Soul Fire

revealing the site behind.
    BURNING TRUTHS
    TIMOTHY ASHLEY IS INNOCENT
    BELIEVE IT
    The lettering is the Goth kind they use on vampire books. The whole design is like a Halloween piss-take. Except this is not funny at all.
    BURNING TRUTHS IS ALL ABOUT JUSTICE FOR MEGAN FORSTER AND TIM ASHLEY.
    I’ve seen some strange things online since Meggie died. First, her Facebook page filled up overnight with badly spelled messages, and videos of people sobbing into their webcams as though
they’d known her personally.
    When we closed her account down, fans moved to sickly tribute sites where virtual candles burned, and virtual angels with her face on them floated up to heaven.
    But this is the strangest site yet.
    WE ARE BURNING TO PROTECT THE INNOCENTS: ONE MURDERED, ONE PERSECUTED.
    I scroll down . . .
    ‘Oh, Tim.’
    His picture fills the screen. Not a snatched newspaper shot, or the airbrushed version I just glimpsed on the Beach. This photo was taken in a park, and makes him look hopeful and normal and
bursting with, well, with life . His chestnut hair glows in the sunlight, and his hazel eyes look directly at the camera with no trace of guilt.
    I’d forgotten all about that Tim. All the newspaper photos showed a haunted man who looked forty, not twenty.
    I realise I’m crying.
    I scrub my eyes with my fingers. No time for emotion. I fight to drag my gaze away from his photo, to read what’s below in even bigger, blood-red lettering.
    URGENT UPDATE, 19 APRIL
    TIM ASHLEY IS DEAD!
    Suddenly it hits me: the news isn’t out there yet. Apart from Ade and the police and us, no one should know what’s happened to Tim.
    And yet it’s all here, on the screen.
    TIMOTHY DAVID ASHLEY WAS FOUND DEAD AT HIS HOME ON 19 APRIL, LESS THAN THREE WEEKS AFTER HIS TWENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY.
    THERE ARE NO MORE DETAILS YET, BUT BE ASSURED, THIS IS NOT THE END OF BURNING TRUTHS.
    TWO LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST. WHATEVER HAS HAPPENED TO TIM, HE WAS AN INNOCENT, AND A VICTIM OF THE WORST KIND OF INJUSTICE.
    THE BATTLE TO CLEAR TIM’S NAME WILL CONTINUE RIGHT HERE – IF YOU CARE, STAY WITH US, WEEP WITH US, BUT ALSO JOIN THE FIGHT. WE MUST USE ALL THE WEAPONS AT OUR
     DISPOSAL: TRUTH, JUSTICE, REVENGE.
    The language is more aggressive than anything I’ve read on a tribute site. The people – or person – behind Burning Truths sound unbalanced . . . but perhaps it’s anger
that’s changed them. I know what that does to people.
    I scroll down past the news update.
    BACKGROUND: TIM ASHLEY, A STUDENT OF HISTORY AT GREENWICH UNIVERSITY, HIT PUBLIC ATTENTION AFTER HIS GIRLFRIEND, MEGAN LONDON FORSTER, APPEARED IN THE SING FOR YOUR
     SUPPER TV REALITY/TALENT SHOW. HE APPEARED UNCOMFORTABLE IN THE LIMELIGHT WHEN HE ACCOMPANIED HIS GIRLFRIEND TO PREMIERES AND A-LIST PARTIES.
    BUT FORSTER’S MURDER (21 MAY 2009) BROUGHT EVEN MORE UNWELCOME ATTENTION. THE MEDIA, APPARENTLY ACTING ON POLICE TIP-OFFS, MADE ASHLEY PRIME SUSPECT. HOWEVER,
     REPEATED QUESTIONING BY DETECTIVES DID NOT RESULT IN ANY CHARGE, AND ASHLEY HIMSELF MAINTAINED A DIGNIFIED SILENCE.
    I’m not crying anymore. It’s as though someone has read my mind. Does the person behind this site have inside information? The policeman was right: this is obviously written by
someone who knew Tim.
    ON THIS SITE, WE’RE KEEPING THE FAITH. WE HAVE EVIDENCE – REAL EVIDENCE – THAT CASTS DOUBT ON THE LEGITIMACY OF THE WITCH HUNT THAT TIM HAS ENDURED.
     OVER TIME, WE WILL POST THAT EVIDENCE. THE REAL KILLER MUST BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE SO THAT TIM’S NAME CAN BE CLEARED – AND NO ONE ELSE WILL DIE.
    The only person I know who shared my doubts about Tim’s guilt is his flatmate. Yet this doesn’t sound like Ade. He was always calm and logical, helping me to speak to Tim on the
phone about my suspicions, and helping Tim to stay sane.
    And Ade was the one who found Tim’s body just a few hours ago. He must be in pieces. I can’t imagine that the first thing he’d do would be to post an announcement on a
website.
    At the bottom of the page, there’s a comment button:
    BURNING TRUTHS BELIEVES THAT TIM ASHLEY IS INNOCENT. HELP US PROVE THAT! IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING AT ALL THAT MIGHT CONTRIBUTE TO THAT OBJECTIVE, PLEASE POST BELOW. EVEN IF
     YOU SIMPLY BELIEVE, LIKE US, THAT HE WOULD NEVER HAVE HARMED ANYONE, ADD YOUR VOICE TO OUR CAMPAIGN. WE NEED YOUR HELP. REST ASSURED, YOUR CONTRIBUTION WILL BE ANONYMOUS: MEGAN’S KILLER
     IS STILL OUT THERE AND WE WILL PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY AT ALL