I knock at the door then back away on the pavement, looking up and down the terraced street. It is nearly half past ten on a weekday evening, and would be dark if not for the relentless glow from the street light, falling in pools along the road.
The door opens - the woman who stands just inside has a slightly tipsy look on her face. 'Jones?' I say, and she nods.
'Come in,' she motions us in.
I stand back and let Josie pass first; she is, after all, the one they really want to see - being the beautiful young woman they were expecting from the social media site, rather than me.
The woman giggles awkwardly as we edge past her, then closes the front door. 'Go through, second door on the left.'
The passageway is dark, lit by a low powered bulb hidden by a dusty dark brown shade, hanging from the ceiling about half way down the corridor. Josie reaches the door and goes through.
'Uh, hello,' I hear her say, nervously, which is understandable, to me if no one else - she is only twenty years old and not yet accustomed to meeting strangers like this, let alone with the knowledge of what she has come here to do.
There is a chorus of shy hellos before I go into the room; I get a few nods of acknowledgement that I am present on my entrance, but I am well aware that the people present are not going to be interested in me - I am almost an embarrassment to them, a reminder of how fake the situation is. The room is cosy, moodily lit by two up-lights on one wall and a lamp standard on the opposite side of the room. It is quite plain that the occupants have been drinking, from the number of empty wine bottles left lying around on various surfaces.
Josie is speaking.
She introduces herself and lays down the rules. 'Guys, please understand that while I am happy for you to move about to get a better position I will not pause as you do so. I will not take any notice of you if you try to talk to me, so no requests or demands please. And, very importantly, no one is to touch or make like they are going to touch me: that is very important and the reason why I am accompanied.' She indicated me with a wave of her hand. 'If anyone looks like they are going to touch me, or if someone does grab me, or stroke me, or grope me then the whole deal is off. There might possibly be some unpleasantness, but there will definitely be shouting, pushing and shoving as he protects me and gets me safely out of here.'
Josie looked around the room, at each of the people present. 'I cannot stress that too heavily. I am doing this for you and in return you all promise that you will not make any contact with me. Is that understood?' She looked at each of them in turn, getting a mumbled 'yes' or an uncomfortable nod from each one.
I stare at the people in the room as well, asserting my authority. There are seven of them in all: three men and four women. The men all look to be around the late twenties, early thirties range but the spread of the females appeared to be from early twenties through to possible fifty-ish.
I nodded to the youngest woman. 'How old are you?'
She blushed. 'I-I'm nineteen.'
