Free Behind Closed Doors (Season One: Book 7) (Jessica Daniel) by Kerry Wilkinson Page B

her.
    ‘It’s time for your assessment,’ he said, moving behind the thinnest man, asking for his name, date of birth, previous occupation and why he was there.
    Jessica felt him side-step behind her. ‘Name?’
    ‘Jessica Compton.’
    ‘Date of birth?’
    With everything pre-planned with Charley in case it came down to this, Jessica told him the truth.
    ‘Previous occupation?’
    ‘I worked in a post office.’
    Her parents’ former jobs; safe and away from what she actually did.
    ‘Why are you here?’
    Jessica gulped. She had known she was going to be asked this at some point, but hadn’t expected it quite so soon – let alone in front of a room of people. She felt more exposed than
she had when forced to change in front of Zipporah.
    ‘I’ve had a few problems in the past year.’
    ‘With what?’
    ‘Everything. My career, my family, my father . . .’
    Jessica could not stop her voice cracking. She knew she had to be as truthful as she could. Giving a slightly false name and occupation was one thing but the more lies you told, the more likely
you were to trip yourself up eventually. She thought Moses was going to press her for more but instead she felt him moving on, until he was asking the final man the same questions.
    His reason for being there, perhaps unsurprisingly given the red blotchiness of his skin, was because he wanted to escape alcohol.
    There was a ripple of applause as Moses walked around them until he was again at the front. He nodded his approval, striding casually from side to side as he spoke. ‘Thank you very much
for sharing. One of the things we try to instil here is that we must trust each other. This is a different place from the world you may know on the outside. There it is full of drugs, alcohol,
degradation. A place where you cannot trust your neighbours, your own family. Here we work together to overcome our problems.’
    He stopped to squeeze Zipporah’s shoulder before continuing. ‘You already know the rules for staying here and I expect you all to abide by them. We cannot allow people to break them
because of the catastrophic knock-on effect it could have on others who have been doing so well.’
    He spun on the spot, turning to face the three of them. He scanned across them, nodding slightly. ‘I sense you are all ready to commit but first you must learn what trust is.’
    Again he walked behind them, standing behind the thin man.
    ‘When I ask you to fall, I want you to trust me. Allow yourself to drop backwards. Do not put your hands down, do not try to cushion your fall. Trust.’
    Jessica felt sure she had seen something similar as part of some dreadful training day but she couldn’t quite remember.
    ‘Fall.’
    The man next to her flopped backwards awkwardly. Jessica didn’t turn to see but she heard Moses grunt slightly as he caught the man’s weight, lowering him to the floor as another
gentle wave of applause went around the room.
    ‘Thank you for trusting me,’ Moses said, pulling the man to his feet and inviting him to take his seat again. As he sat, the people around him patted him on the back and shook his
hand, inviting him into whatever strange family Jessica had found herself in.
    ‘It is the same for you, Jessica,’ Moses said, sidestepping behind her. She felt uneasy that he knew her name, even though she had told him only minutes before.
    ‘Fall.’
    Jessica closed her eyes and dropped backwards. For a fraction of a second, she thought she was going to hit the floor but then she felt Moses’s hands slipping under her armpits, catching
her as air swished past her ears.
    As he lowered her to the floor, his fingers cupped her breasts, squeezing them gently. In an instant, they were gone but Jessica was so shocked, she couldn’t speak as he took her hand and
pulled her up.
    ‘Thank you for trusting me,’ he said, stroking the base of her back before sending her over to her chair.
    Heather patted Jessica on the shoulder, whispering,