Twice as Dead

Synopsis

Five victims of child abuse, meet up fifteen years after leaving their orphanage. They have all managed to survive the horrors of their childhood and decide to extract some sort of revenge on their abusers.
As one of the orphans is an Assistant Commissioner of Police they have a legal obligation to keep their revenge within the bounds of law. This obviously limits their scope of retaliation but the victims have emerged from their childhood physically and mentally stronger.
Their plan is simple and ruthless and the execution is followed with meticulous planning.
Lt. Gabriel Baxter is equally determined to catch the perpetrators and the Assistant Commissioner of Police is forced to play a dual role.
The conclusion is dramatic with a sudden change of direction that will leave the reader gasping for breath.

Foreword

“What do we do if we catch one? Do we hand him over to the police or do we handle the problem ourselves?” asked Lydia.
“I ran away, if you remember,” said Luke as he cast his mind back all those years, “and reported everything to the police.”
“Oh yes,” said Ferdie, “I remember that well. You got thrashed when the police arrived and when they left you got thrashed again. That’s when I decided to become a policeman. Somebody always has to watch the carer.”
Luke nodded his head and thought about the futility of revenge and the three thrashings he got for running away and then coming back. Those bastards got away with it and it was so long ago that the only people who remembered everything, were the victims. And now, all these years later, even if the police decided to do something about it, it would be a horrific media circus. The only people who would get satisfaction out of the whole episode would be the attorney’s and the media people.
“Incidentally Ferdie, I got thrashed again in the morning if you remember. Sister Matilda loved it when we had to pull our pants down.”
“I know,” whispered Hannah, “we kill them. I’ll happily pull the trigger.”
“Tell you what,” said Rosie “I’ll give them a poisoned drink, and while they’re lying on the ground dying, you can shoot them.”
“Are you girls serious?” asked Luke.
“You guys seem to have forgotten I’m a policeman,” interrupted Ferdie, “planning on killing somebody and I’ll have to report it and have you arrested.”
“So what’s the solution to our dilemma?” asked Luke.
“Suicide,” said Ferdie as a huge smile creased his coffee coloured features, “get them to kill themselves.”
“How will we do that?” asked Luke.
“I don’t know,” replied Ferdie, “but let’s meet back here same time next week and see if anybody has a better idea.”