CHAPTER 16

"OH!NO" ,Kit's mother ,Beth, kept moaning,

"What did he do?Are you hurt?"

"He grabbed me and pushed me over and tried to..tried to.." , Kit started sobbing again , she was giving a performance worthy of an OSCAR.

"Did he umm?" Beth started to ask the question they were all thinking,

"No , I fought him off.It's not as though I'm just going to let him ,is it?" as she said it, Kit looked directly at Dani with what appeared to be a triumphant gleam in her eyes.Dani felt shocked , she thought that Kit had just been assaulted otherwise she could have sworn she was implying that Dani should have fought too.

Scott caught the look , but also reckoned Kit was just being tactless because of the shock.

Old habits die hard , and all of them instantly believed Kit , funnily enough the only one to have her doubts was Jade , but she remained silent.

"Wait 'til I get my hands on him!" seethed Rhys.

"You'll have to join the cue mate," replied Scott.

"Wait , wait ," Beth tried to calm them down."Surely we need to call the police."

Eventually they were persuaded and Inspector Carter informed them that Kane would be apprehended immediately for questioning.

Dani watched Kit and although it was true that each person reacts differently in a given situation , there were some aspects of Kit's behaviour that did not seem to fit with what she had said she had been through.

Kit was more than eager to recount the details of her "ordeal" to the police.She almost boasted of how she "fought him off" , and each time she added more details that differed slightly from her original version.

Dani kept her suspisions to herself , she knew Scott believed his sister and how would it look if she seemed less than sympathetic, or disbelieving.

Jade felt the same , but neither confided in the other for fear of appearing unkind.

Kit had not asked for Noah , her counsellor , and when Dani suggested it she was almost dismissive of the idea.She didn't need Noah when she had their support .The truth was she was afraid that Noah would see through her.

Suddenly Dani remembered another member of their family who would be terribly affected by all this.

"What about Kirsty?" she said

"I'll go over to her," Jade said quickly , she wanted to discuss this with someone who would not mind her suggesting that Kit's story didn't ring true.

"I'll come with you," added Dani.

Kit was furious , she had gone to all this trouble and they were going to go and see if KIRSTY was all right.

She fumed at them ,"that's right go running to flaming Kirsty never mind me , I don't matter , I'm just the one who got attacked.I suppose you don't think it matters because I wasn't raped like you. You all make me sick!What do I have to do to get you to care!"

This rang alarm bells in both Dani and Jade's mind.The last thing Dani had wanted when she had been raped was attention.What had really happened to Kit , surely she couldn't have made this up.But still they could not bring themselves to voice their thoughts , it would sound so unsympathetic , so uncaring.

It was obvious that Beth and Scott believed Kit unquestioningly , Rhys was still very suspicious of Kane , he tried to be civil to him for Kirsty's sake , but he would always be ready to believe the worst of him.

Dani and Jade left , despite Kit's protests. As Dani drove them to Irene's where Kirsty was still staying , Jade took a deep breath and said,

"What do you reckon, cos something is bothering me and I can't quite work out what."

"I know what you mean , Jade , Kit's up to something , but she can't have made something like that up out of the blue.There has to be some explaination."

"So are you saying that you don't think Kane attacked her?"  , Jade asked.

"I don't know , but I have my doubts and I know that sounds awful because I would have been devastated if my friends and family had not believed me   , but something just isn't right."

"I know exactly what you mean , but what do we tell Kirsty."

"Jade at the end of the day we tell Kirsty the truth , she's our sister and she deserves that."

"Yes , but what is the truth,Dani?"

"The truth is we don't know what happened.Only Kane and Kit know.My worry is how Scott will react if I don't back Kit all the way, he obviously believes her one hundred percent.You should have seen the look he gave me as we left!"

The girls sat Kirsty down and told her what had happened.

"It's not true!It can't be!Kane wouldn't!Please tell me you don't believe it!"Kirsty cried.

"Well the truth is I don't know what to believe Kirsty.I'm not saying I think he did it , and I'm not saying Kit is lying.I really don't know what to believe,and let's face it I above anyone know what he is capable of."Dani tried to choose her words carefully.

"But he's not like that anymore , you do believe he's changed don't you?"

"I did believe it , but Kirsty I'm trying to be honest with you,I'm just not sure."Dani replied.

"What about you Jade?Do you believe he did it?"

And Jade surprised everyone when she replied, "No.I don't know why but I really believe Kit is lying.I know that it's an awful thing to say , but it's what I think.I don't think I can go home and pretend to believe her and pretend to support her when I think she's made the whole thing up.I'm going to stay here for the night I need to talk to Nick about it."

"I've got to get back ,Scott will be expecting me , and he has supported me through so much I need to do this for him.Maybe I'll get to the bottom of it if I'm around Kit.You do understand Kirsty that I have just as many doubts about Kane as I do about Kit.I don't know what to believe."

"Ofcourse I understand ,and in a way I think it's great that you didn't automatically assume he was guilty.Even giving him the benefit of the doubt must have been hard for you.What do you think I should do?Should I ring the police station?Dani I don't know what to do!I wish they would let him go."

"I'll ring for you" said Dani.

She came off the phone. "They haven't charged him yet , but they want to keep him overnight, to help with their enquiries they said."

"Oh no ! You know how he hates being cooped up.It'll drive him nuts.This is just like some terrible nightmare." Kirsty started to cry.Shadow put his chin on her lap and looked at her with his big sad eyes.She hugged him tight.

"It'll be O.K boy don't worry" ,she said.