The Daughter Of Rachel Mason

Chapter 16: Sorry For Your Loss

Lexi's POV
I couldn't believe it , this was all down to Lacey I bet it. My mams probably going to kick me out now. " Hello Lexi, my name is Mary and this is Eli , I just want to let you know that your not in any trouble, I just want to talk to you about Ben Crown, you may know him by the name of Barry" Mary said "Yeah he's my boss , what's going on?" I asked " We have been watching him for a few months now and we have noticed that you are the only one of the dancers who has a full U.K. citizenship so we were wondering how you were able to get a job here?" Eli asked "Why? I mean I met him in a nightclub downtown and said that I would be able to make good money here so he gave me a job" I said trying to understand what they were trying to figure out.

"Lexi, all of the dancers are from deprived families around the world working here so Ben helps their families get out of hard situations whilst only paying the girls little money to work long shifts doing things they don't want to do" Mary said "What do you mean? Barry isn't like that, yeah he gets angry sometimes but he wouldn't force us into doing anything we didn't want to do" I said backing him up " Your friend, Leigh-Ann tried to leave on Tuesday night and I'm sorry to tell you this but Leigh-Ann was found murdered and we have strong evidence to suggest Ben committed the murder, I'm sorry for your loss" Mary said

My world stopped, Leigh-Ann was my best friend even before Lacey. We planned on moving to London together , going on holidays together even getting a dog . I can't believe it, " We will give you some space however we will be in contact later " Mary said before her and Eli left the room. After they left I went behind the lockers and opened Leigh-Ann's locker , I smiled whilst I saw she had our photos up , I lifted her shoes up and saw our scrapbook that we had started a few months ago, I sat down against the lockers are started flicking through the pages, I just burst out crying.

Rachel's POV:
"Hello miss mason and mr Lawson it seems that your daughters has been a victim of Grooming whilst being exposed to Human Trafficking , I understand that this is hard to hear but Lexi is going through an extremely hard time, One of her work friends who she was close to was Murdered earlier this week " Mary said , I was taken back I couldn't believe it Lexi had been working here for months "Okay , I'll go talk to her " I said whilst Eddie continued talking to the police.

When I went into the changing rooms my heart broke , Lexi was scream crying and I hated every second of seeing her in this much emotional pain "hey hey I'm here" I said as I found her sitting on the floor with a book in front of her crying " Please... just leave.. me ...alone" Lexi said whilst crying as I sat next to her and pulled her into a hug which she tried pulling away from "Everything's going to be okay I promise" I said whilst holding her tightly. I sat with her for about 10 minutes and held her whilst she cried . The last time I had a hug like this was when she was little, every time I take my eyes of her she's always getting herself into some trouble this time was different though. "We were planning on moving to London after my exams , even getting a dog " she said drying her eyes "I know I didn't know her but you sound like you were a good friend to her " I said as she picked the book up " Yeah well that's not gonna bring her back is it" she said standing up and going to the open locker " Let's get you changed and home" I said standing up and getting her uniform which was on the side " I'm sorry" she said taking her uniform from me "Look we can deal with this later , I understand you've just lost your friend" I said as she put her uniform onto of the lingerie " Let's get your home and we can talk this later"I said as a policewoman came into the changing rooms "I'm sorry but can we need to speak to Miss Smith if that's okay" she said as Lexi grabbed her bag "Can she not do this another day she's been through enough today" I explained " No it's fine can we just get it over and done with" she asked "yes that's fine, we can do it here if you want, are you comfortable with your mum stopping?" The policewoman asked "yeah it's fine" lexi said.

"Okay so I need to find out what was going on when we arrived , the full story" she said as she got a recorder out and a notepad and pen "yeah that's fine" Lexi said " Okay so do you want to start with what was happening?" She asked "Well basically on Monday Barry said he had one man who wanted to sleep with me for £8000 and I said yeah and then today they picked me up at 11 brought me here which was where he told me there was three guys instead of the one... I.. well I erm said no and tried to leave but he wouldn't let me so I got ready and we went and done it then you guys walked in when we were getting changed" Lexi said as the police officer quickly wrote down notes on the notepad " Okay, for the purpose of the recording can you explain what happened when you done it? I understand that it might be uncomfortable for you " the policewoman added " I can leave if you want" I said so it would make this easier for Lexi "It's fine, we had sex , first with with the brown haired man then Derry I think that was his name and then the blonde haired one, once we had sex I gave them all a lap dance and then we all got changed" Lexi said , I hated this I could tell she was trying to fight back her tears "Is this the first time you have slept with men for money?" The policewoman asked as I took Lexi's hand but she pulled her hand away "Erm well , about 7 or 8 times I don't know I try not to keep count " Lexi said as tears started rolling down her face " I think that's enough questions for today" I said knowing that lexi has enough " I'm sorry but I do need to ask if this was consensual?" She asked " Well yes and no , but consent doesn't come into it when your getting paid to do it, I mean I wanted to do it for the money but when they started being rough and stuff I tried to get them off but because they paid for it they wouldn't " she said as she started crying " Right I think that's enough for today" I said before standing up and getting mine and Lexi's bag "That's fine that was all the questions we needed, Mary will be in contact in a few days " the police woman said whilst smiling.

"Come on let's get you home" I said as me and Lexi stood up to leave.