One Week in May

"What the fuck are you girls doing here?"

"We are your night's entertainment."

"Oh shit!"

I panic. I don't know what is going on and I trust nobody. I have an idea.

"Sorry girls I can't but why don't you invite some friends in for a party. I opened the minibar which was stacked. Drink what you like, order in and put it on the room. Unfortunately I will not be able to stay."

The two girls look at each other and back at me, "Really?"

"Absolutely, go for it." You see, I was not paying for this.

I ask the girls for a photograph and they are only too happy to pose in front of the banquet with the jeroboam of Champagne on ice. In fact they ask me for a copy so I immediately text them an image each. Of course I do not show in the image.

I grab my carry-on and make for the door. "Bye girls." They are already on the phone to some friends.

"Thanks Mister, we wish you could stay."

"So do I; so do I."

I decide to try and get an immediate flight back to New Zealand, if not tonight then earliest in the morning. I get back to the terminal; I have the red eye out in the morning. I grab a snack from a Subway at the terminal and check in at a motel. This is going to cost me, I think, but in no way am I going to trust this little event.

The motel room was small and brightly lit. I sit on the bed contemplating what had just happened.

'Why?"

Were they compensating for fucking my wife? Was it a trap? Were they photographing this for some reason? Did these girls have an STD, or were they going to drug me. God knows it could be anything.

Whatever it was, it was not how I do business and I was disassociating myself from it straight away.

Before sleeping I get out my laptop and punched in the Wifi code the motel reception gave me. It was an E-mail to Alex confirming the meeting with Suzanne and the psychologist and asking if could it be made slightly earlier , say 3 pm.

*********

Friday 10^th May 2:30 p.m.

I am sitting across the road from Suzanne's office. I am outside in the shade with a half drunk flat white and the crumbs of an eaten Filo parcel of something with pesto and pine nuts in front of me.

The flight had been tiring again but uneventful. As soon as I got into arrivals I switched on my phone and there were the inevitable messages from Julian. I did not read them. Well, I did start to read the first one which began "You fucking bastard..." I figured there was nothing much to be gained from reading any more.

I ponder my financial situation. I sincerely hope I can get some reimbursement on what I have been spending. I wonder where Bridget is and how she is feeling.

The E-mail confirming the appointment did say the separation agreement documents had been delivered but there was no other comment. I guess she is in Christchurch somewhere. I think of trying her phone but I am not emotionally prepared for what she would say. What could I say anyway? There is more I need to know.

The book club comes to mind and what role they had in this saga. The one person I got on with in the group was Sally. She was gay and had a partner Moana. She was always friendly to me and was known to commiserate when I had locked horns with one or other of the group in the past.

She would roll her eyes and just shrug maybe squeezing my arm. I remember her saying once "Hang in there Bud; they'll get over themselves one day." I wonder why she stuck with them.

I decide, there and then, to give her a ring. She answers and on hearing it was me, immediately asks after Bridget and Lily. I don't wish to say too much over the phone but say that there are real problems and that Bridget may have got herself in a real fix and possibly on the wrong side of the law.

I ask if she can meet me in a bar at about 4pm on the Saturday. She umms and ahhs. I guess she has some other commitment but she comes through. "Yes, if you think I would help."

I think I might talk to Lily, so I ring Claudija. Claudija sounds in good spirits and is with Lily so she passes the phone over and I have one of those meaningless conversations you can only have with a toddler and their limited vocabulary. She does ask, "Where is Mummy?" That is the first time in a while she mentions her. I wonder what brings her to mind.

********

Friday 10^th May 1:00 p.m.

I am ushered into a large interview room by a young well-presented man who offers me a coffee. I choose some water instead. Presently I hear some murmuring in the corridor outside and Suzanne enters with a rather casually dressed woman who by appearances could only be a counsellor. She is introduced as Bronwyn. She has a clinical psychology degree and works primarily in the victim support arena with a specialty in sexual abuse.

She is a very warm person and I instantly like her. She is wearing no make-up; she really did not need to with her homely demeanor. She touches me and I relax a little and boy do I need that. It comes to mind that I could fall in love with this woman. Of course I wouldn't let myself do that but I enjoy her closeness and subtle musky aroma throughout the session; must be her pheromones.

There is a projector in the room and they fiddle about with the computer logging in until they find the video file they are looking for.

Bronwyn says she would talk me through the videos. She does not want me to dwell on the images too much and so there would be no stopping. The one thing she says she wants to do is glean from the videos the extent Bridget had been coerced into doing what she did. She guesses that it would be good for me to look at it from that point of view.

In preparation she begins by asking me to go through what I observed before the videos were made. I talked about the book group and the apparent distancing from me. I really did not know much about the connection between the group and Schaefer but they definitely encouraged her in her job aspirations with him.

Bronwyn is particularly interested in Bridget's apparent infatuation with Schaefer. How far did I think it went? I do not know. We discussed when Bridget stopped talking about Schaefer. I had assumed it was because I said not to. Bronwyn asks whether she had lately fidgeted in an unusual way. I raise my eyebrows. "She has but never used to. She had got so she appeared constantly nervous. She complained of headaches and stopped smiling. I took it that it was the stress of her job but I was not in any position to understand what stresses she was coming under."

"What about when she sacked you? What do you think she would have felt about doing that?"

"That was so bizarre, I guess in retrospect she must have been coerced. I can't believe she could just switch off her love. There must have been an enormous conflict in her mind. I thought she seemed, somehow detached when she did it. "

"You said that she had distanced herself from your daughter Lily? What do you think has been going through her mind about that?"

I don't know. I.... we are at a total loss to why she could do that. She has previously been such a maternal loving mother. It's almost like she has developed a dual personality."

Bronwyn begins to surmise. I think she has been compromised somehow in a most serious way; maybe she has been threatened. In fact someone may have threatened you and Lily and she is protecting you both. Let's look at the videos."

She starts to play the teaching episode. The high camera shows Bridget coming out of the en-suite dressed in the school uniform of a local prestigious private school. Schaefer is fully clothed. Bridget is much shorter than the tall Schaefer; he leans down and kisses her.

Bronwyn notes that Bridget shrunk back at this. Schaefer grabs her breast and begins to fondle. Bridget appears to be trying to push his hand away. He whispers something in her ear; it is inaudible on the tape. He takes one arm and guides her to an easy chair. He sits down first and pulls Bridget onto his lap.

He then begins to progressively fondle and caress her starting with her breasts then down, he pushes his hand between her legs and pushes onto the dress so that he could massage her mons through the layers of material.

Through all this, Bronwyn notes that Bridget is tense. She tries from time to time to stay Schaefer's wandering hands. At one point Schaefer slaps her and she stops resisting. He undoes the top buttons of her blouse and slips his hand in. He is obviously massaging her breast under her blouse and bra.

Schaefer forces his other hand down between her legs, which are held tightly together, until he can force his hand right up her skirt. He takes his hand out and places it in her mouth then into his. Bronwyn turns to me and says, "Do you find yourself getting aroused at this point." I am surprised at the question and suddenly aware of the growing bulge in my pants. My involuntary reaction is to cover my bulge with my hand.

Bronwyn smiles; "I have to admit I am getting a little wet down there myself. You do understand that she will become turned on even when she does not want to. You will see that when she is sexually violated you may likely get a hard on yourself."

I am looking at Bronwyn blankly feeling confused. I feel really guilty about it.

Bronwyn continues, "I suppose one could say that a woman getting aroused in these circumstances protects her from damage, but that would not explain the male reaction. I guess there is an unpalatable truth there; however it is important for you to understand that it is her body reacting and not her mind."

I detect Bronwyn's muskiness has become a little more pungent.

Meanwhile Schaefer has freed Bronwyn's breasts from her white bra and blouse and is squeezing and pinching her nipples to erection.

Suddenly he stops.

Picks her up and pushes her face first down onto the bed. He pushes back her dress exposing white cotton panties which he pulls down exposing her chubby buttocks. Schaefer exposes his cock and although large though it is does not appear very erect. He jacks off a little then tries to push it in. Bridget can't be very wet as her head shoots up. She winces and reaches around and tries to masturbate herself. Schaefer has another go and is able to enter this time only for his penis to plop out in a very flaccid state a couple of minutes later,

He stands up and pulls Bridget back up. She is standing there with her panties at half-mast. Schaefer leans down and rubs her mons and appears to be examining her cleft. He tries fingering her. Bridget's face winces again.

Bronwyn notes, "that was not welcome."

Schaefer pushes Bridget back onto the bed, slides down her panties the rest of the way and spreads her legs. He starts playing with her hairless pussy finally leaning in he begins to lick. Bridget's head pops up her eyes are closed. And her hand is resting on his head.

Bronwyn notes after all this time she is finally enjoying something.

This does not last however. Next Schaefer gets up; Bridget looks a little exasperated trying to pull his head back down. He walks away and comes back with a carry-on bag.

He then gets Bridget up and begins to strip her. Once naked he puts a pillow into the middle of the bed and gets Bridget to lie on it so that her bum is in the air , then he ties her wrists and ankles to the end of the bed, he gets out a blind fold and a gag and puts these on her.

Bridget seems resigned to this and does not resist but I would suspect that if she knew what would happen next she would not have behaved this way. Bronwyn stopped the video.

"I don't know whether you will want to watch this. There is over and hour of the depraved bastard sticking things in her and doing all sorts of things to her, bottles you name it. This is sadism and I can tell you Bridget is not a masochist and did not enjoy any of it. At the end she seemed to be in agony and he injected something to calm her down."

I shook my head. "I'll take your word for it; I saw the huge dildo in the still."

Throughout the video Suzanne had been in stony silence and did not say a word. She had seen the rest of the video. She looked at this point as though she was going to be sick. Looking at me, she noticed my frown of concern. "I'm sorry Alwyn. I'll be OK. I've seen this video before and I thought Bronwyn was going to show the lot. Believe you me; you made the right decision not to watch it."

"Ok, the next session is with Saks." says Bronwyn. By the audio on this one I believe Bridget thinks she is going to get the treatment she got with Schaefer alone only with the five of them. Fortunately it does not happen that way, perhaps because of Bridget's resistance."

In this session, two women, Saks and Westfield are all naked and embracing when Schaefer walks in with a fully clothed Bridget. She looks totally pissed off. Schaefer is manhandling her and she is resisting roughly. The two women untangle themselves and come over and cuddle Bridget appearing to calm her down.

There is a break in the sequence which must have been edited. The next scene is the same except there has obviously been a lot of drinking. Bridget is still clothed and the women are slowly beginning to undress her. She appears to come to her senses when she is reduced to bra and panties. Saks picks her up and restrains her as the two girls remove her remaining garments then Saks pushes her onto the bed. The image switches to the other camera which is lower down.

"I thought it would be interesting for you watching from this angle. You will see she is repeating 'no' the whole time. She says things like 'I don't want this; what are you going to do to me?' At one stage she cries out to you 'Alwyn! Alwyn! Please save me'. Other times she cries for lily saying things like 'lily you don't deserve me.' Toward the end she is repeating lily's name over and over again."

All the time Bronwyn is saying this, I am watching Saks driving into Bridget's arse from behind; half filling the screen is Bridget repeating 'no.' I feel a tear trickling on my cheek. Bronwyn says quietly," I guess you would not be feeling turned on now." I shook my head. I was now profoundly guilty for feeling that way earlier.

We sit there watching Bridget's animated face wincing and grimacing. Bronwyn finally utters, "I think I take back what I said before. Looking at her in this way, I do not find this arousing in any way. She looks at me quizzically; all I can do was shake my head, wide eyed, I finally breath out saying, "no way."

Bronwyn looks back at the screen. "You wife has an unusual colouring for a kiwi. She's got grey eyes and is that her natural hair, ash blond? "

I nod. "Her mother is Latvian. She is the spitting image of her mother maybe it is Nordic genes."

"She must be very attractive to other men, is that a problem for you?"

"Up until now, no...now well?"

"Disgust will be an issue and maybe trust is going to be really important. If you two reconcile that might be a hurdle. "

I reply, "I suspect with this trauma the opposite might be the case. Getting her out the door might be the hurdle. What else has she endured? We might be looking at PTSD here."

The video is repetitive and Bridget's cries are disturbing. Bronwyn does not include the whole sequence. It does show Saks, Westfield and Schaefer all having a go at her ending with a badly attempted double penetration by Saks and Westfield.

A final shot shocks me however and leaves an indelible image. Bridget is on hands and knees and turning and I catch sight of her abuse pussy and arse. There is a sudden spurt of cum from her pussy oozing onto her leg. I begin to retch, Bronwyn switching off suddenly. "Shit! I should have cut that."

We sit in the dark and in silence for a good five minutes. I turn to Bronwyn.

"You know if Bridget and I survive together, getting back to a reasonable sexual relationship is going to be hard. We somehow cannot go back to the same-old after this. Anything approaching the experience she has had, whether she enjoyed it or not, is going to cause her to be ashamed or disgusted by it. Do you know any good sexologists her something?"

Bronwyn said, "yes but it may well be a way off; there is going to be a lot to work before getting that far."

I suddenly I feel a burst of shame, 'the separation; why, oh why, did I proceed with that? '

We are sitting again in silence. I begin to think about Bronwyn not as a counsellor but as a woman. There is something about her warmth. She is sitting next to me as we have been watching the video and I am conscious of her proximity.

I detect through her muskiness the light aroma of some perfume. It comes to me again that I could fall in love with this woman. Yes there is an attraction there. I feel vulnerable.

I guess I am looking for some kind of sympathy and this woman appears to be compassionate and understanding. Of course I have had this feeling occasionally even with strangers, It is rare but when it happens it startles me. I have a shut off mechanism in my mind when this happens; I think of Bridget.

I think to myself, what if Bridget felt this but she did not understand you could shut it down? What if she felt this and thought, 'wow I'm falling in love'? May be she would think that falling in love was something she could not control and in a moment of vulnerability allowed herself to be consumed by it.

I put this to Bronwyn, who just nods sagely, "It could be the spark I guess, there must have been something more to sustain it. From what you have said she would talk about him a lot."

"Yes, she talked about him; his style. She liked his lifestyle. She seemed to think of it in a glamorous way."

"Would you say she was obsessed with him?"

"Yes; him and his life style."

"She was obsessed with Schaefer and it turned into an addiction, I guess."

"Why do you say 'addiction'?"

"Well remember her night with Matt Watson when she asks for help. She has been farmed out by Schaefer to another Matt Watson, but she still does not leave him."

"What are the implications of that?"

"Well think of battered women. Even after being repeatedly abused and even leaving they go back, making up all kind of lame excuses. She could be quite severely abused but she cannot bear the cold turkey of breaking her addiction. You'll have a problem getting her back."

********

Saturday 11^th May 8:30 a.m.

It seems strange visiting GCON's Auckland offices. We were here just over a week ago but it feels like a decade. I am having a coffee with the CEO. He has explained that he has been talking with the police and that has finally put the nail in the coffin with regard to the merger. The CEO is eager to hear KLCON's proposal. He knew they had heard from me and that they had a great regard for me. I blush with pride thinking of all that had happened.

He is effusive in his apologies to me. He says that he had no hand in what has happened and he had no idea until he was contacted by KLCON. He had known that Bridget was employed by Revecon and had worried that there might be some kind of conflict of interest but "THIS" as he puts it ; he knew of no precedence for what has happened.

He asks if I have been in touch with her. I say "very little"; then he said "poor Lily". I realize he seems to have more regard for lily than Bridget seemed to have of late.

That brings us to the arrival of the KLCON Deputation headed by Zikri and another executive that I have not met. Our lawyers are in the next room so we all gather and move into the conference room. A couple of the admin assistants have kindly come in and are dispensing refreshments for what is going to be an important meeting.

We break up at 11:00 a.m. in order for me to scurry out to a waiting taxi to catch my plane.

Although it seems a short meeting there is a lot of detail to go through so we are aiming at an intensive two day meeting the next week. Today the broad gist of our objectives was agreed.