The McCulloch Legacy - Part 3
The criminal
trio of P, C and H had read the newspaper report of their first armed raid on
the late Mr McCulloch's house and found the details very useful. Now they knew
who was who. The article had named the victims and listed their roles. Ann
Liddell was the executor, and therefore she was the one they need to watch and
follow. Unlike her, they had a good idea what they were looking for. By now
they were certain that it, whatever it was, wasn't in the house, and keeping
watch on Ann Liddell was the way to find it.
Ann Liddell
had read the account of the second armed robbery, if you could call it that.
Nothing had been taken, but she guessed that the trio
who had grabbed the policewomen, were the same ones who had tied her up two
days previously. She felt sympathetic toward the WPCs, it sounded as if they
had fared worse than her. They had apparently been tied up far more thoroughly
than was necessary, and left that way for over two hours. The article didn't
mention any spanking, so she wondered if she was alone in having been given
that treatment. Why would that be, she wondered. But then, she hadn't told
anyone about that aspect of the hold-up, and she didn't intend to. She would be
far too embarrassed, and what if it got in the newspapers. It had been bad enough, friends reading about her being held up and left
bound and gagged. One or two of her acquaintances had been rather too keen, in
her opinion, to know the exact details of how she had been tied. But now that a
few days had passed, the police hadn't been in touch with her, she was
beginning to think the coast was clear. It was time to resume her
investigation.
At four
o'clock the following afternoon she sat in the living room with a cup of tea,
thinking about what she had achieved. Her afternoon in the house, on her own
this time, had been fruitful. She had arrived, dressed for rummaging around, in
a chunky black turtleneck jumper and blue jeans, prepared for getting covered
in dust. Now she surveyed the spoils. In the kitchen cupboards she had found
the word "Eastminster" written behind some
jars on a shelf, and an apparently meaningless ten-digit number scrawled on the
wall of the larder where the solicitor, Rachel Robinson, had been imprisoned.
This knowledge was Ann's alone, she realised. Rachel had been bound and
blindfolded when she was shut inside the larder and still was when she was
brought out, so she wouldn't have seen it. She had temporarily felt that she
was in a blind alley after that. Eastminster was a
place name and the name of a bank with branches all over the country. The
number didn't suggest anything, it wasn't a phone number. She made herself a
cup of tea, having remembered to bring teabags and a carton of milk with her,
and sat in a soft, if rather old, armchair to think about the possibilities.
One thing that she found gave her some food for thought. In a bedroom draw,
under some sheets, she found a set of handcuffs. Must be something to do with
those policewomen, she thought. She opened them and studied them. There was a
key in the hole, and she couldn't resist opening them. They felt very heavy and
unforgiving, but she couldn't help wondering how it would feel to be wearing
them. Part of her wanted to put them on, close them up and then open them. But
what if they wouldn't open, how embarrassing that would be. She quickly
banished that notion but took them downstairs and put them in one of the
kitchen drawers, with the cutlery . Maybe she would
tell the police about them later. During her search she had looked in all the
draws in the sideboard and found plenty of letters to Mr McCulloch, including
bank statements showing pitifully small balances. Then she remembered that one
draw had been empty except for a 45 rpm record. She couldn’t remember the
title, but it was by Shakin' Stevens. She got up from
her chair and crossed the room. Removing the record from the draw, she turned
it over. Green Door! It suddenly struck her that there was not a record player
in the house. Everything suddenly fell into place. The two cupboard doors in
the kitchen were painted green. She needed to find more green doors. Eventually
she found one in a bathroom on the top floor. She opened the bathroom cabinet
and sure enough, there was something pencilled on the painted wooden board at
the back. SD, Victoria Street, it read.
It didn't
take much imagination to figure it out. She knew there was an Eastminster Bank in Victoria Street, SD could refer to a
safe deposit at that bank. She decided to pay them a visit in the morning. It
was too late in the day now. As she was about to open the
front door, the metal letter box, fixed behind the door, caught her eye.
She hadn't looked in there, she wondered if anyone had. Indeed there was a
letter inside, addressed to Mr A. McCulloch. She grabbed it and rushed back to
the living room, which was much better lit. What she read was the missing piece
of the jigsaw. It was a letter from the bank reminding Mr. McCulloch that the
annual fee for his safe deposit box could not be deducted from his now empty
current account. It all matched what she had found written behind the green
doors. As the executrix, she could legitimately go to the bank and take the
contents of the box. It was all she needed. Her elation was short lived though,
when she thought she heard footsteps on the pebbles outside. She remembered her
previous visit and panicked. Who was out there? She certainly wasn't going to
open the door to find out. Without going near the window she left the room and
went to the front bedroom. Furtively peering out she
saw a man walking out of the gateway, in no great hurry. He was wearing a brown
bomber jacket and dark jeans, and didn't look like one of the gang who had
captured her. As she watched she saw, through gaps in the hedge, that he was
walking off up the road, but by now she was unnerved. Memories of being caught
and tied up in this house, and the time she had spent lying bound and gagged on
the kitchen table, came flooding back to her. She hurried downstairs, grabbed
her jacket from the coat rack in the hall and left in a hurry. She drove the
other way so as not to be seen by that man. She realised he could be completely
innocent, but what if he wasn’t. The gang could still be watching her. She
tried not to think about that.
It wasn't
until Ann reached home that she realised she had left all the letters and
documents behind in her panic. She decided to pay the bank a visit the next
morning and she would call at the house and collect them on her way there.
The next
morning, soon after 10 o'clock, Ann was back in the house and was preparing for
the day's business. She had collected up all of the papers that she had left
behind the previous afternoon and put them in the black leather brief case that
she had brought along. It was one of her husband's old ones, but it looked
professional enough. As for herself, she was dressed much more formally than
yesterday. She had taken note of the way the solicitor, Rachel Robinson,
dressed. Under a knee-length black trenchcoat, she
was wearing a pinafore dress in a grey and green tartan pattern over a pale
green blouse with a button-down collar, with a neatly knotted dark green
necktie. A hint of the yuppie with a touch of the demure.
She hadn't been sure which shoes to wear, and had settled on a pair of black
calf-length boots with two-inch heels. Ann had chosen the boots with heels
because she secretly thought of herself as dumpy, and needed all the confidence
she could summon up for the morning's visit to the bank. They had sounded
helpful enough on the phone, twenty minutes ago, but that didn't mean they were
going to give her the box just like that.
Snap out of
it, she thought to herself. I am the executrix and I've got the documents here
in my case. What can go wrong? Seeing raindrops on the window, she buttoned her
raincoat, opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch.
"Good
morning Mrs Liddell" said a familiar but unwelcome voice. Three figures
stepped from the sides of the doorway, two from the left and one from the
right. "Back inside" said the woman. The taller of the two men took
hold of her upper arm and guided her back inside the house. Behind her, one of
them closed the door.
"Don't
worry, just do what we say and you'll be safe. We want what's mine and it's best if you co-operate. My friends here are
armed". Ann recognised the three intruders who had captured her a few days
previously. The shorter one was the one who had groped and spanked her when he
was left alone with her. She was frightened, but they hadn't seriously hurt
anybody last time, apart from that. She studied them quickly. The two men
looked superficially alike. Both were about six feet tall, one slightly taller
than the other. Both had fair hair, but the shorter man was losing his much
faster. Both had beards and Ann noticed they were of about the same length. Had
they both grown beards at the same time? She hadn't noticed this last time. Was
it a ploy to confuse witnesses? Probably, as both were wearing blue denim
jackets over black tee shirts and blue jeans. The woman, who had been the one
giving the orders, was
wearing a grey pinstriped business suit, with a white high-necked
blouse with a big bow, and low-heeled black shoes.
She addressed
Ann in a quite friendly tone, which contradicted the facts of what she was
saying. "Look, I think you've got something that is by rights mine.
There's no need for anybody to get hurt, so perhaps you will give me the case
and tell me about what's inside. You see we've been watching you, there are
just some fine details I want to know about".
Sensing no
obvious threat Ann replied scathingly "What if I choose not to?"
P continued
smiling as she replied "Well, we will have to lock you in a cupboard. And
there's nobody here to find you. Wouldn’t like that, would you?"
Ann realised
with a sinking feeling that she should have expected this. She thought for a
moment, then an idea struck her. "Fair enough, I
don't object to sharing. Why don't we all go to the bank.
I've made an appointment to see Mr Henshaw about a
safe deposit box, to withdraw the contents. I've got the letters in my case. We
can all go, then when we see what's in it we can talk about who gets
what". Ann’s reasoning was that if she could get them away from the house,
she stood a chance of escape. The prospect of being given a share of whatever
was in the safe deposit would entice them to accompany her to the bank. She
planned to jump out of her car at traffic lights perhaps, or once in the bank,
tell the staff to call the police.
She was quite
pleased with her plan for a moment, until P spoke up. "
Well thanks, Ann. That's generous of you, but I've got a better idea.
We, me and one of the guys, will go to the bank, I'll be you, and I'll get the
box. You can wait here with one of these chaps to look after you".
"You
can't do that. You won't get away with impersonating me" Ann began
angrily, but her voice fell silent as she realised that P could actually do
whatever she wanted while her two henchmen were here .
P grinned at
her, an unpleasant grin. "I can, I will. Or should I say we will, because
we're a team, us three". Ann glanced at the two men, who seemed to be
giving each other a funny look. "We've all got our skills. H for
instance" she gestured toward the man who was holding Ann by the arm.
"He's good at tying people up. You met him the other day. Now he's going
to tie you up again. Tape you up actually, it's much quicker. He prefers to use
rope but we haven't got all day ,and he's such a
perfectionist. You can start taping her now", she nodded to the man. He
released his grip on Ann's arm and produced a roll of silver tape from his
pocket
Ann couldn't
just let this happen, she had to speak up. "This is silly, and it's
illegal. You can't just stand there and tell him to tie me up. You won't get
away with it, the police are already after
you".
The woman
laughed "If you don't want to get hurt, I would suggest you do as we say.
There's three of us and one of you. And we're all bigger than you are, aren't
we? So start by taping little Annie's hands behind her back,
then tape up her whining mouth".
Ann stood
there silently fuming as the man took her hands and drew them behind her back.
He pushed her shirt cuffs up and began to wrap the tape tightly round her
wrists, against her bare skin. That wasn't going to be pleasant when it came
off, she realised. He stepped in front of her, smiling, and pressed a strip of
silver tape across her lips. And then another, diagonally, and then another,
slanting the other way. Smoothing it down, he said "There. One whining
woman, silenced"
He stood back
from her, and all three stood looking at her. She realised with some
embarrassment that they were indeed all taller than her. "She'll be all
right on the sofa" said the woman. "Go through into the living room
and sit down, Annie" Ann looked at her disdainfully. "Go on, or do we
pick you up and carry you". Ann turned and walked slowly into the room,
followed by the others, noticing her reflection in the full-length mirror in
the hallway as she passed. Seeing herself with her hands tied behind her back
and her mouth taped reminded her of a scene from a television thriller, there
was something exciting about it. She continued into the living room and sat
down as gracefully as was possible with hands tied behind her back.
"Mr. C
and myself are going to the bank, and Mr. H will keep you company" the
woman explained, speaking directly to Ann. "Just to make sure you don't
come to any harm. Between ourselves I think us ladies need a man around to look
after us, don't we ". So saying, she collected the brief case and left the
room, followed by the shorter of the men. The man who spanked me, thought Ann,
at least I haven't been left with him. She glanced at the other man, wondering
if she was any safer with him. Was she going to have to endure some painful
indignity at his hands?
He grinned at
her as if he knew what she was thinking. "Might as well watch some
TV" he said. "Not much chance of stimulating conversation, is
there?" he walked across the room and turned the set on. A political
discussion was being shown, but he suddenly turned to Ann and said "better
finish with you, you could easily run away while I'm keeping up with current
affairs" He disappeared to the kitchen for a moment and returned carrying
the roll of tape. Oh hell, what else he is going to do to me, she wondered. He
squatted in front of her. "Feet, please" he said, but without waiting
he pulled her feet out in front of her, tipping her backward momentarily. He
placed them together, crossed at the ankles so she wouldn't be able to stand
up, and wrapped the tape round them five times, tightly. Then he sat down next
to her and turned her sideways, looking at her taped hands. He pulled more tape
from the roll. "Clench your fists for me, I just
want to make sure you don't use your fingers". What the hell, she thought,
doing as she was told, she was in no position to resist. Soon her hands were
wrapped in a glove of sticky silver tape. "Better save some for
later" he muttered. "You'll see. You're safe with me by the way.
You're very nice but you're twenty years too old for me". She didn't know
how to take this, but it did mean she wasn't going to be groped against her
will. Once he had finished, to her relief, he sat down in one of the armchairs
and watched the television, glancing at her occasionally but saying nothing. As
she sat there, she wondered how she was going to get out of the situation.
Presumably they weren't just going to release her when they got back. Past history
suggested that they would leave her here, still bound and gagged. How long
would it be before she was missed? Her husband Ronald wouldn't notice, he only
noticed if his business or his golfing was likely to be affected. But that's
why I'm divorcing him once the business of this house is finalised, she
reminded herself.
Ann had sat
watching a succession of boring programmes, with her silent guard, for an hour
and a half. She wasn't in pain but she was getting stiff from sitting in one
position for so long, and she was getting thirsty. She didn't normally go this
long without caffeine. She was getting too hot, sitting here in her buttoned up
and belted raincoat. And she was starting to feel like she needed to pee. She
had experimented with the tape around her clenched fists and thought she had
succeeded in loosening it slightly. She dared not put too much effort into this
for rear of attracting the attention of her guard. She guessed he would take
pleasure in tying her up even more securely if he thought there was a need to.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a car arriving outside. H jumped
to his feet and went to the front door, shutting the living room door. Behind him. Ann could hear raised voices, male and female, a heated argument was taking place. It sounded as if
a scuffle was taking place. The noise gradually subsided. Eventually the door
flew open. Ann's eyes almost popped out as she saw the two men dragging P into
the room. "You two are going to die" she shouted. "Don't think I
won't track you down".
There had
been a change of circumstances here, Ann realised. Where
previously P had been calling the shots, now she was the prisoner of H and C.
The rest of H's roll of tape had been used to bind her hands and arms behind
her back. For good measure her buttoned jacket had been pulled down over her
upper arms. She was trying to struggle but she was too tightly taped for it to
have an effect. C was still holding the flick knife he had used to subdue her
while H did the taping.
"Should
have left some for her mouth" said C, exasperatedly. "Maybe a good
spanking will shut her up"
P, going red
in the face, turned to him "Don't even think about it. I'm going to have
you killed, but if you touch me it will be so much slower and messier. Both of you!"
"Come
on, get her into the cupboard” said H, looking somewhat apprehensive, as if he
feared that this threat might one day materialize. Ann watched in amazement as
the trio went out of her field of vision. She heard a door being opened, one of
the kitchen cupboards, then some sort of a scuffle, then P shouting "Owww! You're going to be so sorry for that" the last
few syllables being drowned by the sound of the door slamming.
The pair came
back into the living room. H looked down at Ann " Just
so you know, there was a safe deposit, with diamonds in it. At least, she says that’s
what they are. So we decided on a fairer share-out. After all it's us two that
take the risks, do the assaults and robberies. You miss out too, but your help
has been appreciated. Been nice meeting you".
With those words they left the room. No briefcase, Ann noticed. It must be in
P's car. Two minutes later she heard that car being driven away.
Some ten
minutes had passed in which Ann had listened to P kicking and banging against
the cupboard door. She was no quitter, Ann thought. She was making quite a
noise for somebody whose arms were taped behind her back. Eventually it paid
off.
Now she stood
in front of Ann, red faced, breathless, a lock of hair falling over one eye.
She was still securely bound, Ann observed, she must have kicked the door
open."We need each other, you and I. Lets bury
the hatchet. I can get you the diamonds, we can share them, but I can't get
loose from this tape on my own, and nor can you. So are you up for it? What do
you say?" She looked at Ann as if expecting her to speak. "You don't know it but you owe me
one" she continued. "If I'd left you with the other guy this morning,
you'd have spent some time over his knee, getting your bum spanked. I'm guessing
you wouldn't like that much".
Ann couldn't
believe what she was hearing. It was as if this woman had forgotten that, this
very morning. Only two or more hours ago, it was her who had ordered her
henchmen to tie Ann up, and had then stolen her briefcase. And it was her who
had held Ann and her solicitor and estate agent up at knifepoint.
As if reading
Ann's mind, she continued "these are your two choices. We get ourselves
untied and when we track those two down, we share the diamonds. The other choice
is that I walk out of here, taped up like this, and tell whoever finds me that
my car's been hijacked. And I won't tell them you're in here. You can't go
anywhere with your feet tied, you'll stay here till you rot. So nod if you like
my first idea".
Everything
she said was true, Ann realised unhappily. She could be left here for ages. She
didn't trust this woman, who was the architect of all the bad things that had
happened to her. But she really only had one option. She looked P in the eye
and nodded, without much enthusiasm. P acknowledged her agreement and moved
closer to her, turning her back. "Let's start by getting the tape off your
mouth. Put your face close to my fingers".
About half an
hour later, both women were free. Ann had endured P pulling the tape from her
lips without flinching, then sat patiently while P walked into the kitchen.
They had guessed that the draws in there contained some sharp instruments, and P soon returned
with a wooden handled carving knife clutched in one hand. Ann couldn't use her
taped-up fingers so P had sawn through the tapes binding her wrists. Freedom
had come at a price however, the blade had sliced into
Ann's wrist at one point.
Ann decided
to take the initiative. "Tell you what we do now" she said as she draped
the last few feet of crumpled tape over the back of the sofa. "I'm going
to the bathroom, and
I'm going to see to this cut while I'm up there. You make us a cup of tea, and
we can drink it while you tell me how we're going to get the diamonds
back" Ann had taken her raincoat off and laid it on the dining table. Her
wrist was still bleeding slightly and the cuff of her pale green shirt was
covered in dried blood.
To her
surprise P agreed with a smile "it's going to be here when you come down.
You go and tidy up"
In the
bathroom she checked the cabinets and found a small first-aid kit. She stuck a
plaster over the cut, washed her hands and patted her hair back into place. The
unsightly bloodstain on her cuff caught her eye, so she rolled both sleeves up
past her elbows. That looked better than dried blood. It wasn't that important now, she wasn't going the bank now. It suddenly occurred to
her that P might have come across the handcuffs in the kitchen draw. She had
forgotten all about them since yesterday. Don't let that happen, please, she
thought. But they were on the same side now, P was
even now making her a drink.
Back in the
living room P was sitting in an armchair opposite the sofa, and two small cups
of tea sat on a coffee table. Ann sat down on the sofa. The lengths of tape
were still over the back of it. I'd have moved all that, she thought. She took
the cup nearest her, had a sip, and then drank it down. She really needed that.
P smiled and rose to her feet. "I need more sugar in mine".
When she
returned Ann had just put her cup down in the saucer, and was completely taken
by surprise when the woman grabbed her wrist, her bandaged and painful wrist.
She had found the handcuffs and now she held them in front of Ann. "Put
these on, one hand first then put both behind your back".
Ann took the
handcuffs then shouted "no chance" Snatching them away from P she
flung them away and they clattered against the wall. She intended to punch her
assailant in the face but P reacted like lightning. Twisting Ann’s wrist
cruelly she forced her face down onto the sofa, her face pressed into a
cushion. Ann was powerless to resist as the woman yanked both her hands behind
her back and began to bind them tightly with one of the discarded lengths of
tape. It wasn't very sticky now, but P was tying knots in it. At the same time
she managed to get herself in a sitting position on the backs of Ann’s legs,
using her weight to prevent her from moving away. No sooner were Ann's hands
bound than her attacker passed a length of tape round her upper left arm, then
to her right arm, above the elbows, and pulled it painfully tight. "Get
off me! Help, someone" Ann shouted, knowing it was a waste of breath. P
squirmed round and grabbed her right foot, pulling it upward and looping a
length of tape round it. In no time at all, she had done the same with Ann's
other foot, and both feet were soon bound together. Then P was up in a flash
and scrambled over to the other side of the room, where she retrieved the
handcuffs. Ann kicked out and thrashed to no avail. She was amazed at the
woman's strength and speed, which didn't match her bulk. Ann had expected to
get the better of her, but it was her who had been overpowered and trussed up,
and was now wondering what was going to happen next.
To Ann's
horror P picked up the steak knife which had so recently been used to cut her
loose, and walked back to where she lay."Don't be fooled, I can take care of myself and I can
take care of you. I'm not going to hurt you but I want those diamonds back, and
you're not going to slow me down. I'm just going to make sure you don't ".
Ann wanted to
remind her of what she had said, about how they could help each other, but with
a sense of disappointment she realised that it had just been a ploy. P had
duped her, she only needed her help to get free, and her reward was to be
treated as someone to be kept out of the way.
She was lying
on her side across the sofa, but P turned her face down and to her surprise
began to slice through the tape at her wrists. "Don't do anything stupid,
you know I'll win" she said firmly. Ann didn't understand at first why she
was being cut loose, but she guessed correctly that she wasn't going to be
freed. Those handcuffs were now being closed tightly over her wrists. Those solid-looking handcuffs that she had found and brought
downstairs yesterday. She should have left well alone. "The key will
be down the drain outside" sneered P. "Now,
this place looks a mess, tape everywhere. I won't gag you, there's no need once
I'm gone, and nobody will hear you. But I won't make it too easy for you".
"I bet
you won't "Ann muttered as P wrapped tape round her booted ankles, pulled
them up over her bottom and taped them to her cuffed hands. P passed more tape
round between her upper arms and her body, knotting it in the middle of her
back and finishing by tying the ends round the middle of the handcuffs.
"That
ought to be enough. I can't see little fat Annie getting herself untied in any
great hurry". Ann was on the verge
of pointing out that P was in no position to call other people fat, but kept
quiet, knowing how vulnerable she was. P could easily change her mind about not
gagging her.
Ann winced as
her hands were being fastened behind her back even more securely than on the
previous two occasions, but she wasn't going to plead or beg to be tied looser
or anything of that sort. She knew the woman would just find it amusing. Once
the binding was finished, P turned her over on her side so that she faced the
back of the sofa.
"Got
to go now. The
knife is on the floor. I took your car keys from your coat while you were
upstairs, seeing as those two tossers drove off in
mine. I'll leave it in a car park somewhere. Pity we didn't meet under
different circumstances, if you know what I mean"
Ann didn't
know "Sorry, I don't know how things could be different" then
immediately wished she had said nothing as she felt P's fingers on her thigh,
lifting her skirt, moving round to the front, pushing between her thighs,
probing hard. She tried to pull away, unsuccessfully. "I'm not gay! And if
I was, it would still be indecent assault. I don't want this" she
protested. The fingers probed deeper. She couldn’t get away from them. She
didn't want to be groped by this woman, but there was
a delicious feeling of naughtiness about it. It was the knowledge that she was
going to be brought to orgasm whether she liked it or not, and that as a bound
captive, she had no choice but to enjoy it. But then it all changed. The
fingers suddenly pulled away from her.
P had a
malicious streak and she was exercising it now. "No, I don't think you
should get to come, when I've got to rush off. We'll save it for some time when
we can both enjoy it. Don't forget, I know where you live. But right now I'm
more interested in tracking down those two and getting my diamonds back".
Ann went to
speak and felt suddenly breathless. "Whose diamonds?" she muttered.
"Mine"
P said triumphantly. Ann could only listen helplessly as she slammed the door
behind her, and a few moments later, drove away in Ann's car.
Ann carefully
manoeuvred herself so that she was able to see the knife. It was an effort to
do this without falling from the sofa, but she managed it. The knife lay on the
floor three feet away from her. There was no way that she was going to get
loose from the handcuffs, but she knew the knife could cut through the tape. If
she kept a firm grip she would be able to saw through the tape round her
ankles. That was the key, once that was done she would be able to stand up. She
wriggled carefully off the sofa onto her knees.
Three
quarters of an hour later, Ann sat on the sofa, exhausted. Her hands were still
cuffed behind her and there was still tape binding her upper arms to her body,
but her feet were free. The sawing at the tape had taken an age, and she had
grazed her black boots with the blade in two places, but now she could walk out
of here. She wondered what she would do outside. What if there was nobody out
there? She imagined herself walking up the road in the hope of meeting someone
who would come to her rescue. It was so embarrassing, the idea of being out in
a public place with her hands cuffed behind her back. But she couldn't just
stay here forever. She got to her feet and walked out of the room to the front
door. There she saw the first problem. The catch on the Yale lock was over four
feet above floor level. There was no way she was going to be able to unlock it
with her hands cuffed behind her back. What on earth could she do? She went
over to the staircase and sat down on the second step, feeling momentarily like
bursting into tears. Every time she came to this damned house she got attacked,
threatened, frightened and tied up. Well, not every day, yesterday had been all
right. Two times out of three. But today she had been
robbed of a small fortune and had been groped by another woman. And now she was
stuck here, locked in with her hands fastened behind her back. The back door,
she suddenly remembered. Nobody had been out there today. She got to her feet
and hurried into the kitchen. At last, something was going right. The key was
in the lock. She looked up and down. There were bolts but they were open.
Taking care not to drop the key, she soon had the door open.
************
"I don't
know how long it takes the police these days" Ann said impatiently
"You would think a lady being tied up and robbed in her house would be
pretty important. I'm really glad that you were here. Just
going out, too. A few minutes more and I'd have missed you. What did you
say your name was?"
"Er, Roy. Roy Woodman" said Ray. "Well, I suppose
they'll get here soon". He didn't know what he was going to do in this
situation. He studied the woman who sat opposite him at the kitchen table, as
she sucked some more lemonade through the straw. A pleasantly
plump brunette, about 50, greying slightly, about 5'1". Smartly
dressed in a tartan pinafore dress, pale green shirt and matching tie, with
nice black boots, and strangest of all, her hands were fastened behind her back
with some heavy-duty police handcuffs. He had chivalrously removed the tape
from her arms and listened to her account of the robbery at the house next
door. He had found the valuables he was looking for here, had been in the
process of leaving. He had been about to
close the door behind him when she suddenly appeared on the driveway. What
could he do but pretend to be the home-owner. She hadn't yet noticed the dark blue
holdall on the floor in the doorway . He had gone into
the other room found a phone, pretended to speak to the police, then prepared
her a drink, the way a neighbour would. With hands cuffed behind her, the only
way she could drink was through a straw, but luckily there were some in the
cupboard.
He watched
her, his brain racing. All that had been going on next door, while he was
carrying out a successful but uneventful burglary. He was very partial to bound
ladies, especially those he thought of as pleasantly plump. And having bound
and silenced them, he was very fond of spanking them. But this was the first
time that one of them had come to him already bound, pre-packaged as it were.
In his holdall he had as always a roll of tape and some lengths of cord. He
hadn't needed them today because the target house was empty. By his own rules,
she should be gagged and blindfolded and have her feet bound before he left
her. He was already imagining himself doing this, then
administering a spanking to her plump bottom.
"Where
are those police?" she suddenly asked, blue eyes wide. "How long
since you phoned them?" He wondered what she would say if he told her the
truth. But then he realised his options weren’t so numerous. He needed to get
away from here with the loot and she had got a very good look at him.
He was bigger
than her and he could soon have her gagged and bound to his satisfaction, but
she would describe him to the police when she was eventually rescued. He
realised there might be more to gain by doing a deal with her. "Hey,
listen. I want you to listen and not interrupt" he announced. "You
understand? Don't say anything. Do you agree?"
"OK"
she said, puzzled.
"The
police aren't coming, because I haven't phoned them. I don't live here, I'm a
burglar. Now you can help me and I can help you, or I could just tie you up and
gag you, and then leave. And remember, I know where you live".
Ann listened
open-mouthed, looking as if she might start shouting at first, but then she
spoke quietly "so if I don't help, I will be tied and gagged and left here
for who knows how long, till the people come home. What if I do help?"
"If you
agree to help, I phone the cops in half an hour and tell them you are
here"
"Can't
you make it sooner? Anyway, how on earth can I help you?"
He explained
"There's nothing to connect me with this, or with what happened to you.
When the police come, tell them the truth except for how you describe me. Say
it was two guys, describe someone off the box, Cannon
and Ball for example. Oh, and say you think one of them was named Benny. You
came here to get help, and they grabbed you".
Ann thought
for a moment. "Sounds believable I suppose. And you call the police quite
soon after you've gone"
"That's
right" said Ray "What do you say?"
"OK"
said Ann "but there's just one thing. Why would I still be here, when I
could have run outside? Wouldn't they tie my feet or something, or tie me to a
chair? They wouldn't just leave me like this. You see what I mean, don't you.
I'm in somebody's house, that’s been robbed, I don't
want to look as if I'm complicit in some way"
"Cut to
the chase" said Ray. "Are you saying you think I should tie you up
more thoroughly?" Incredibly he was worrying about the time. He had no
idea when the householder might come back, and didn't want to be here when that
happened.
Ann looked
embarrassed. "Sounds silly when you say it like that,
but yes. There must be some belts or string or something
. Have a look".
Belts,
thought Ray. Easy to find and easy to fasten. He rushed
upstairs to the bedrooms and soon returned with two men's belts. "These
will do, and it won't take long. Where do you want to go?"
"This
chair's a bit hard. I'll sit here" said Ann, sitting herself down on the
sofa. Ray knelt and passed one of the belts round her booted ankles, pulling it
as tight as possible. "You seem quite competent at tying girls up"
she said coyly looking up at him
"I need
to be in this job, Can't have them running away and raising the alarm. Now we
just need to make sure you stay put"
Ann pulled
away "Don't gag me, there's no need. I've had enough of that"
"I
wasn't going to" said Ray "but I need you up on here" He lifted
Ann's feet and to her surprise tipped her onto her side on the sofa. Soon she
was face down and he was looping the second belt between the handcuffs and her already
belted ankles. He pulled it tight so that her feet were pulled up over her
bottom. "Now that's convincing. You won't be going anywhere now, will
you?"
"No,
definitely not" she said emphatically. "Now, not more than half an
hour"
"No, and
remember, Cannon and Ball, Benny. Don't forget, I know where you live".
With that he gave her a hearty smack on her bottom and left the room. At the
door he turned and grinned at her. In spite of herself, she smiled back.
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