’d do to them. ‘I don’t think this is a good idea,’ Kate whispers.

‘We’re here now,’ Mona says, staring around the place, sucking up every detail of it. Kate finds it odd that she’s doing this – she should feel sickened to be in the home of the man who attacked her. Still clutching the hammer she used to smash the back door window, Mona makes her way through the kitchen to a small living room.

And then without warning, she swings the hammer, smashing it into the television, spraying a waterfall of glass across the room.

Momentarily Kate is stunned; she’d half expected Mona to change her mind and rethink this terrifying plan. But when it becomes clear that Mona is only just getting started, and when she pictures how terrified Mona must have felt when that man was tugging at her clothes, Kate joins in, swiping ornaments from the mantelpiece, upending the coffee table, throwing sofa cushions to the floor.

‘We don’t take anything, though,’ Mona warns. ‘I want him to know for sure that this wasn’t a burglary.’

After the break-in, Kate holds her breath every time her mum answers the phone. Her fingerprints will be all over Graham White’s house, and he surely must have called the police.

The only respite from this worry is that at least now Mona can begin to heal, to feel that even the smallest sense of justice has been served. Nothing other than a prison sentence will be enough, but the satisfaction she saw on Mona’s face that night is enough for Kate to believe that this is the end of it.

But Kate is wrong. Only days later, Mona is back to the shell of the person she was, once again becoming snappy and withdrawn.

‘It’s not enough,’ Mona says, when they’re walking home from school. ‘I thought it might be, but it isn’t. I still feel…hollow and empty. That man…he can replace the items in his home. Redecorate. Go back to his life. But I can’t.’

Kate stops walking and faces Mona. ‘What are you saying?’

‘I’m going to send a letter to his girlfriend. And ruin his business. Did I tell you he’s a mechanic and has his own garage?’

Kate wonders how Mona knows this but decides it’s best not to ask.

‘I’ll tell all his clients he likes little girls,’ Mona says.

‘Please let that be the end of it. Promise me? If you’re not going to the police, I mean.’

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