This is News Live from Big City with the breaking news.
More news about the two incidents today in the middle of our city. The police report that a high ranking politician has been found dead in the Lord Mayor's Palace – more details to follow. News Live would like to point out there is only one politician usually in the Lord Mayor's Palace and that is the lord mayor himself.
The police have issued a statement about Old Spit House. Police investigated gun shots found a pile of bodies with gun shot wounds in Old Spit House. A large number of children were also in the building, most of them fortunately alive.
For your information: Old Spit House is less than 500 metres from the Lord Mayor's Palace, it was built almost 300 years ago to spite the then lord mayor, probably by blocking the view.
News Live will bring you the news as it breaks. There is definitely more to come. The report of children is very suspicious. It is too early to say if today's incidents are related. Or related to the incident yesterday, in which two policemen were shot, one fatally, and a gunman fell from the ninth floor of a tower block.
“Hello Cressida, I want a word with you alone.”
“OK, sir.”
“The deaths yesterday and the deaths at Old Spit House and at the Lord Mayor's Palace were all the work of one person – every body had a crushed wrist or ankle...”
“That's right, sir. The cause of death in Old Spit House was in every case a heavy blow to the head. I think that one of the children must have found a gun and emptied it into the heap of dead men.”
“I think that all the deaths are related, related to a paedophile ring. We, the police here in Big City have three problems. The case of the Lord Mayor is particularly bad, he was found cut in two by his own desk...”
“Let me guess, Chief Constable. The prime minister is threatening you because so many leading politicians are involved – the government might fall. The public is more interested in the TV personalities – they cannot possibly be involved in a paedophile ring, they are such nice people.”
“And lastly the assistant to the commissioner to the north sector was terminated yesterday. You don't trust Commissioner Trundle and I don't either. That's why you're talking to me and not Trundle.”
“Very clever, Cressida. But how does that help us?”
“Three problems, three answers. It's our job as the police to investigate and break up criminal groups. I've headed up the ‘spin turn’ operation for the last three months; it was formed to find such groups like this paedophile ring.”
“We have spoken to the children, we have identified seven more ring members and they will be detained today. We have just discovered more ring members who at very short notice have booked flights to Schiphol and Frankfurt; and then to South America. They will also be stopped.”
“We are doing our job, sir. We did not choose the ministers in the government, that's the prime minister's problem. What we can do is: identify all the culprits as quickly as possible. And also draw the public's attention to the plight of the poor children, we need to bring the media into this, we're working on it.”
“Very good, Cressida. But it's not going to be an easy week. Oh, and keep an eye on Mr Trundle.”
This is News Live from Big City with the breaking news.
The police have confirmed the existence of a paedophile ring based at Old Spit House. They will be issuing a list of names later in the day. The list will include the dead men found yesterday, several leading politicians, at least three TV personalities and the Lord Mayor. The prime minister's office has refused to issue a statement.
News Live regrets that more interest has been shown in the politicians involved than the poor, suffering children. For more balance we have interviewed one of the first social workers to arrive at Old Spit House.
News Live: Could you describe the scene when you first arrived at Old Spit House?
SocWok: It was chaos. There were children all over the place. Some walking around in circles or banging their heads against the walls. They were mostly outside – they had not been outside for months. Some were crying, the little ones were crying for their mothers. My job was to select four or five little ones and calm them. I grabbed four kids, sat them on a low wall and put my arms round them. I admit that I cried too.
News Live: What was the situation inside Old Spit House?
SocWok: I didn't go into the house. One of my colleagues did and later told me that it was worse. There were children lying drugged or dead in locked rooms. The fire brigade came to free them and ambulances took most of them to hospital.
News Live: What happened next?
SocWok: The children were very hungry and very dirty. They needed washing, a new set of clothes and a good meal. They also needed to get away from Old Spit House.
News Live: Was that the reason to move all the children to the Lord Mayor's Palace?
SocWok: Yes, the Lord Mayor is not there, lots of space, nice private garden. Every kid got bathed, new clothes, fed and medically checked. But very importantly each one got a load of TLC poured over them. All the big charities were there doing their bit. They are still there.
News Live: What happens next?
SocWok: A continued effort to get the kids back to normal. Talking to them. Getting them to play in the garden. They are very frightened, they cry a lot, they don't say much. Some of them are mentally scarred for life, some of them will have to be transferred to institutions. All very sad. The police are trying to match names and faces to the nation-wide, lost-persons database.
News Live: It could take months to sort out the children?
SocWok: Yes.
This is News Live from Big City with the breaking news.
The police in Knowtown have reported a copy-cat attack on a large house in Knowtown similar to yesterday's attack on Old Spit House here in Big City. A pile of bodies has been found and a large number of disoriented children. More details coming soon.
The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament has asked for a vote of no-confidence in the current government. She will issue a full statement this evening.
This is News Live from Big City
If you have registered a child as a lost person in the last three years then grab a pencil and paper – the telephone number of the nation-wide, lost-persons database coming up next.
“What's new, Cressida?”
“Sir, we've released a list of names (just after the main evening TV news). The Knowtown police have also released a list. It looks as if the government is going to fall. We are still picking up suspects – onesies and twosies and a bishop.”
This is News Live from Big City with the breaking news.
We received a very disturbing video at nine this morning.
It's a car-cam video. The car is driving slowly behind a big green van, the sort the police use to transfer prisoners. It has tiny dark windows, we can't see inside.
The van stops at a red light. Suddenly a little girl rushes from the left to the back doors. She forces one open and climbs inside. The light changes and the traffic moves on. The van appears to shake violently, but we can't see inside.
The door opens and a man tries to jump out. This looks dangerously bad. THE NEXT FEW SECONDS HAVE BEEN EDITED OUT.
The van has stopped at another red. The van door opens and the little girl jumps out and disappears into the crowd.
The police have issued a statement. A van transferring prisoners to the high court was attacked this morning shortly before nine. Four prisoners were found dead in the van; a fifth prisoner was also found dead on the roadway.
WUMP! The blast knocked the little girl over. She fell onto the woman in front of her – nice and soft. She picked herself up and helped the woman to her feet. She sat the woman on a nearby bench.
It was Cressida Parch in a state of shock. The little girl put her arms around Cressida – very soft and cuddly. There was a great view over the river to the red-brick warehouses on the other bank. They had been empty and derelict for years, but they are now renovated with apartments, restaurants and bars. Both sides of the river are very touristy.
The little girl had time, her work in Big City was almost done. The police came, the ambulances too, the Left Bank Driveway was closed to all traffic. The woman and the little girl were taken to the nearby Bank Green Police Station.
“Is this little girl your daughter?”
“No.”
“Your granddaughter?”
No answer.
“Do you know this little girl?”
“Yes.”
“Could you please tell me who she is?”
“No.”
The woman was sitting on a chair in the interview room, she was still in a state of shock. The little girl stood behind her and held her tight. Detective Sergeant Wilkins lost his temper and shouted at the woman...
In walked a man with a large handbag. “Stop shouting at her, she's in a state of shock.” He took out an ophthalmoscope and peered into the woman's eyes.
“There's been a major incident on the Left Bank Driveway; these two are prime witnesses. The woman can only say yes or no. The little girl says nothing. I gave her a pencil and pad of paper; she drew this picture; I can make neither head nor tail of it...”
“The woman is in a state of shock; give her time. The little girl, as you call her, is as hard as nails and is not a little girl, but a very small adult. I'm a police doctor, I know my stuff. The drawing is a ballroom dance move, the positions of the feet for a spin turn.”
The woman heard the two words “spin turn”, she snapped back to life and snapped at DS Wilkins. “There will be no discussion of operation spin turn in this police station. What's going on here?” Very abrupt.
DS Wilkins stared at the woman, he knew that he had seen that face before, it was Cressida Parch, the commissioner for the south sector. “Yes, ma'am. There has been an explosion on the Left Bank Driveway; you were involved; you were walking along the road...”
“Yes, I often take a lunchtime walk along the river. Continue.”
“A car stopped behind you and someone in the car rolled a live hand grenade behind you. The little girl picked it up and threw it in the river. She saved your life and the lives of many tourists. The grenade exploded, but harmed nobody. You have been in a state of shock since then, ma'am.”
“Thank you, sergeant. I've just looked at the calender hanging on the wall, I can't read it, the numbers just swim in front of my eyes. Please order a car to take me home, I need rest.”
The little girl did not want reward, no, it was much simpler than that, she wanted to be with the soft, warm and cuddly Cressida Parch that night. She got into the car with Cressida.
The little girl was eating breakfast with Cressida in her kitchen when four policewomen marched in. They were from the west sector. What was wrong?
A policewoman cuffed Cressida and took her away, the little girl followed. The policewomen did not want that. The little girl snatched a nightstick from one of the policewomen and broke it in two, single-handed. “Leave her alone, she's dangerous.” She rode in the police car with Cressida to police headquarters.
Sitting round the big table were the chief constable, the policeman with his arm in a sling, and, of course, the commissioner for the north sector, Jacob Trundle. Cressida Parch sat down at the table and put her handcuffed hands onto the table. The little girl stood behind her and juggled broken bits of nightstick.
Jacob Trundle stood and accused Cressida Parch of being a paedophile. “We're investigated a huge paedophile ring and you do terrible things with the little girl, code-named ‘dancing girl’, who is helping us with our inquires. You should be ashamed of yourself. Because of your position that you HAD, you'll easily get ten years or more. Were you intimate with...”
The policeman spoke “She's not a little girl, she's a very small adult who doesn't hear or speak. Ask a doctor to verify that.”
The little girl had had enough, it was time for the end, time for action. She jumped onto the table and strode across to Jacob Trundle. She jumped with both feet into his face, he was so very nasty, so very evil and so very wicked.
Trundle fell backwards in his chair and smacked his head on the floor. The little girl grabbed his wrist and his ankle and moved him around in a circle. He flew in a circle, round and round above her head. She slammed him into a wall.
The building shook.
It was the end. She stood in middle of the table, she took the little girl wig from her head, she spat out the two thick cotton swabs that filled out her cheeks, she put a hand into her blouse and released the bra that had flattened her breasts, she was a woman again.
She walked over to Cressida and twisted the handcuffs until they broke and fell to the floor. She hugged and kissed Cressida. She very carefully put her arms around the policeman and kissed him. She gave the chief constable a peck on the cheek. She left the room, nobody followed her, nobody ever did. It was the end.
She spent the last night with her landlady. The next morning found her waiting on the side of the road. She was happy. She had done the right thing. Big City was now a happier place to live. She knew that there were other nasty, evil and wicked men in Big City, but that was work for other agents. Her work in Big City was at an end.
A car stopped, it was driven by her sister. “You've been having fun, haven't you, Betty?”