The Professor

Chapter Twenty-Five | Familiar Threat

As soon as I arrive home, I listen to James' instruction and lock the front door. I then pace the length of our living room, unable to sit still. I've never felt this unsettled before and find the longer I wait, the more alarming my thoughts get. Nic's safety is at risk, and I can't just knowingly hide away while my best friend suffers. I need to do something.

Anything.

I keep trying her phone, but it remains switched off, much to my annoyance. I contemplate going out looking for her, but I'm still relatively new to the area and wouldn't know where to start. Besides, James and Freddie seem adamant that their father is responsible for this. And according to them, he lives in London. Not that I'm totally sold on the idea. I still don't think Nicole would go with him under any circumstances. She was probably the most freaked out over the attacks and therefore the most vigilant. For Nicole to have put herself in a position to be alone with someone, she must've trusted them.

It must be someone she knows.

I fire up my laptop and as it loads, use my phone to scroll through Instagram. I locate Nicole's page and desperately try to pinpoint who her classmates are. Maybe one of them took her? But why?

After what feels like hours of endless searching, I close the app in frustration. Freddie's probably right. Their father was a psychopath and that alone is enough incentive. If he could murder his son's girlfriend, he'll surely have no qualms hurting his daughter. But why Nicole? Is he punishing James because he's the one who went to the police? Afterall, he's the one who essentially 'ruined' their family.

I bring up Google Chrome, deciding to do a little digging. I don't remember this case being on the news. Then again, I was only nine years old at the time and this is the kind of thing my parents kept Lara and I away from. I wonder if they remember it?

James didn't mention his father's name, so instead I type Chloe Morris into the search engine. Immediately, her school picture is brought up. Her smile is as big as it is innocent and her hair, the richest of chestnuts. I momentarily picture teenage James and her holding hands and it breaks my heart knowing what happened. Knowing that she was brutally murdered for no apparent reason other than dating the son of a monster. Suddenly, every single one of James' insecurities make sense. Why—according to Nicole—he never had a girlfriend. Who would after what happened to his first one? His commitment issues are one hundred percent justified when you take into account everything that's happened. Not only that, but it's also obvious he blames himself. Before me, he denied himself life's pleasures. We both did, only for different reasons. For me, I was too focused on studies. For him, he was simply punishing himself for a crime he did not commit.

Hindsight is a fucking bitch and I only wish I knew all this back then. I would've done everything in my power to help him. To ease his burden by taking some of it on myself. I thought I knew what heartbreak was when James left me. That wasn't heartbreak. Heartbreak is learning of his horrific past and knowing there's not a damn thing I can do to change it. I fucking hate their dad for what he did. For what he's still doing. The pain he's caused is unforgivable and—quite possibly—irreversible.

I read through the first article, absorbing as much information as possible. According to the police, Chloe was sexually assaulted before being strangled to death and buried in a forest that—following the advice of Google maps—isn't too far from here. Malcolm Turner—their dad—tried to argue self-defence but the entire jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in under two hours. Freddie and Nicole are never mentioned, and neither is James by name. One article explains Chloe's relationship with James and although his name is deliberately not stated, there are a few comments at the bottom of it that—to be honest—boil my blood. Username InternetTroll1992 wrote, 'The Son was probably in on it too. SCUM!!!' Another user wrote, 'Throw the son in there with him. As far as I'm concerned, it's his fault!'