I blame the press. They’re the ones who should answer for this. You hear about that phone hacking, them getting away with printing lies; I couldn’t really blame Paul for getting a bit paranoid. The buggers even tried to get me and Mel to say bad stuff about him a few times, came at us with leading questions. Mel told them to sling their hooks, of course. We’re tight at 277 Together; look after our own. Now, I think it’s a miracle myself, those three kids surviving like that, it’s simply one of those things in life you just can’t explain. But try telling that to your alien fanatics or those Yanks with their conspiracy bollocks. And if it wasn’t for those bleeding reporters, none of that crap would have seen the light of day. They’re the ones who kept it in the public eye. Buggers should be bleeding shot, the lot of ’em.

We knew what Paul was, course we did. And I don’t mean about him being gay. What people do behind closed doors is their business. I’m talking about him being a bit of a luvvie, wanting to be the centre of attention. He told us he was an actor straight away. I’d never heard of him, though he said he’d had a few roles on telly in the past, guest ones, you know. Cameos. Must have bruised his ego, not getting where he wanted to in life. Reminded me a bit of my Danielle. She was much younger than him of course, but it took her a while to decide what she wanted to do, tried all sorts until she went in for that beauty therapy. Just takes some people longer to find their way in life, doesn’t it?

Before Paul started to behave… well… before he started becoming a bit more withdrawn than usual, he used to irritate Mel a bit. He would talk for hours at the meetings if you let him. But when we could, we tried to help him out with Jess. It wasn’t always easy; we’ve got our own grandchildren to take care of as well. Our Gavin, he’s got three little ones, but Paul was a special case. He needed all the back-up he could get, poor bugger, what with the press at him all the time and the other side of the family–bad seeds, Mel called them–giving him all that grief. Gavin would’ve stepped in if that family had mucked about at the memorial service. Gavin’s applying for the police next year. He’ll make a good copper, they always do, them that’ve seen the other side of the law, so to speak. Not that he ever got himself into real trouble.

That snooty neighbour also did what she could. Right snobbish she was, but her heart was in the right place. She saw off one of those paparazzos by throwing a bucket of cold water over the bugger. Fair play to her for that, poker up her arse or not.

When the Discovery Channel was planning that special programme on Black Thursday, just after the findings were released, the producer approached me and Mel to be talking heads on that show, wanted us to say what we felt when we heard about the plane going down. It’s horrible to think about it now, but before we lost our Danielle, me and Mel used to love that air-crash investigation show, the one with that American investigator, Ace Kelso. Wish I’d never seen it now, of course. Mel turned the producers down flat, so did Kylie and Kelvin. They’d got together by then. Kylie had lost her other half in the crash and Kelvin was single, so why not? Sure, he was that much older than her, but May–September relationships can work, can’t they? Look at me and Mel. She’s seven years my senior and we’ve been going strong for over twenty years. Kylie and Kelvin were planning an August wedding, but they’re talking about postponing it now. I told them, we need some joy in our lives, don’t let what happened to little Jess put you off.

That’s when I should have realised something wasn’t right with Paul for definite. When he said he didn’t want to be part of the Discovery show, I mean. I’ll say this for him–he didn’t try to put Jess in the spotlight. Opposite, really. But in the early days he wasn’t shy about appearing in front of the media. First couple of months, it was like he was always on the morning shows, sitting on the couch talking about how Jess was coping. And no, I don’t think that gave the press the right to pry into his private life and hound them like they did. You’d have thought after what happened to the People’s Princess, they’d have learned their lesson. How much blood needs to be spilled before they’ll bleeding well stop? I know, I do go on, but it makes my blood boil.

As for Jess… she was a real sweetheart. Absolute treasure. Gave you the impression she was wiser than her years, which wasn’t surprising seeing what she’d been through. Never stopped smiling, never complained about the scars on her face. Right sunny disposition; it’s amazing how kids can bounce back from things like that, isn’t it? I read that biography, the one by that Muslim girl who was the only survivor of a plane crash in Ethiopia, and she said how none of it seemed real to her for years. So maybe that was how Jess was coping. Mel couldn’t touch that book. Nor could most of the 277s. Kelvin says that even now he has to get his mates to screen what’s on telly before he can watch it. Can’t see anything about airplanes or crashes, or even watch any of them police procedurals.

And no, there was nothing bleeding strange about Jess. I’ll go on the record about that. Bloody Americans and their lies about those poor kids. Made Mel apoplectic. And it wasn’t just us who thought Jess was fine, was it? We would have heard from the school, wouldn’t we? Her teacher’s a no-nonsense type of woman. And her psychologist and the bloke from the social never saw anything untoward going on, did they?

Last time I saw Jess I was on my own. Mel was off helping Kylie choose a wedding venue and Paul was in a pickle, said he had a meeting with his agent. I fetched her from school and took her to see the horses down the lane. I always asked her how she was doing at school, I was a bit concerned that maybe she’d be facing bullying and that from the other kids. Jess’s scars weren’t bad, but they were still there and you know what kids can be like. But she said no one ever made fun of her. Tough little cookie. We had a nice time that afternoon. When we got back to the house, she asked me to read her a book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She could read well herself, but she said she liked me to do the voices of the characters. She thought that book was funny, couldn’t seem to get enough of it.

When we heard Paul arriving home, she smiled at me, just the most lovely smile, reminded me of my Danielle when she was little. ‘You’re a good man, Uncle Geoff,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry your daughter had to die.’ I always think about that whenever I think about her now. Brings me to tears.