The Games
Player - Home Visit
Steve had told
me about Elsie Tamworth, a famous soap actress who had retired recently to the local
area, and together we had reviewed the press reports of her and her family.
Elsie herself was in her late fifties, while she had two daughters in their
early thirties Ena and Mavis. Ena herself had an eleven-year-old granddaughter,
Vi and Vi usually spent the weekend with her grandmother, so we both decided a
visit on the Saturday afternoon would be the best way to make sure Elsie did
what we asked.
So I found
myself walking from where I had parked the car to the gateway to Elsie’s house,
wearing a brown leather jacket over a roll neck sweater, brown leggings and
over the knee suede boots. Adjusting the rucksack on my back, I looked from
left to right and then slipped around the side of the house, pausing to pull
the stocking down over my head and then to put on my brown gloves before I
checked the rear garden.
It was empty,
so I went to the side door and opened it, smiling to myself as I entered the
house. I could hear the sound of a young girl talking, and then footsteps on
the stairs as I stood to one side.
Elsie Tamworth
had long brown hair, which was greying at the roots, and was wearing an ecru
coloured cable knit jumper over a cream roll neck sweater, with a short leopard
print skirt, and brown fabric cowboy-style boots. She made her way to the
kitchen and didn’t notice as I followed her until I pressed the pistol against
her back, and said “not a sound we don’t want to alarm your granddaughter
unduly, do we?”
“IS this a
robbery?”
I smiled again
as I said “yes but it doesn’t have to be a frightening experience for you or
your granddaughter. In fact, we’re going to make a game of it.”
“Make a… Ah.
You want me to convince her this is a game?”
“I do I find it
makes things much easier. What is Vi doing at the moment?”
“Getting
changed her mother and aunt are taking her to a party later.”
“Well, that may
be delayed. Right now, I am going to secure your wrists and arms, and then when
Vi comes down, you tell her this is a surprise game, and she will go to the
party after the game. Do you understand?”
“I really do
not have a choice, do I?”
“Not if you
want her to remain calm. Slowly, move your hands behind your back.”
I slipped my rucksack
off and opened it with my spare hand, taking out a length of rope as Elsie
moved her hands behind her, and then crossed her wrists before I secured them
tightly together. She flexed her fingers and looked over her shoulder as I
removed a longer rope and doubled it over, and then passed it round her,
pulling it tight under her chest as I forced her arms against her sides.
“That’s tight,”
she said as I passed it round her body again above her chest.
“It has to be
you’re more likely to get hurt if I don’t do it this way,” I said as the rope
went round several more times, before I passed the lengths under one arm, up
and around the back of her neck, and then under the other arm. Tying the ends
off, I turned her round and allowed her to look at me, before we both heard Vi say
“I’m going to wait in the front room, Gran.”
“I’ll be there
in a minute I have a surprise for you,”! Elsie said as she looked at me picking
up the rucksack, and then suggested she walk in front of me to the same room.
“We’re going to
play a game before the party this lady is pretending to rob me,” Elsie said as
we walked in and I got my first look at Vi. She had short blonde hair, and was
dressed in a very particular style a blue halter top with a fringe from the
neck down the sides, a short white skirt with shorts underneath, and red felt
boots that came to just below her knees with a stack heel.
“Gran? You look
like you did when that gang of robbers held you hostage on the television!”
“That’s the
idea this lady is pretending to be a robber, so she’s going to do the same sort
of thing to you and then she’ll tie your legs together. IT’s like I’m acting
again, and you are another actress, all right?”
“If Mum and
Aunt Mavis arrive, will they play as well?”
“I think they
will,” I said with a smile as I helped Elsie to sit in an armchair. “Can you
stand in front of your grandmother, Vi, and I’ll tie your wrists and arms like
her.”
“Will it hurt?”
“No it feels as
if you are being hugged, honestly.”
Vi nodded as
she stood in front of her grandmother, Elsie talking to her as I crossed and
tied her wrists together behind her back. She then hummed to herself as I made
sure her arms were secured to her sides as well, the knot of the chest ropes
against her bare back as she said “so what else is she going to do now Gran?”
“Sit next to
your grandmother,” I said as I tied the knot, then let her sit back on the
couch before I wrapped the rope round her ankles and brought them together, the
red fabric lightening under the tight bands as it went around and between her
legs before I knotted the ends.
I then secured
her legs together below her knees, watching as she put her head against Elsie’s
arm, and then stood up as I said “Well, can I ask what the party theme you are
going to is?”
“The seventies
I’m wearing the same sort of clothes as Mum and Aunty Mavis,” Vi said with a
smile as is aid “Well, I need to make sure you stay quiet while I take your
grandmother for a walk round “
“No I’ll tell
you where to look, and then she can stay with me.”
I nodded as I
took more ropes from my rucksack, and secured Elsie’s ankles and legs in the
same way as her granddaughter, before Elsie told me where her valuables were,
and the combination to the safe. Smiling, I said “I need to make sure you both
stay quiet. All right?”
“Thanks for
letting me play this Gran,” VI said as she watched me take a length of white
tape off my roll and press it down over Elsie’s mouth, and then gagged her in
the same way as they both sat there.
“Now, stay
right there, all right?”
Both of them
nodded as Elsie mumbled “lhdhhnnlhf”. I watched as Vi lay down with her head on
Elsie’s lap, and then went to see what I could find in the rest of the house.
I had just
finished when I heard a car pull up outside, and I realised Elsie’s daughters
had arrived. Taking my rucksack, I made my way quickly downstairs, smiling as
they came in and I said “please, don’t say a word you don’t want to scare Vi,
do you?”
“Vi where is my
mother and my daughter,” Ena said. Vi had not been joking when she said she
looked like her mother Ena was wearing a white halter top with silver tassels,
and silver and white striped shorts, with knee length red laced leather boots.
She had long blonde hair, as did her sister Mavis she was wearing a red halter
top with tassels, a blue miniskirt, and white laced leather boots.
“Are you
robbing my mother,” Mavis said quietly, and when I nodded they looked at each
other.
“Keep your
hands in the air, and walk into the front room,” I said, the two of them
complying as Ena said “Oh my god “
“Hllmhhm,” Vi
said as she lay with her head on Elsie’s lap, her grandmother nodding as I said
“both of you, sit back-to-back on the floor, feet flat on the floor and arms
around each other.”
“Jhhssdhwtshhhss,”
Elsie said as Ena and Mavis sat on the floor and put their arms behind
themselves, their legs bent as Ena watched me tie Mavis’ wrists together in
front of her stomach. I then bound Ena’s ankles together side by side, and
secured her legs together below her knees, before I tied a length of rope from
her legs to her sister’s wrists.
Walking round, I
did the same with Ena’s wrists and Mavis’ ankles and legs, before I tied their
arms to their sides with two bands of rope, one below and one above their
chests, holding their upper bodies together at the same time. White tape then
covered their mouths as I said “Well, perhaps some suitable music for your time
as my captives?”
Elsie nodded as
she wriggled round, the others all trying to move their legs as the sound of
leather on leather and rope on suede filled the room followed by the sound of
Sweet as I started a seventies playlist, and then left them to try and get free.
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