Naked Corpse

One Monday morning Andrea answered a phone call from Tim's work. He hadn't turned up. Was he sick? Andrea said, sorry, yes he was, thinking that Tim had a hangover. After she put the phone down she went through to the annexe. She found Tim tightly bound in a nylon package. Becky had left him like that since Sunday evening. Andrea had to cut him free before dressing the cuts on Tim's wrists and ankles where he had been struggling to free himself. He had wet the bed. Andrea had to use pliers to cut the cock cage off Tim. His prick was very sore. His other injuries meant he was off sick for another two days.

Andrea persuaded her very embarrassed brother that Becky was too dangerous to be his girlfriend. Tim avoided her for a few weeks before Becky asserted her control over him again. Their relationship was on and off for about two more years until Andrea managed to get Tim to apply for a job at another branch of the supermarket over a hundred miles away.

Even while Becky was using Tim she had a couple of other men as substitute captives. We wondered how she did it but some men seemed to fall for her, put up with her bondage, and most of her victims even enjoyed it."

Valerie paused to drink some tea.

"We don't know as much about Becky's activities with other men," Jane said. "Unlike from Valerie's friendship with Tim's sister Andrea we didn't get the details. We knew from local gossip that Becky was still tying men up and sometimes leaving them as naked bundles for others to find. She even left one tied to the railings around a grave in the churchyard. The then Vicar found that one of Becky's victims."

"When she married Robert Ellis," Rose said, "the reports of Becky's activities seemed to stop. Robert wasn't a Tim. He was smaller and lighter than Becky. If she had wanted to tie Robert up she might have been able to do it even if he objected. Maybe that was enough for her. She had her own man to dominate every day. We felt sorry for Robert at first but that didn't last. He seemed happily married and content with Becky. Perhaps she had changed. We didn't know. We didn't really care as long as Becky was leaving our men alone."

"Any man we wanted who had been Becky's victim seemed much more content with us," Angela said. "We didn't abuse them, at least not like her abuse. We might have organised and bossed them around, but we didn't physically hurt them. A couple of Becky's former partners needed gentle care before they trusted another woman."

"But Becky joined the women's class at college," Rose said. "She found a few women who hated or despised men and they started the hotel game. Robert found out and moved out to a rented flat. After the divorce he went to Australia -- which you know, James."

Helen poured tea during the silence after Rose stopped speaking.

I cleared my throat. I was embarrassed by the revelations about Becky.

"What we, or rather we and Inspector Rogers need to know, are any names of local men who might have had reason to kill Mrs Ellis," I said.

"And why kill her now?" Helen added.

"The names? We have made a combined list of those we can be fairly sure were Becky's victims," Jane said. "We've word-processed it and if you agree we'll email it to Inspector Rogers. But which of them would want to kill Becky after all this time? What might have triggered that?"

"And we don't know who the second naked woman is," I said. "Who she is might be significant."

"And why leave the bodies where only James would find them?" Helen asked. "It looks like someone has a grudge against James. I don't know anyone who has."

"It could be a disgruntled employee," I suggested. "I and the company are reasonable employers but we do have to discipline or even fire a few lazy individuals. I've looked through the Personnel files. I can't see anyone that looks as if they have a recent reason to be annoyed with me. I've only checked three years of back records. We haven't fired anyone in that time and there have been no serious discipline cases. No. I'll go further. There have been no discipline cases needing more than a few quiet words in an ear in those three years. No one has suffered any penalties, loss of pay or anything that might cause real resentment."

"Would you like to look at our list, James?" Jane asked. "You might recognise a name."

She looked at the others for consent. They nodded.

Jane produced a sheet of paper from her handbag. She gave it to me. There were ten names on it, with some addresses. I scanned them quickly. Helen was looking at it over my shoulder.

"No. I don't recognise any of them as present or past employees. I know we employ hundreds but I would know."

I gave the list back to Jane.

"Do you know any of the women who helped Becky?" Helen asked.

Jane pulled another piece of paper from her handbag. She showed it to Helen and me.

"We're not so sure about these names. None of Becky's associates were from the village. Some on this list might be women who just knew Becky and could be innocent."

"Like the list of men," Angela said, "It is incomplete and might include people who were not involved. When we give these lists to Inspector Rogers -- we're seeing him this lunchtime in a room at the pub -- we'll be telling him that we think these might be right but don't know. We have bolded those we are reasonably certain about."

I had noticed five men's names that had been in bold. The list of women was longer but only four names were marked in bold.

"If you two are free," Angela said, "We'd like you to be present when we meet Inspector Rogers. You might be able to help him. Your statement about none of the men being employees could be useful, James."

I pointed at one of the women's names.

"Jackie Smith was an employee until her son was born. She left three years ago. Once her son starts school we might offer her a post again. She was a good worker. The others? None of them mean anything to me."

"Nor to me," Helen added.

"There's no reason why they should," Jane said. "Like us, they are from a different generation. Unless they lived in the village you would be unlikely to meet them. Here, everybody knows everyone from the toddlers to the ancients in the old people's home. In the town we know our contemporaries we met at school in the town and some of their parents' generation. We wouldn't come into contact with those older than us and younger than our friends' parents. Unless we were in a club or society that has a mix of generations we tend to live parallel lives."

"What Jane means is that you two, James and Helen, would have no reason to know what Becky and her friends were doing away from the village," Valerie said. "We knew because those involved were the ages of our contemporaries or our siblings."

"We didn't know that much until Tim's sister Andrea talked to Valerie." Rose said. "Even then we thought Tim was Becky's only seriously unfortunate victim. When Becky married Robert we felt slightly sorry for him but for a time they seemed content with each other. It was only later that we began to hear more about Becky's extra-curricular bondage."

"That's not quite right, Rose," Angela said. "Some of our boyfriends had been Becky's victims between Tim leaving and her marriage to Robert. None of them had been treated as badly as Tim."

"OK," Rose responded, "But we thought she had stopped tying men up after the marriage. We were wrong."

"Are any of the women on the list brunette?" I asked. "The second victim was brunette."

All five women laughed at me. I was surprised. Helen took pity on me.

"James? Women's hair colour can be changed frequently. My hair should be part grey. It isn't. What the victim's real hair colour is? Without a close examination, or if she had failed to treat her roots? Who would know?"

"I'm not a natural blonde," Angela said. "I should be mousy fair-haired. Sometimes I have a slightly darker colour but I wouldn't go brunette. It wouldn't fit with my skin shade."

"What we mean is that a woman's hair colour is whatever she chooses it to be, from platinum blonde through red to bright pink," Helen said. "The colour it appears to be might be natural but could have been changed. Even in our last years at school our hair colours were sometimes artificial."

"Gentlemen prefer blondes," Rose said, "so many women turn blonde. Some men like redheads. If the woman has freckles she is probably genuinely redheaded. The easiest way to be sure is to check down there."

Rose pointed. I blushed. They laughed at me again. It was a pleasant sound. I felt that they were comfortable with me. I was with them. They might be much younger than Helen and me but they seemed to be people I would like to know better.

+++

When we went to meet Inspector Rogers in the private room Helen had booked at the village pub we went over the two lists again. The four women made it clear that they weren't sure about some of the names on the list.

"Jackie Smith?" Inspector Rogers pointed to her name. "We've identified her as the second naked victim. Can any of you tell me anything else about her?"

"She was an employee," I said. "She left when she had her son. We expected her to return when he starts school. As an employee? I'd have to check with her personnel record but I don't think she was anything but a good, conscientious worker."

"She was one of Becky's..." Rose started to say.

"Becky?" Inspector Rogers queried.

"Rebecca Ellis née Roberts. We knew her as Becky." Rose continued. "Jackie was one of a group of school bullies led by Rebecca. Jackie also joined the women's study group at college. At one time I thought she might have been a lesbian. She was tall, strong and fit. She played sports and could be a dangerous opponent."

The other three women nodded. Rose added:

"Jackie wasn't lesbian but treated men with contempt. She only considered active sportsmen as potential boyfriends but didn't have much success with them. She looked great but her attitude to men deterred intimacy. I think she was involved in the abuse of men at the hotel. She could make herself act pleasantly but it was a pretence she couldn't maintain for long."

"Her husband Alan Smith is... no, was an amateur heavyweight boxer," Valerie said.

"Was?" Inspector Rogers prompted.

"As far as I know he still could be an amateur boxer. But he isn't Jackie's husband now. He walked out soon after their son was born, literally leaving Jackie holding the baby. The rumour was that the baby wasn't Alan's and he knew it wasn't. Where he is now, and whether they are still married? I don't know. Anyone know?"

Valerie looked at the others. They shook their heads.

"Oh dear," Inspector Rogers said, "Tracing an Alan Smith won't be easy."

"Unless he is still a boxer?" Valerie asked. "He would be registered somewhere."

"That's a possibility," Inspector Rogers admitted.

"Do you know anything about how the two women died?" I asked. "Or anything you can tell us? Were they murdered? Two natural deaths seem unlikely."

"I can confirm it is a murder enquiry," Inspector Rogers said slowly. "The deaths weren't natural. The autopsy on Rebecca found a large dose of a date rape drug. That didn't kill her but she would have been unconscious. She was gassed."

"Gassed?"

"Perhaps not gassed in the normal way. She was killed by Carbon Dioxide gas perhaps in a closed space with a lethal concentration of CO2."

"CO2's used a fire extinguisher, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes. A CO2 installation can be common for mainframe computer locations now that Halon is no longer produced. If a fire starts the staff can evacuate, shut the fire doors and trigger the CO2. Even if they are inside the room they should have time to get out before being overcome by the gas."

"What about Jackie Smith?" I asked.

"The autopsy on her body isn't yet done but the initial examination suggests CO2 as well. Apparently both women's bodies were much pinker than normal. That's a sign of CO2 poisoning but could also have been from dying in a cold environment. The autopsy was complicated because the indications were of BOTH CO2 and cold. It seems that they possibly died at the same time and their bodies were kept in a cold place like a morgue. That has been established for Rebecca Ellis' body."

"Anything else, Inspector Rogers?" I asked.

"Again, we don't yet know for Jackie. Rebecca's body was washed after death with dilute bleach. There are no DNA samples possible. Whoever handled her body either wore disposable gloves, or after the wash put the corpse in a body bag before dumping it. Apart from the bleach there are no traces of anything on her body except natural items from the ditch. There are no bruises, no scratches, nothing except normal post-mortem changes. There were no signs at the scene either -- no footprints, no tyre tracks, nothing that wouldn't be there. There wasn't even any old litter. What we think we know is that the bodies were dropped feet first, vertically, into the ditch from a height of about a metre. That is odd. I can't think how anyone could do that without leaving traces."

"Nothing on the ball gags?"

"They were soft squashy ones. They seem to have been previously unused but old stock last made about five years ago. They were added after death, even after the wash with bleach. Why?"

"To show contempt for them, perhaps?" Rose suggested.

"It was certainly a deliberate act," Inspector Rogers replied. "If we knew why they were killed we might know the reason for the ball gags. We have no hope of tracing the purchase of the gags. They were sold in many places. They wouldn't very effective at silencing someone. They were more like sexual toys for bedroom play."

"Becky's ball gags were hard, serious and vicious," Valerie said. "Poor Tim could only grunt when Andrea found him."

We didn't get much further in our continued discussion. The two women were dead, had been dead some time before their bodies were dumped, naked, where only I would find them.

+++

Inspector Rogers left us to go back to the Police station. I hadn't known but Helen had booked all six of us for Sunday lunch at the pub, served in the private room she had hired. She whispered to me in an aside that I would be paying. I didn't mind. I was enjoying the company of Helen and four attractive young women.

I think the four younger women tried to embarrass me by detailing what they had learned from their husbands about Becky's activities. Rose's husband Malcolm was the exception. He is a re-enactment fanatic, as are several local men. At the time he was involved with Becky he was taking part in Wild West re-enactments. He was skilled with a lasso, lariat or whatever it is called. When Becky was in his bedroom she suggested that she could tie Malcolm up with his own rope. He refused and demonstrated his skill, catching her in a loop of his rope and hogtying her in seconds. She didn't like that even though he let her go almost immediately. The relationship went nowhere.

The other three men had been tied up by Becky several times. But Becky's restraints had been less constricting than what she used on Tim. What the men hadn't known was that Becky was torturing Tim on the nights she wasn't with the others. Perhaps she didn't need to tie them so tightly because Tim was her preferred victim.

We were drinking coffee after the end of the meal. I had paid the bill for the meals and the room hire. We had been left an insulated pot of hot coffee and a jug of cold milk. Helen had booked the room until five o'clock so we weren't rushing to leave.

Valerie produced a pair of pantyhose from her handbag to demonstrate some of the knots Becky had used. She asked Helen's permission to show the effect on my wrists. Valerie didn't ask me. She just did it.

The knots were very effective. I struggled and tried to release myself but the nylon tightened. The four younger women took advantage of my slight helplessness to kiss me. It was almost impossible for Valerie and Helen to release me without cutting the pantyhose. Helen had to pick the knots apart with a nail file. She kissed me when I was free.

"We've talked a lot about Becky," I said when Helen stopped kissing me, "but what do we know about Jackie Smith? What did she do, apart from with Becky? What was her maiden name?"

"Lewis," Rose said. "Jackie was Jackie Lewis before she married Alan Smith."

"Jackie Lewis?" Angela queried. "I seem to remember that name in the local paper a year or so ago. Why?"

Valerie pulled her tablet out of her handbag. She searched for the local paper's website and for Jackie Lewis while we watched. She showed us the result.

"Here you are, Angela. You were right. A year ago Jackie was convicted of neglecting her baby son after a complaint to Social Services. The boy was fostered pending adoption. Jackie was given a suspended sentence. It doesn't appear to be a serious case, more incompetence and lack of responsibility than deliberate abuse. Jackie had left the child alone at home on more than one occasion even though her son wasn't yet two years old. Jackie's husband was paying for the child's maintenance and there was a legal separation. Alan Smith was not in contact with Jackie or their child. He claimed that the boy wasn't his baby, and had evidence that she wasn't but he had accepted financial responsibility."

"I wonder how Alan knew it wasn't his baby?" Helen asked.

"Blood group? Skin colour or even DNA?" I suggested.

"If it was DNA I think the newspaper report would have been worded differently," Angela said. "DNA is accepted as legal proof. A different blood group might raise doubts. DNA would settle any doubt."

"And you are a nurse, Angela," Rose said. "You should know."

"OK. So we know Jackie was separated from her husband," I said "Her son was being fostered and would be adopted. But what was she doing, and why was she killed? From what Inspector Rogers said it is possible Jackie was killed before Becky or perhaps at the same time. Jackie might have been the main target. Or Becky. Or someone hated both of them. What did Jackie do to her men? Do we know? Anything?"

The four younger women didn't answer at first. Jane, who had been much quieter than the other three looked at her friends.

"If no one else has anything," Jane said, "I'll contribute the little I know. When Becky was the leader of the school bullies Jackie was one of the enforcers -- one of the group who would physically beat up anyone who objected. Although Jackie usually beat up girls, she wasn't averse to attacking boys. That I, no we, know. What is less certain and mainly rumour, is what Jackie did with Becky when they were stalking hotel guests.

Jackie was still the enforcer. She was the one who would make the bondage tight and secure. Once their victim was even minimally restrained Jackie's strength could override the man's resistance to further tying. Becky became sexually excited the more helpless the man became. Becky enjoyed being a Domme. Jackie just enjoyed being cruel. On her own Jackie might have been more like a torturer, a sadist, and go beyond femdom to real abuse and injury. Becky had enough influence over Jackie to leave the men bound, embarrassed, humiliated, but not injured. Jackie on her own could be far worse.

Becky could and did seduce many men. She was attractive and was skilled at persuading men to do what she wanted. Jackie didn't have Becky's beauty or seductive talents. She looked and acted too butch. She was drawn to athletic and fit strong men who could fight her -- literally. Her husband Alan was far too strong for her. He could pick her up and throw her around. Sometimes he did. Their domestic arguments sometimes led to police intervention but it was part of their bedroom play. Neither of them would give evidence against the other even if the wounds were obvious."