| MELODY - LOST FROM HOME [ part 21 ] We ate lunch in the classroom again, just Rachael and I. I had told Kris that she would be needed in the afternoon, and suggested that she help with the girls project, I said that she only needed to follow their suggestions to help them out. I did try to keep a straight face as I asked this, and she quickly agreed, I told her that one of the girls was being chosen as the victim and that she might have to show the girl that there was nothing to be scared of. She smiled, "Oh don't worry I'll be able to calm down a frightened girl." She said smiling, she'd seen what my class got up to so what did she think was going to happen? I wondered. I thanked her for her helpfulness and also for the meal, she arranged for the plates to be picked up and taken back to the kitchen, she stayed with us while we were eating. "I understand that I'll be the first witness called, so that there be as little disruption to the class as possible, but it'll take at least a couple of hours," I told her, she assured me that the girls would be in good hands. The bell rang to signify the start of the afternoon period; I opened the door to allow the girls into the classroom, I got them to sit down and then spoke to them. "Girls, as arranged I have to go away for a couple of hours, your team leaders have their assignments and you all know which groups you are in." I had an evil thought, but it would help the girls out so I added. "I've decided that to make this more interesting, it will be done in the nude, so all of you will now undress." The whole class, including Kris, looked at me, Jessica raised her hand, I nodded to her. "But sir, why do we have to?" She asked, which was perfectly reasonable, so I made up an answer. "Look at it this way, one day you may be out camping at night, when a wind blows up and takes your tents and clothes away with it, you'd have to be used to working on ropes in the nude then wouldn't you?" I asked then, but many of the girls faces showed that my example wasn't working, so I relied on the normal reason. "Or put it another way - I'm ordering you to do it that way, anyone who disagrees will face punishment, okay?" I was smiling to show that I wasn't really serious, but the girls acted as if I was. Kris looked at me as if I had pulled a fast one on her (which I had of course), and then she asked me, "Should I undress as well?" I made a face of concentration and then said, "Well it's up to you. I find that the girls are more relaxed if I'm in the same state as they are," I said in a confiding tone. "I knew it!" She said, "You just wanted to see what I looked like naked!" she continued with a smile. I opened my hands. "Well, you've seen me plenty of times," I said, "So it's only fair I get a chance?" I made the last a question, she shook her head and looked at Rachael. "Can't you get him out of here now?" she asked, Rachael nodded. "Sure I can!" she told Kris, "But I think you'd better promise to follow the class example when we leave." Kris nodded her agreement. "I will do, but not with him watching me!" She said, which slightly disappointed me, but then I saw her smile and glance to the camera in the room, I turned to Rachael. "Well to keep order in the classroom, do you think we can leave now?" I asked her, she looked at the girls in various stages of undressing and nodded, I held out both hands to her held close together, she shook her head. "That's okay, I don't think I need to handcuff you." She said and we walked to the door, which I opened and allowed her to exit before me, I turned as I closed the door to see Kris undoing the buttons on her blouse. We walked to the administration office, from where I could hear voices calling out 'Yeah,' 'Go for it Kris', from which I could tell that my class was getting good viewing figures again, I opened the door to see several of the staff there glued to the television screen, I coughed, just to attract attention, one girl turned to me and smiled. "Can I help you Mr. Purple?" She asked me, I saw her name badge ' Nina' I smiled at her. "Yes Nina, can I ask that my class be left to their own devices, I've left them instructions to follow and wouldn't like them to be disturbed at all." I said and went to go, then I turned around and added, "Oh by the way, could I order a copy of the tape for this lesson, and an extra one for Kris as well." Nina looked at me and then giggled. "Certainly Mr. Purple, do you want them with full sound or music?" she asked me, I smiled back at her. "Oh the full sound version I think, thank you very much, I'll let you get back to the action." I told her after she had written down my request, I looked at the screen to see Kris walking around the various groups of girls, she had a very nice body as well I thought to myself. ----- While we were walking to the courthouse Rachael asked me, "Do you think they'll let the girls carry out your instructions?" I smiled at the question, "Yes they will, I trust the school, I must admit if I could have run my old classes like that I don't think I'd ever have gotten into this situation!" I was smiling at the thought, but was brought back to earth by Rachael saying, "Yes, but then Melody wouldn't be here - Victor would be in charge of her inheritance! I'm glad you were there for the girl." Her eyes were blazing at me, I looked sadly at her, "Even though I was going to make her his sex slave, you know if Victor didn't have his own agenda running he could have had everything, Melody would have signed any document he wanted her to, he wouldn't have had to kill anyone, and still have enjoyed his young slave whenever he wanted!" I pointed out to her. She stopped and looked at me, and then nodded her head, "Yes, even if you did! I know your work is against the law and everything, but even then Melody would have been happy." I noticed she didn't say become happy, "Her friends would have still been alive, and that poor girl wouldn't have died." I just shook my head, I don't think I'd ever get used to this town or its attitude. At the courthouse I was held in a waiting area along with Rachael, I found out that Shelly's father had been tried earlier that morning - it seems that justice works fast in this place along with everything else, I did ask after Elizabeth, but was told that she was at an important meeting and couldn't be disturbed. This bothered me as I hoped that she would be looking after Melody. "Don't worry." I was told, "She's being protected by one of us, and she's got particular instructions on how to react." This was relayed in such a cold voice that I realised that Melody was now completely out of my hand -she was now under the full protection of Ropeville, and god help anyone who tried to hurt her now! ---- After what seemed to be a long wait I was called in, I tried to see who was acting for Victor but his area only seemed to hold him, when I asked Rachael she told me that he was conducting his own defence. I shook my head as I remembered the old saying, 'a man who defends himself has a fool for a lawyer', as I walked along I saw Melody in her wig she looked at me and smiled, sitting beside her was the woman who was chained to Victors bed the previous night, she'd have no pity for Victor I could tell. I walked to the stand, glancing at Victor as I passed him I gave him a hard smile, 'you poor sucker' I thought, 'you really don't understand the position you've put yourself into'. I looked at the judge and the prosecution council, they were the same two who had worked on me earlier this week, he was in trouble. After I'd given the pledge the prosecution stood up and began her questioning. "Please give your name and your occupation." I gave her a warm smile - she knew exactly who I was but had to play it as a normal court case, and so I answered her. "My name here is Mr. Paul Purple and I'm currently employed as a school teacher at the girl's school." She smiled back at my answer and then asked, "And was this by your own choice?" "No," I said, and then expanded the answer by saying, "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?" she asked me, this created some laughter from the audience in the court; the judge banged her gavel to maintain order. I stared 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." "And what was the name of your victim?" I was asked. I kept my voice level and calm, "Melody Jones." "Why did you come here?" the prosecutor asked me. I paused for a moment to frame my answer and then said, "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," I couldn't find the right word so I shrugged and said, "Capture, I suppose would be the word for it." The prosecution asked, "And what of your victim?" I smiled at the woman, "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." I looked into the people seated in front of me and saw Melody smiling at me, I returned it, I noticed Victor had turned around as if trying to see my target. I was brought back to the court case by the prosecution council who then asked me, "Right! Enough about why you are here, how did you become involved with Victor Jones." I knew this was going to be a long talk so I sat back and relaxed before starting, I won't go through the talk - (see earlier chapters of Melody -lost from home for the full details), but I did mention about the meeting I had with Victor, and my arrangements beforehand, finally ending up with my contacting Ropeville for help and our rescue by the police force. The prosecutor then pressed the point, "So you met with Victor Jones whilst planning your kidnap?" I 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." I said keeping my voice even, knowing that it would infuriate Victor.. 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 chance to cross-question the witness first." The judge nodded and said to Victor, "Do you have any questions for the witness?" He nodded, and literally sprang to his feet. "You say you recognise me from our meeting?" I said yes to which Victor said, "So what was I wearing at the time?" I almost smiled, I had played the recordings so many times that I could tell him exactly. He tried to sound smug, "That was a strange thing for anyone to wear to a meeting." He said and then added, "Why do you think that person was dressed like that?" I kept my voice 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," I decided to add a slip to see if he was stupid enough to correct me. "you told me to call the girl dell so that she would know it was you." Sure enough he did as I wanted. "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 to me, "Mr. Purple, what did you do before the meeting with the person calling himself Victor Jones?" I stiffen by back 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 me, I decided to tell the truth on this. "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!" I told her. "What did you do after the meeting?" She asked. I 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." I looked at Victor, his face was full of fury. The prosecution looked at the judge and asked if the film could be run, the judge gave her permission, the court was witness to the part I'd set up. " . . .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 me and smiled, "Thank you for your time Mr. Purple, I think you'd better return to your class now." I nodded, "Yes your honour, I left them studying knots, I just hope they haven't gone too far with their subject!" I smiled at her and got up, no doubt the Judge would be ordering a copy of the class tape as well. I managed to smile again at Melody as I left, Rachael was back in step with me as I exited through the doors. |