Captives of Cheyner Close (3 page)

She was kneeling on the small grass traffic island around which the Close road looped. Huddled about her were the rest of the Elite Society, all confined as she was by identical drawstring sacks. The implication penetrated Tara’s dazed senses. The residents had been ready and waiting for them. They’d walked into a trap.

Brilliant white starbursts began exploding silently round the huddled captives. Tara flinched and turned her head aside, but there was no escape. Every resident of the Close seemed to be wielding cameras and eagerly making a record of their disgrace; Fanning, Stan and Louisa Jessop, Jim Curry, the Indian couple Raj and Narinda Khan, Roberta Pemberton and the lesbian pair Hilary Beck and Rachel Villiers. Even old Gerald Spooner in his wheelchair.

Sobs and groans rose from the others as they realised the totality of their downfall. Gail was shaking her head in disbelief while Hazel and Daniela were openly crying.

‘Simple fuckin’ Simon told them we were coming,’ Cassie rasped, fear threatening to overwhelm the anger in her voice.

‘You said we could trust him,’ wailed Sian. ‘Now look at us. Why did I ever listen to you?’

The lightning storm of flashes died away, leaving only Fanning walking round operating a digital
camera
on video mode, recording them from every angle.

‘Simon Pye did not betray you,’ Major Warwick said with a smile. ‘We have Mr Fanning to thank for the intelligence that brought about this little coup.’

Tara could only gape in confusion at Fanning, who grinned back. ‘Didn’t you know?’ he said. ‘I build security and surveillance systems. After your first visit the other residents told me how you’d been persecuting them, so I put cameras and directional mikes in the trees round your house. When we learned about your fake holiday plan I gave Simon Pye’s place the same treatment. We recorded every scheming detail. So, still think I’m a sad wanker?’

The residents laughed uproariously, but not at Fanning. Daniela turned her head aside in shame.

Tara licked her lips, which seemed to have gone very dry. ‘What – what are you going to do now?’

‘Call the police, naturally,’ said Warwick. ‘We have all the evidence we need. This is the end for your precious little gang. What your families will say when they learn the truth I can only guess, but I suspect when what you’ve been doing becomes public knowledge none of you will be able to show your faces anywhere in this county.’

The full implications penetrated Tara’s numbed mind as Major Warwick took a phone from his pocket and prepared to punch in a number. This couldn’t be happening …

‘B – but you can’t,’ she choked out.

The Major’s finger hovered over the keypad. ‘What possible reason have we not to?’ he demanded, and there was a murmur of agreement from the other residents.

‘We – we can pay you,’ Tara said desperately.

This offer was greeted by such a growl of derision
that
Tara shrank back from the ring of angry faces. The Major scowled at her in undisguised contempt.

‘You stupid girl! Don’t you understand you can’t buy yourself out of this? We’ll get compensation for damages from you or your parents in due course. That will be for the courts to decide and hopefully it will make up for the material loss we’ve suffered. But that’s nothing compared to seeing you and your friends receive proper punishment for the misery you’ve put us through.’

‘Narinda could not sleep at nights,’ Khan said angrily, pointing to his wife.

‘Do you know how much it hurts to be called those disgusting things?’ Roberta Pemberton hissed.

‘I had to go on tranquillisers,’ Curry admitted, looking ashamed but defiant.

‘Justice, that’s what we want,’ the Major concluded. ‘And we’ll settle for nothing less.’

A fresh cheer went up from the other residents.

‘Please don’t do this,’ Gail begged, finding her voice at last. ‘I – I can see now what we did was wrong. It was just a game. We didn’t think it would really hurt anybody … We’ll try to make it up to you somehow. But please don’t tell the police. I’ve never been in trouble before. It would kill my mother …’

Her tone was so pitiful that Warwick hesitated, but only for a moment. ‘I’m sorry for any distress it may cause, but your mother will not die of shame or embarrassment. Perhaps this will teach you to choose your friends more carefully in future …’ He punched in the first digit.

‘I’ll make you a better offer!’ Tara shrieked desperately.

The Major paused. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Put the phone away, turn that bloody camera off, and you’ll find out. Just give me two minutes, then you can do what you like. What’ve you got to lose?’

The Major and Fanning exchanged shrugs. Fanning turned the camera off while the Major closed his phone. ‘You have two minutes,’ he said, checking his watch, ‘and you had better not be wasting our time.’

‘Maybe we can’t buy you off,’ Tara said, choosing her words with care. ‘But money still buys good lawyers, and whatever our families think privately about what we’ve done, they’ll get the best for us. You say you’ve got evidence using hidden cameras. Isn’t spying on somebody’s private land illegal? It might not be allowed in court.’ Tara had no idea where the law really stood on that point, but she hoped the residents were equally ignorant.

A slight uncertain murmur from the crowd told her she was right.

Fanning tapped his camera. ‘This is evidence recorded on our property. You being here now is proof enough.’

‘Actually, isn’t this road public property?’ Tara said. ‘And you brought us here and tied us up. We haven’t done any damage to your property tonight, but we could accuse you of assault.’

‘And false imprisonment,’ Cassie added desperately.

‘So it might not work out quite the way you hope. OK, so we’ll probably get fined and it will be embarrassing for us and our families. But will that satisfy you?’

Tara’s tone was measured but secretly she was terrified. Despite her assured words she had no faith in lawyers. In her mind’s eye she had an image of Hazel or Gail or Daniela crumbling in the witness box and telling everybody how she had incited them to persecute the residents of the Close. Tara wasn’t even sure she could trust Sian or Cassie in those circumstances. All the blame would be heaped on her. She might even go to prison. And even if she escaped
that
there would be the public ridicule and contempt, her picture in the gutter press being pawed over by the masses. Anything was better than that.

‘So what is it you’re offering instead?’ the Major asked.

Tara took a deep breath. ‘Why don’t you punish us? Yourselves. Personally.’

An incredulous murmur rose up from the residents, while the rest of the Elite stared at her in disbelief.

‘What do you mean?’ Fanning asked.

‘Just what I said. You do …’ she gulped ‘… whatever you want to us. Any punishment you like, as long as it doesn’t do any lasting harm. But in secret. That’s the deal. Our parents and the police never know. Call it … natural justice.’

‘Tara!’ Sian spluttered. ‘What are you saying?’

‘It’s better than the alternative,’ Tara hissed.

‘I couldn’t …’ Hazel moaned.

‘You’d let them get their hands on us?’ Cassie said in horror.

‘Would – would our parents really never need to know?’ Gail wondered.

‘I wish I’d never heard of your stupid society!’ Daniela sobbed.

Curry sneered. ‘She thinks they can get away with having their bottoms spanked and being told to be good in future.’

‘You could spank us if you wanted,’ Tara said, trying not to let her voice quiver.

‘I think we should turn them over to the proper authorities as we planned,’ said Khan. ‘It’s not right to take the law into our own hands.’

‘Isn’t that what we’ve just been doing?’ said Louisa Jessop.

‘Yes, but we had no choice,’ pointed out Rachel Villiers. ‘We had to get indisputable proof.’

‘But will it be enough?’ Spooner wondered, frowning at Tara. ‘I don’t trust that girl an inch, but she has a point. It might be the proper thing to hand them over, as Raj says. But once we do it’s out of our hands. At least this way we’d be sure the punishment was suitable.’

Khan hesitated, looking thoughtful.

‘Well, I wouldn’t mind a bit of DIY justice,’ said Roberta Pemberton. ‘But we’ve had to live with their persecution for over a year. How hard and how long would their punishment have to be to make up for that?’

‘What about as long as they planned to carry on this latest stunt?’ Jessop said. ‘We have them all to ourselves to do with as we like for the week they’re meant to be staying in Cornwall.’

‘You can’t be serious,’ Fanning exclaimed.

‘Why not?’ said Jessop.

‘Might teach them some discipline,’ the Major agreed.

‘Does she mean we could really do anything we wanted to them?’ Hilary Beck asked slowly. ‘Not just punishing them, I mean, but anything that gives us pleasure to …’

The strange tableau on the island of grass was silent for a moment as the full implication sank in. Somewhere out across the fields an owl hooted.

‘You could do what you want with us,’ Tara said quietly.

The rest of the Elite were staring at her in utter disbelief. She said quickly, forcing the first words out: ‘Please … give us time to talk. In private …’

The residents also seemed to need a recess for confidential discussion. In a body they moved a little way up the road and began debating urgently, leaving the Elite kneeling on the traffic island still confined in their sacks.

‘You can’t seriously mean letting them have – have sex with us,’ Cassie spat. ‘These are the people you hate. Look at them. It’s disgusting!’

‘It doesn’t change anything,’ Tara insisted. ‘We’re still the Elite. We can still prove we’re better than them.’

‘By being their – their sex slaves for a week?’ Sian said.

‘“Sex slaves”!’ Hazel groaned.

‘What do they know about keeping slaves?’ Tara said with contempt. ‘They haven’t got the imagination. And half of them are nearly past it. A few pokes and it’ll be over.’

‘Oh God! Do you have to put it like that?’ Cassie said.

‘Beck and Villiers are lesbians, aren’t they?’ Daniela said hesitantly. ‘You mean we’d have to do it with them too?’

‘Haven’t you ever tried it with other girls just for fun?’ Tara said impatiently.

Daniela looked surprised. ‘No.’

‘Well, the bottom line is that sex is better than punishment,’ Tara persisted. ‘And the more sex we give them the less time there’ll be for punishment. We’re young and healthy. We can wear them out. I bet they won’t be able to think up anything very original. At the end of it we’ll still be the Elite and they’ll still be nobodies. They can kid themselves that they’ve had their revenge, but what’ll they have to show for it? They’ll realise they should have handed us over to the police after all, only by then it’ll be too late.’

‘I … don’t think I can pretend to like them,’ Hazel said. ‘That sounds like being a prostitute.’

‘If we act like slaves we don’t have to pretend,’ Tara said. ‘Just do what we’re told for a week –’ she
lowered
her voice ‘– and flatter those stupid people into believing they’ve beaten us.’

There was a thoughtful silence. Then Gail said, ‘At least this way our parents will never know. It’ll be our secret. That’s something.’

‘Isn’t there any other way?’ Cassie groaned.

‘Letting Warwick call the police right now,’ Tara said bluntly. ‘Do you want that?’

Slowly Cassie shook her head. ‘No … I suppose not. But the thought of it makes me sick. It’s all your fault, Tara. When this is finished I don’t want to speak to you ever again, understand?’

At that moment Tara could not have cared less. ‘Just let’s get through it first. Are we all agreed?’ One by one they nodded. ‘Right. They’re coming back. Remember, we’re the Elite. Whatever they do can’t change that …’

The girls watched anxiously as Curry hurried off to his own house while the rest of the residents came back up the road. To their surprise they freed them from their sacks and then stood back. Fanning turned on his camera, panning it to show there was nothing between them and the main road, then focusing on the girls once more.

‘Go on, get out of here,’ Major Warwick said briskly.

Tara was confused. ‘What do you mean? Don’t you – don’t you want to punish us?’

‘You’d never make that sort of offer unless it was a trick,’ Jessop said with contempt. ‘Well, we’re not falling for it.’

‘Tara Ashwell volunteering her gang to serve our pleasure,’ Roberta Pemberton said mockingly. ‘Is that likely?’

‘But it isn’t a trick!’ Tara protested. ‘We want to be your slaves …’ she faltered, realising what she was
saying.
‘I mean, you do what you want with us in exchange for not going to the police. That’s the deal.’

‘We don’t accept. We’re letting you all go,’ the Major said.

‘Just like that?’ Tara asked.

The Major grinned wickedly. ‘Of course not. Maybe we’ll go to the police tomorrow with our evidence, maybe we won’t. Maybe it’ll be the next day. We thought you should learn what waiting for the axe to fall feels like; the way you’ve kept us waiting for you to perpetrate your next nasty little prank.’

‘No,’ Gail wailed. ‘Please don’t. I couldn’t stand waiting … not knowing … that’s cruel!’

The residents smiled grimly at her anguish while the other girls looked bewildered. Tara knew Gail had spoken the simple truth. The uncertainty would be unbearable.

Curry returned to the group. He was carrying a couple of thick reels of repair tape, a bamboo garden cane and a roll of black plastic sacks. He handed the cane to the Major and the sacks to Roberta Pemberton.

Warwick held out his phone to Tara. ‘Then get it over with. Call your families and have them pick you up if you don’t want to go back to your camp. Of course, it might be awkward explaining why you’re just down the road instead of in Cornwall, but I’m sure you’ll think of something. Or call the police, if you want to make charges against us for false imprisonment. We’re ready to chance what happens next. Are you?’

‘We’ll do anything you want if you promise not to turn us over to the police!’ Tara said, hating the desperation that tinged her words even as her eyes followed the wagging of the bamboo he held in his other hand.