Who Are You?: With one click she found her perfect man. And he found his perfect victim. A true story of the ultimate deception.. Megan Henley
Читать онлайн книгу.
him it was planned, so he is aware of how much we all care for him. Family comes first though.
That same day, Vic’s profile picture changed to one of a cherubic-looking little girl, but there were no posts from him and he wasn’t online for days. I messaged Valerie to say that I was thinking of him and was really sorry to hear something bad had happened, but didn’t hear back. After a while, I thought I would check with Vic himself to see whether he was OK. I sent a quick message, not prying, not trying to find out any details … just a bit concerned.
Vic got back to me to say that he really appreciated that I got in touch. When he had found out about the planned party, he’d really been looking forward to meeting me.
Any chance of meeting up for coffee? he asked. I’m not really wanting to be around lots of people yet but I feel I can talk to you. Trust you.
I said yes, partly because I’d always rather help people out when I can but also partly because Vic lived far enough away from me that, if I didn’t want to have any more contact after meeting in real life, there was a decent distance. There was no chance that I would bump into him on the street; I could just gradually fade away online. I only wanted to offer a listening ear while he was having a difficult time; I just hoped that I could offer this kind man some friendly support. Because of the distance, we agreed to meet halfway, in Newbury.
I was already feeling terribly sorry for Vic, but I wasn’t entirely relishing meeting up as I wasn’t sure I could offer anything, but when I got there he seemed fine and it was very easy. He was clearly a good guy who had suffered a rough life. He started by telling me about how difficult work was – the management who controlled them as DJs were just pushing them into the most horrendous schedule. I knew that already as I’d seen how hard he worked by watching stuff online, but he then went on to tell me things I could never have imagined.
‘Life’s been hard,’ he said, and it was such an understatement. He told me so much about his abusive childhood and various losses, and I was really touched that he felt safe enough to reveal all of this. He was, after all, a superstar DJ and yet he was so alone; I also felt very privileged that someone like him trusted someone like me.
Vic’s story was a dramatic and complicated one. He touched again on the loss of Zack, but it transpired that there were troubles running through the whole Morana family. I listened for ages as he told me of the recent death of his niece, of his Romany background, and of the threats he kept getting as he tried to break out of the culture that kept reeling him back in. Vic was shaking as he told me his story, and said that he never imagined he would be able to tell one person so much in such a short time.
‘I’d just like a quiet life, but there’s not much chance with my family,’ he revealed. ‘I’ve got to go to Dina’s funeral next week.’
‘Funerals are never easy,’ I agreed.
‘No, no, that’s true, but this one …’ he began.
‘Well, she was so young,’ I said. It was all I knew really, that she was ten years old.
‘More than that … God!’ he exclaimed, putting his hands to his face and rubbing his eyes. ‘Megan – my family. I don’t know where to start.’
‘You don’t have to tell me anything,’ I assured him.
‘But I want to – I feel like I can talk to you. You see, I don’t really have anyone. Leah, Valerie, Clare – they’re all brilliant, brilliant DJs, brilliant people, but the management company has us over a barrel so I hardly ever see them. They’re a lifeline but they have their own careers and their own lives.’ He laughed bitterly. ‘You’re about the only real person I’ve spoken to in real life that I can trust for months.’
His story came pouring out.
‘Kat, my sister, is a bloody nightmare. Of course it’s heartbreaking that she’s lost her kid, no one knows how that feels more than I do, but … she was a shit mother. She’d go off for days on end, leaving Dina by herself. You’d think she would have changed by now, but she only cares for herself – now her daughter’s paid the price.’
It transpired that Kat owned a yard in Manchester and she rented out spaces in it to other gypsies. She’d leave for days on end, paying a couple of hundred quid to people she barely knew to look out for her child. They rarely did. Dina had got out of the yard, and had virtually run out in front of a car. He had been really close to Dina, as his sister was a terrible mother from the outset from what I could gather, and frequently left her daughter for long periods of time while she went off sorting out drug deals and other dodgy stuff. Kat was still heavily involved in the Romany culture they had been born into. She was really violent and very rich due to her drug dealing. Their father, Jay, sounded like a real nasty piece of work; from what I could tell he was some kind of gypsy king who kept lots of people in fear and at his beck and call. Vic’s mother and father lived in Spain and it sounded like Kat was determined to follow in their footsteps. Vic would often bring Dina to stay with him whenever he was back in England, and had been trying to negotiate with his sister for the child to come and live with him as she was so neglected by her mother. He told me that Dina regarded him as her father figure and he, in turn, desperately missed having a child of his own.
‘It just brings everything back that I went through with Zack,’ Vic said quietly. ‘I can’t believe another little one has been lost.’
It was awful – but what was really getting to Vic was that, by going to the funeral, he would be right back in the middle of the family he had tried to escape many years ago. Vic had been living as a New Age traveller for the past fifteen years, a break from how he was raised, but it was as if they keep reeling him back in. His parents had moved back to Spain when he was in his twenties and he was now forty-one. Kat had never tried to leave the gypsy community. In fact, it sounded as if she revelled in the drama and violence. She sounded like a bit of a thug herself, acting as her father’s minion and glorying in the punishments meted out to anyone who crossed them.
‘She’s completely unhinged,’ Vic told me. ‘Unpredictable, vengeful – I wonder how we can be related at all sometimes. Of course, I’d do anything to protect the people I love, but Kat jumps in so soon; it only takes a look her way for her to decide someone needs sorting. If anyone pisses her off, she’s after them. And she would decide you’d pissed her off as soon as look at you.’
She sounded awful; only a few years younger than Vic, but already embroiled in a life of drugs and violence. The way she had neglected Dina didn’t appear to have had any impact on her, and no one but Vic was blaming her. She seemed to be the golden girl of the family as she just followed their path, whereas Vic was the outsider, and he was hated for breaking free.
‘It’s such a relief to get this off my chest; I feel as if I’ve known you for ever,’ he told me. ‘It’s so odd – I just get this sense that we’ve got a connection; no one else seems to “get” me in this same way. I can’t believe we’ve only just met.’ I knew what he meant. I felt as if I’d made an immediate, true friend.
It was lovely that we had shared so much that day but I wasn’t sure that I’d ever see him in person again; maybe the odd FB message, but I was convinced it would fizzle out. He had struck me as a bit of a paradox – needy and tragic on one hand, but he was also this superstar DJ with his MTV awards and lauded public appearances. Two sides of one personality – both of which were quite attractive. I wanted to protect him, to be honest, but he was so cool and successful that he was out of my league. He knew so many people: he had DJ’d at Fatboy Slim’s fortieth birthday party, done tracks with the Prodigy, he’d gone out with Katie Melua for a while, been sought after by the best drum and bass people. He’d been on the scene for so long that he knew everyone and was known by them all. He’d seen people come and go, and was still recovering from the loss of good friends who hadn’t been as strong as him and had succumbed to drink or drugs or just the lure of an unsustainable lifestyle. Amy Winehouse was a good friend of his, and he spoke of her with such affection, telling me he hated the way her talent was being wasted when she could have such amazing things ahead of her if someone would only step in and