Page 44 of Death on the Rocks

“What kind of problems?” Lily asked.

Katie choked on a humourless laugh. “Are you serious? You really think I want my parents knowing that I let a guy photograph me naked for money? You think I wantanyoneknowing that?”

“Okay, your parents might find out about it,” Lily conceded. “But there’s such a thing as confidentiality. The police won’t advertise what happened to you.”

“I’m not going to the police,” she said firmly. “No way. There’s not even any point.”

“I don’t think you understand,” Lily said. “It’s not as though pornography is sold as a one-time deal. He could have already uploaded your photos somewhere for some sickos to access.”

Katie paled. “What?”

“Yes.” Lily felt a rush of annoyance by how naïve Katie was. “If he was sick enough to take photos of vulnerable young women, he’s sick enough to do a lot more.”

“Oh, god.” Katie buried her face in her hands.

“Let the police investigate it,” Lily said, resting a reassuring hand on Katie’s shoulder.

“It feels like a bad idea.” When she removed her hands from her face, she looked at Oscar for support.

Lily waited for Oscar to encourage her and felt a tightening in her gut when he shook his head.

“It might cause more issues,” he said evenly. “Maybe it’s better to just put it behind you. The guy’s dead and I really don’t think he’d have had time to do anything with your photos.”

“And what about the other women?” Lily asked.

“Why should Katie be responsible for them?” Oscar snapped. “If they want to report him, they can.” He took Katie’s hand and squeezed it. “This has been hard enough for you already. I don’t want to watch you go through more stress.”

“Thank you,” Katie said, leaning towards Oscar and slipping her arms around his waist. “Did you bring the memory card?”

“No,” he said, avoiding eye contact with Lily. “I hid it.”

“You didn’t look at the photos, did you?”

His cheek twitched. “No.”

“Promise me you won’t.”

“I won’t.”

Lily decided not to reveal that he was lying through his teeth. At least about hiding the memory card. She suspected he was also lying about not having looked at the photos.

Her mind drifted back to seeing Katie at the house that morning. “Did you speak to Alanna about this?”

“Yes.” Katie rested her head on Oscar’s shoulder. “I told her everything this morning, after I’d been talking to this woman online, but Alanna just had a go at me. She said he was dead, and he was a nice guy and that I shouldn’t go around saying awful things about him when he’s dead. She thinks I’m attention-seeking.”

Lily raised an eyebrow, thinking of the tone of Alanna’s social media posts. “That seems quite hypocritical,” she said quietly.

“That’s another reason I shouldn’t go to the police. If she thinks that, other people will say the same. It’s my word against a dead guy’s.”

“Not really,” Lily said. “Somewhere there’ll be proof of all of this. For a start, there’s the woman you were speaking to online. You already know you’re not alone in this.”

“I’ll think about it,” Katie said, but Lily got the impression she was only saying it to put an end to the conversation.

She didn’t seem keen for them to hang around much longer, panicking about her parents arriving home. Not that Lily was upset about being rushed out of the door.

“We have to find that memory card before anyone else does,” Oscar said as soon as they’d left.

Lily nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”

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