ROPEVILLE REVENGE

BY TURNER2CORNERS

[ part 5 ]

A tall man walked to the stand, he was about 40 years old, as he walked past Victor, he smiled, it wasn't a nice smile, Victor was concerned, he hadn't seen this man before, and his evidence was in two parts, his own testimony and video footage.

The prosecution started, "Please give your name and your occupation."

The man smiled, "My name here is Mr. Paul Purple and I'm currently employed as a school teacher at the girl’s school."

She smiled at him, "And was this by your own choice?" she asked.

He gave a small grin, "No, it was part of my sentence as community work, one of my former jobs was as a teacher, and there was a vacancy in the school, the decision was made to use my knowledge to the town’s advantage."

"Now Mr. Purple why were you sentence to this strenuous work?" There was a titter from the audience in the court; the judge banged her gavel to maintain order.

Paul looked at Victor, "I was convicted of kidnapping a citizen of Ropeville, with the intent to turn her into a sex slave for the amusement and control of Mr. Victor Jones."

The prosecutor pushed the point, "And what was the name of your victim?"

Still looking at Victor, Paul replied, "Melody Jones."

The prosecutor started to sound relaxed with her next question, "Why did you come here?"

"A few days after I'd taken her, I found out that there was a manhunt out for her killer and that of her two servants, although they weren't called that, my normal contact had shut himself away from me and so my only recourse was to contact a previous client, she put me in touch with the police station here who arranged for my," He shrugged at this point, "Capture, I suppose would be the word for it."

The prosecution asked, "And what of your victim?"

He smiled at her, "Melody? She was taken to the hospital for observation, however she wouldn't get to sleep before she'd seen me, I understand she's fine now and with friends." He looked into the crowd and smiled at someone; Victor turned around but couldn't see who.

The prosecution nodded, "Right enough about why you are here, how did you become involved with Victor Jones."

Paul sat back and started to talk, he explained how he'd received a phone call setting up the deal, he didn't give any details about the person who phoned, he just called him a go-between, he went on to say how he didn't like the feel of the plan, but decided to go ahead with it, then he described his meeting with Victor, how he'd set up the cameras first to ensure that he'd have the meeting on video, and how he'd gotten the plans to the house where Melody was sleeping. He went on to describe the kidnapping, of keeping Melody in a cage in his basement, how he'd planed to convert her from a frighten girl into a sex slave, then how the whole plan was shelved when Victor said that he'd killed two people in the house and that the police had found a body which Victor had identified as Melody's, when he was passed onto the police at Ropeville, he realised that this was their only hope, and so he placed himself into their hands.

The prosecutor then pressed the point, "So you met with Victor Jones whilst planning your kidnap?"

Paul nodded, "Yes I did, I wanted to see the person who was paying for this, and I needed to check my feelings."

"And what was your opinion of the person?" she asked.

"I wouldn't trust him, he'd try to smile to your face and stab you in the back." Said Paul evenly, Victor glared at him, trying to kill him with his eyes, but still the power didn't emerge, he must be protected by another god Victor decided, but then he knew that he'd have his revenge on him.

The prosecutor turned to the judge, "Your honour I have no further questions for this witness, I do have recorded evidence that I would like to show, but I want the defence a change to cross-question the witness first."

The judge nodded and said to Victor, "Do you have any questions for the witness?"

Victor stood up and, trying very hard not to snarl, said, "You say you recognise me from our meeting?" At Paul's reply of yes, Victor said, "So what was I wearing at the time?"

Paul's reply was so accurate that Victor could feel his position being threatened, a cloth cap, dark glasses, a thick coat and leather gloves. Was the reply, the fact that the meeting was set up in the dark made the glasses even more of a risk, but Victor had wanted to ensure that he couldn't be recognised.

"That was a strange thing for me to wear to a meeting." Victor commented, "Why do you think that person was dressed like that?"

Paul's voice was calm, "To ensure that I wouldn't be able to see his face, however he made the mistake of driving your car, and having the outline of your ring in the glove, so I can say that it was you I met in the woods at that time, you told me to call the girl dell so that she would know it was you." Victor was triumphant, he got it wrong, and this was all he needed

"No that wasn't me, I told you to call her Mel! Not dell." Then he went quiet as he realised what he'd said, "I mean I would have told you to call her Mel, but I didn't as I wasn't there!" he flustered. He looked at the judge, "No further questions." And then returned to his seat.

The prosecution rose and then said, "Mr. Purple, what did you do before the meeting with the person calling himself Victor Jones?"

Paul straightened himself in the chair, "I set up a few cameras to record the incident, they were low light sensitive and self focusing, I had them trained so that they would see into an open window, I had a microphone and recorder on my person, recording to digital disk."

"Why did you do that?" she asked him.

"Because I didn't trust him, and wanted him to commit himself on tape, he didn't even ask if I was alone, he just turned up!" Paul said.

"What did you do after the meeting?" She asked.

Paul shrugged and said, "I waited for another hour, just in case he'd left any friends around, packed up my camera and returned home, I made copies of the recording, ensuring that I had a good enough picture of the face, well, what I could see of the face anyway, and then matched up the words with the pictures, I kept the originals as well so that it would be easy to see how the whole lot was put together, these were later picked up by my rescuers, and they've verified the contents and have the film ready to show now." Paul looked at Victor, who was seething away now, he didn't know about the camera when he met the pervert in the woods, something he'll have to look out for in future.

The prosecution looked at the judge and asked if the film could be run, the judge gave her permission, then the most damming part of the film was played, Victor heard his voice say

" . . .and don't forget to call the bitch Mel, so that she knows I've sent you." The prosecution asked for that part to be replayed twice, and then looked at Victor,

"'Call her Mel!' wasn't that what you said earlier Mr. Jones?" her voice was tinged with sarcasm as she spoke, "It seems you knew about that as well!" She turned to the judge, "No further questions for this witness."

The judge looked at Paul and smiled, "Thank you for your time Mr. Purple, I think you'd better return to your class now."

Paul nodded, "Yes your honour, I left them studying knots, I just hope they haven't gone too far with their subject!" he smiled and left the room, Victor notice that an officer followed him.

The prosecution counsel then announced her next witness, the blonde girl Victoria, Victor had skimmed over her statement, he'd never heard of her until he'd arrived in Ropeville, and didn't see that she could have anything of importance to add.

The judge asked the girl if she knew the difference between right and wrong, and if she knew that she wasn't to lie when in the court room, she answered the questions without hesitation and was allowed to be questioned.

"Veronica, you know Melody don't you?" at Veronica's answer of 'yeth' she still had that childish lisp, the counsel continued, "How did she feel when she was kidnapped?"

(I won't include the lisps in this - my keyboard won't let me!) "She was very frightened, because she went to bed on night and woke up in a cage the next day, there was only a man with her at times, she was scared but he was a nice man, not like her uncle who didn't have time for her, this man, Mr. Purple, listened to her and hugged her like her daddy used to.

Then one day the cage was open and the man was asking her about the next two important people in her life, and how they'd been killed, and then she found out that the police thought she'd been killed as well, the man contacted Elizabeth, who she knew and liked, she spoke to Elizabeth for a long time while the man was away from the room, Elizabeth said that she could get Melody here where she'd be looked after. Melody found out while she was here that her Uncle had killed them all."

The prosecutor looked at her sharply, "When did she find this out?" she asked the girl

"Last night!" The reply came, "When she went into her uncle's hotel room and asked him."

"Was there anyone else in the room at the time?" She was asked, Veronica nodded her head and pointed to Stephanie, Victor was satisfied Stephanie wouldn't say anything against him, not if she knew what was good for her! The prosecution passed the cross-examination over to Victor who stood up, he knew how to control people, girls especially.

"Are you comfortable there Veronica?" He asked her, she nodded and then her spoke to her, "You understand that girls who tell lies are punished don't you," she nodded, "and what punishment will you receive for the lies you tell here?"

She just looked at him, there was something in her blue eyes that he couldn't read, she then spoke calmly, "But I didn't lie. I've told the truth!"

Victor then turned to the people in the courtroom, "And how can you say with such authority how my niece felt or reacted, when you weren't in the room with her, and when I've never seen you before!" He was smiling away, secure in the knowledge that he had broken their attack.

"Because uncle," The young girl reached into her mouth and removed a brace that was causing her lisp, "I've had people helping me." She reached up to her head and removed the blonde wig that covered her brown hair. And Melody was sitting in front of him. "And you told me last night that you killed mummy and daddy, you were so happy that you did that! And that poor girl, you didn't even know her name, she was just a thing to use, as you were going to use me!" she spat out the last, which infuriated Victor; he drew back his hand to hit his niece.

There was a heavy weight on his back, stopping him from rising, his left arm felt as if it was broken and the right arm was held firmly behind him, a voice spoke into his ear, "If you had harmed Melody you would be dead by now. I wish you had!" he recognised Stephanie's voice, but somehow it wasn't her! The pressure on his arm was too much for him, and his powers weren't helping.

The judge's gavel banged twice.

"Order, Usher get medical attention for the accused, the court is adjourned until tomorrow when this case will resume." And that was the last he heard before blacking out.