At All Costs || Jerrie

Chapter 28

Madeline Grey, spokesperson for the City of London Police, had the following to say: "If you know anything about Sam's whereabouts or you've seen things that seemed odd, don't hesitate to call the police on 020 7601 2222. We need all the information we can get in order to catch this dangerous man. Every little thing, even the smallest of details, you have to share with us matters."

101 is the other non-emergency phone number you can call if you wish to leave information to the police."

Silas O'Brien being the owner of the gun shop was the only useful information this article gave me. He was an ex-convict. Jesy and I had encountered him several times before. We even arrested him once for gun violence and sexual assault.

He got out early last year. His lawyer somehow managed to shorten his sentence to 3 months, when Silas originally would be locked up for 6 months. Messed up, yeah? Well, sexual assault didn't get taken seriously. Reporting it to the police was useless. They'd drop the case within a week. Your attacker would go free.

I knew tons of people who's been assaulted. When reporting it, they always got to hear "what did you wear?", "were you drunk?", "what did you do to provoke him?", and "did you say 'no' loud enough?". They got the blame for something a freaking predator did. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Blaming the victim was disgusting, it was wrong, it shouldn't happen, ever. You should be able to wear a crop-top and short shorts, you should be able to be so drunk you don't even know your name, without being questioned or getting blamed for what happened.

There's no excuse, no acceptable reason for sexually assaulting someone, whatsoever. It's a crime, for crying out loud!

"What is it, Jade? You've been awfully quiet."

Jesy looked genuinely concerned for me when I turned my face to look at her. I swallowed hard. She won't like what I got in mind.

"We need to pay Silas a visit" I said cautiously.

Her body became rigid as her eyes widened in fear. Jesy was a victim of sexual assault. She had fallen victim to it three times. The first time was back in early October 2012, when we attended our second year at the Police Academy. She was on her way home from Leigh-Anne's 21st birthday party when a man in his late 30's asked her out for coffee. Jesy declined and continued to walk home. He followed her, couldn't take no for an answer.

Near a small coffee shop, he caught up with her. He grabbed her right wrist and pulled her into his body. She told him to let go of her, but he refused, said he wouldn't let her go until she agreed on having a coffee with him. Jesy declined him once again. She managed to free herself from his grip, then she kept walking, didn't look back. And that's when he attacked. He grabbed her bum and pinched really hard. She had a bruise where he pinched her for a whole week.

The second time was in late January 2014, two years later. She'd been at the gym and figured she would walk home instead of taking the bus or calling me to pick her up. Across the street, on the other side of the gym, a man walked up from behind and pushed her into the bushes. He commented her body, said very nasty things about her and what he'd like to do to her. He touched her bum and breasts several times until a stranger came along and scared him away. The man who assaulted her was Silas. The Silas I wanted to interrogate.

Late April 2015, last year, was the last time it happened. She sat on a bench in Hyde Park, enjoying her day off when he came along and ruined everything. At first he came off as friendly, but then he put his hand on her thigh, and there's where the assault began. He rubbed the inside of her thigh, squeezed it every now and then, while telling her about teenage girls he had raped. He told her how they screamed, cried, begged for him to stop. While he spoke, he laughed, as if he found the whole situation funny.