“…. But he didn’t know who I was. He said he was going to sell us as a pair. He started to….”
She looks down, her voice breaking, “…. handle me… They were… they were going to rape us, ‘break us in’ he said, so we’d be ready for his buyer. But Charlotte said he was mad, and he’d get a much better price ransoming me back to you. Klempner didn’t believe at first that I’m your wife. But she told him to look it up on the internet, and then she said that you probably wouldn’t pay to ransom me if he’d been…. If he…. Oh, God….” She drops her glass into the water, burying her face in her hands, sobbing.
I stroke her, kissing her hair, waiting for her to regain her composure.
After a minute, she wipes her face with foamy fingers. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for. Carry on telling me what happened.”
Elizabeth nods and sniffs. It’s an endearing gesture, a little-girl sniffle, and I kiss her cheek.
“Master, let me turn around again. It’s easier if I don’t look at you.”
Elizabeth once more lying back against me, I lock an arm over her chest, stroke her face with my free hand.
She breathes deeply a couple of times, the long slow breaths of someone taking back control, then continues. “Master, Charlotte told Klempner that he’d better not handle me because you’re a billionaire and you ‘like your goods pristine’…. Those were her words…. and that you wouldn’t ransom me if I…. If he….”
I tighten my grip on her, press my cheek against hers. “I hope you didn’t believe that? It was just Charlotte being clever. Talking in a way that a criminal would understand.”
She eases….
You did half-believe it….
“No, of course I didn’t….”
But the tension still in her body gives lie to her words.
You’re so vulnerable….
“…. but Klempner did. He had his men put me back into the cell, but they kept Charlotte there with them.” And now, distress in her voice again, “Richard.… Master…. I think they gang-raped her. When they threw her back in the cell with me, some time later, she was wearing different clothes and she wouldn’t say anything. She’d been beaten, and her rings were gone…. The ones James and Michael gave her.”
Oh, God….
What do I say to James?
Or Michael?
“…. Later she seemed to feel better. She started talking, quietly so that they couldn’t hear us. She told me we were going to be taken out, and that before they got us into the truck, we had to run. I said there was nowhere to run to, that we didn’t know where to go. But she said it didn’t matter, we just had to get away, but she wouldn’t explain why….”
She knew we’d be alert for the tracer coming out from cover….
back. I didn’t understand why at first, but when they gave them back to
that all
ones were flat trainers. Shoes I could run in. Anyway, it was getting dark and they came to take us away. Charlotte whispered that
Pretend?
to put us in the truck, she set off and took me with her. We ran into the dark. There were trees, and a couple of times we banged into them or hid behind them. There was a lot of yelling and shouting as they came after us. At one point, I nearly screamed, but Charlotte clapped her hand over my
like some more
seemed to lose them, and I was breathless. So, she let me rest for a few minutes. We were in the
“A road-side cafe?”
“Yes.”
parked there ourselves
I’d caught my breath and….” Her mouth works. “Charlotte made me eat. She found food
nature to
me she’d learned to feed herself that way when she was small, running away from Blessingmoors after she’d been picked up by the police before, for stealing food….
“Yes, we saw that….”
then, when you shouted, and the other cars arrived, she just pushed me towards you. She
crying again…. “Where is she, Master? She’s sacrificed
nuzzling into her neck. “Shhh… It will be alright. You’ll see. She’s smart and she’s fast-thinking. No-one’s ever beaten Charlotte
inside, sick with shame, my gut
feel better for some sleep. And who knows, perhaps
her and carry her to the bedroom. She sits, inert, as I towel her hair, then blow-dry the worst of the damp from it, before lying
She’s in no condition to be interviewed, so I need to talk to Will, to tell him what she has told me. But I can’t leave her alone like
her hand, stroking the fingers, waiting for her eyes to close. As her lids droop,
of panic. “Don’t leave me.
I just need to make a
clutch at me, pulling me close. “Master,
Surely not?
want to make love?
They…. they made me feel dirty….” Her words have a desperate edge. Her eyes are
What have they
has been abducted before, but it was only a matter of hours before I reclaimed her. This time they have had
beautiful Elizabeth…. Wounded
face with my hands as I press my mouth to hers. Shrugging off my robe, I slide away
Will she come?
Does she want to?
does she simply want to
I'm not sure....
is it