Vulnerable

Chapter 41

Logan's PoV

'The holiday home was the right location, but by the time we got there everything had been cleaned out and all three of them were gone.' An officer explained as we sat together in Henry's living room, three days later. 'The good news is we believe she's still alive.'

'How do you know?' Frankie asked, their eyes lighting up with hope.

'The two of them have made no effort to hide their identities, their crimes were being broadcasted online and their faces were clear. Her blood and other fluids were all over the floor in that room, they didn't bother cleaning it up. If Megan had died during the stream, why would they bother taking her body with them while they fled? It would be dead weight, literally.'

'Well where are they then?' Henry asked pacing.

'We believe Georgia, Megan's mother, could be involved.'

'What?' Henry whipped round to look at them. 'She's delusional and refuses to believe the truth but she wouldn't deliberately hurt Megan like that.'

'She might.' I spoke up for the first time in a while. 'She forced her to talk to him on skype, manipulated her voice to get him out of prison... is it possible she's known all along and just doesn't care?'

'We managed to get access to the bank account associated with the stream. Roughly a third of the money they make has been going to an account under Georgia's name.' The officer explained.

'She knew?' Henry's voice was hurt and he needed to sit down because of the shock. I don't think he could get his head around the fact his ex wife could willingly let their daughter go through that.

'When was the last time you had contact with her?' The police officer asked.

'Two weeks ago. She said she was going out of town.'

'Was this before or after Megan was reported missing?'

'Before, but only hours before.' Henry said, realisation on his face. 'Georgia did this?'

'Will you come down to the station with us Mr French? We'd like you to try and contact her.'

Henry nodded and left with the police, saying we could stay as long as we wanted. Lisa and Charlie were cuddled together while Frankie and I sat on the other chair, awkwardly staring at the tv but not really watching.

'Part of me wishes she died.' Lisa said after an hour of awkward silence. My eyes met hers in a glare.

'How can you say something like that?' I growled, as Frankie put his hand on mine to keep me calm.

'I want her to be back here more than anything, but she's not going to be the same when she does.' Lisa explained. 'She wanted to kill herself after a month of Benji sneaking in to see her. Her entire childhood has been tainted by what he did. And now she's still with him. Two of them. We might have only seen an hour of that stream but it had been going for 19 hours. They're torturing her. Maybe death would have been a mercy.'

'No. You can't talk like that Lisa.' I growled. 'She was already suicidal, you can't go around saying that's what you want to happen. If she heard you...'

'Well she can't hear me, can she? Because she's clinging for life while two monsters rape and torture her for the whole internet to see. I just wish her pain would end.'

'Lisa, we'll get her back.' Charlie soothed. 'But Logan's right, if she heard you talking like that it would be like giving her permission to give up. We need to keep fighting for her, so when she's back we can help her fight.'