The Community Pt. 02

The DA looked at me and I at him.

"Anything else?" he asked

"My client wants assurances that his daughters will be placed with his parents, until such times as he can take care of them again. He doesn't want them going into the system."

"And do his parents have the capacity to look after two teenage girls?" the DA asked. "And would they be willing, especially given they are not blood relatives?"

"I have spoken to the parents. They are willing. They had suspicions but weren't certain that Bob wasn't the biological father to the twins, but the girls have grown up as their grandchildren. It has only been the last couple of years that they had grown apart. Apparently, their mother influenced them to reject their grandparents."

"The girls will need counselling" I said. "Its going to be a massive shock and upheaval for them."

Everyone nodded at that.

The DA looked at me.

"Is there any value in contacting the previous owners of your house. The Sykes or the Griffins?"

"I don't think so" I said "They seem to be the ones that got away. I did some checking, the Sykes stayed married, and the Griffins are doing well by all accounts. Dragging this all up again for them might cause more problems for them. We have more than enough to get things rolling, and I don't doubt that if we execute search warrants on the properties, we will find enough evidence to corroborate Bob's story."

"Dave and Tracey Heron's baby has red hair also, I'll bet if we get a DNA from him, we will find that Jeremy is the father. Perhaps either or both might be persuaded to testify, with some consideration on sentence. Tracey seems to have been a victim as well, although Dave seems to have been on board from the start."

The DA nodded.

"Counsellor" he said "You have a deal. In return for his full and frank confession, your client will receive full immunity from prosecution with regards to any crimes he may have been associated with in the events to which his confession related up to but not including Murder. If anyone died the deal is off the table." Bob looked shocked.

"In addition,", the DA continued "His daughters will be placed with his parents until such times as they either reach the age of majority, or until your client is able to resume parental responsibility. I will also ask that the court give sole parental responsibility to Bob at that time."

He looked at Bob.

"I presume you wish to get divorced?"

Bob looked stunned. I don't think divorce had even occurred to him.

"I..." he began. His solicitor stepped in.

"I will advise my client on his matrimonial status. I suspect that once things settle down, he will be filing for divorce on the grounds of adultery and mental cruelty. I also expect there will be civil suits to follow" he smiled like a shark "Your deal is acceptable. My client denies knowledge of any illegal actions that have resulted in the death of anyone." He went on.

The DA turned to me.

"Write it up, then go get warrants. I want search warrants for each of the houses, cars and other properties owned by any of those perverts. I want arrest warrants for all of them. I want a protection order on those girls. If those perverts get bail, I don't want them within 100 miles of those girls, nor to be able to contact them. I also want a protection order on Bob. I don't want them within 5 miles of him. That will mean that they will all have to find accommodation away from their homes. I also want you to rigorously oppose bail on the grounds that they are a clear and present danger to society, they are a flight risk and anything else you can think of. Keep those fuckers off the streets."

I grinned at him. "My pleasure."

My first priority was the Girls. I went with Gary in his role as a social worker. We thought it would be less scary for them to be taken into care by someone they knew and maybe even trusted.

We arrived at Sheila's parents house with two officers.

Sheila answered the door. I gestured for one of the officers to make the arrest.

"Sheila Strickland?" he said.

"Yes?" she said looking at me in some confusion.

"Ma'am I have a warrant for your arrest on Suspicion of Rape in the first degree, Suspicion of sexual assault, Suspicion of endangering a minor.... He read a laundry list of charges. He finished with "please turn around and put your hands behind your back."

By this time the twins and her mother had come to the door.

"What is going on?" her mother said.

The officer was leading a stunned Sheila away to his cruiser.

One of the girls, I could never tell them apart went after them, but Gary stepped in her way. "Sophie" he said, apparently, he could tell them apart, "You and Jessica need to come with me."

"They are not going anywhere, " Sheila's mother said bristling and moving forward.

The other officer intercepted her.

Ma'am we have a protection order placing Sophie and Jessica Strickland into the care of social services pending an investigation. Please step back or you may be arrested.

The girls were loaded into Gary's car. Gary went along and sat in the back seat with them. I could see him talking to them, probably trying to explain to them what was going on. I didn't envy him that task. A female social worker had come along as a chaperone and was sitting up front.

I went into the house with Sheila's mother and with her help got the girls stuff together.

"I know your husband is just out of surgery." I said, "do you have anyone you can call to help you now that Sheila is in custody?"

She nodded "I'll call my youngest daughter. I'm sure she will come over. Can you tell me what this is all about?"

I shook my head.

"I'm sorry I can't discuss an ongoing investigation. I'm sure Sheila will be able to bring you up to speed when you next talk."

I took the gear out and put it in the trunk of Gary's car. I could see the girls in the back seat were crying now. He looked at me through the window and nodded thanks. After a moment he got out of the back seat, and the female got in. Gary got in the driver's seat, and they drove away, bound for Bobs Parents house.

We decided that we should take Jeremy next. I was certain that a search of his house would turn up far more than that of Dave and Tracey's I wanted to catch him unawares and not give him any opportunity to get rid of or destroy any evidence.

I drove into our community, with a couple of plain clothes officers tagging along behind. We walked up to his door and the officers took position either side. I rang the bell.

Beth came to the door and smiled at me. She didn't notice the two officers who were stood back from the door against the wall.

"Garry." She said "How nice to see you. Would you like to come in?"

I smiled at her. "I need a word with Jeremy, Is he around?"

"Certainly." She turned her head "Jeremy?"

"Yes?" I heard him shout, from within the house somewhere.

"Garry needs a word." She said, "Can you come out please?"

Jeremy appeared in the hall smiling.

"Hi Garry. What can I do for you?" he asked.

I nodded and the two officers swooped in. Both Jeremy and Beth were arrested. Jeremy resisted and had to be taken to the floor, but Beth just stood there stunned.

While this was going on I sent a text and four cruisers entered the street, two coming to the front of Jeremy's house and two stopping outside Dave and Tracey's.

Jeremy and Beth were loaded into separate cruisers, and when I looked down the street, I could see that the two officers had already arrested Dave and Tracey and were loading them into separate cars. The whole operation took less than 10 minutes. As they were leaving several more cars pulled in. These were the officers that would execute the search warrants.

Epilogue

The search of Jeremys house revealed a treasure trove of evidence.

Not only did he have a virtual lab in his basement. He had stocks of Fentanyl, Ketamine, GHB and Viagra. He had detailed notes of what combinations and concentrations he used for different purposes. Bob had regularly been dosed with a cocktail of Ketamine, GHB and Viagra, This, according to our expert would keep him compliant, dissociated and horny. He kept detailed notes of which drugs had been given to whom. And their effects. It became clear he was a very clever man. He could easily have overdosed and killed his victims combining these drugs, but he was careful and methodical and luckily nobody died.

It also transpired that he had begun covertly videoing his get togethers. There was hours of footage of a drugged Bob being forced to perform and being orally and anally raped by both Jeremy and latterly by Dave. At most of the get togethers it was clear that Tracey was also under the influence of something. There was no evidence that any of the others involved were drugged.

Also on Jeremys computer were pictures of the twins, taken by Sheila. She had taken them while they were bathing or getting changed. Some were clothed or partially clothed and others were naked. They spanned years, the earliest being when the girls looked to be about 7 or 8.

Under interrogation Jeremy refused to say anything at all, claiming the 5th to every question.

Beth was more forthcoming. She described how she had come to be with Jeremy after a failed marriage, how she had fallen for his charm and finally got involved with his lifestyle. It was completely possible that she had been drugged initially, but it was also clear that this was no longer the case, and she was a full and willing participant in all of his machinations.

She eventually confirmed the majority of Bob's story, telling of how she had been the one to recruit Sheila, although Sheila had required little persuasion and had been almost eager to join. She corroborated Bob's account of how he had been brought on board, using a mixture of drugs and seduction. Apparently, there was more to it than even Bob realised as in the beginning Sheila would be dosing his food with drugs daily to keep him compliant and horny. The poor guy never stood a chance.

Dave's interrogation was more confrontational. Initially he also refused to answer questions, but later on as the implications of the charges being brought against him started to sink in he began to co-operate more. He was surprised to find that he had initially been drugged and confessed that he would have gone along with it in any case. He had long had a fantasy of being a swinger with his wife. When Bob had mentioned it to him, he had been eager to hear more. He had known that Tracey was being drugged but rather than making him angry it had excited him. He wanted her to join the group and was happy that it would go ahead, even if it was against her will.

When he was quizzed about the treatment of Bob, he was more reticent. When the interrogator suggested that he might have some homosexual tendencies he became angry and aggressive. When it was pointed out that putting his penis into another man's mouth and/or anus would suggest that he did actually have those tendencies he took great pains to point out that he wasn't in fact a faggot, and his fucking Bob was merely to show that he was superior, to put him in his place. He knew Bob was being drugged and it made him feel powerful to do that to him. He didn't seem to realise that he had confessed to repeatedly raping both Bob while he was drugged and incapable both of consent and of defending himself, and his own wife while she was equally drugged and incapable of consent and defending herself. That would come back to haunt him later.

Tracy was a mess.

She, like Bob, had been drugged and coerced by Sheila, Beth and her husband. She made a deal with the DA to give evidence against Jeremy and the rest of the cabal. She didn't get immunity, but she did get a much-reduced sentence, basically time served plus 4 years' probation. Davey, her son, had been placed with Tracey's mother during her incarceration, but she would be able to regain custody of him on her release. She also filed for divorce from Dave on the grounds of adultery and mental cruelty

Sheila was unrepentant.

As far as she was concerned Bob was a worthless piece of shit and deserved everything he got. If he had been more of a man, like Jeremy, he would have stood up to him and kept her and her kids safe. She treated Jeremy like the leader of a sex cult which I guess was what he was. She had a psych assessment and was deemed to have capacity, but to be a sociopath, and to be dangerous.

At trial the jury returned guilty verdicts on all defendants.

Jeremy was found guilty of a myriad of drugs crimes and multiple counts of rape against both Bob and Tracey. He was also found guilty of possessing indecent images of a minor.

Beth was also convicted of having indecent pictures of a minor, since it was a shared computer and the computer techs had determined that some of the pictures had been saved to the computer by her. Along with her convictions for multiple counts of aiding and abetting in the drugging, rape and sexual assault of Bob and Tracy.

Dave was convicted of multiple counts of rape of both Bob and Tracey, since there was video evidence of him raping Bob on at least four occasions and over a dozen showing him having sex with an obviously impaired Tracey.

Sheila was convicted of various drugs offences and multiple counts of aiding and abetting the rapes of both Bob and Tracey. As with Dave, there was video evidence of her taking part in the rapes of both Bob and Tracey. She was also convicted of taking indecent images of children for distribution.

None of them would set foot outside of prison again.

According to the deal that Tracey had made with the DA for her testifying and due to the fact that she was, like Bob, drugged and coerced she was sentenced to time served and released on probation. She spent a total of 8 months in a minimum-security prison whilst waiting to go to trial.

Bob spent six months as a self-referred patient in a psychiatric hospital. He had drug withdrawal problems and PTSD.

He returned home and was joined three months later by his daughters. He had divorced Sheila and got full custody of the girls. He and Tracey also sued Jeremy and Beth, Dave and Sheila. It took two years to work through, but the outcome was that virtually all the remaining assets of the three had been divided between them. They each owned their own homes outright, along with the Jeremy's house. Jeremy and Beth had not been poor either, so there was a sizeable amount of cash in the settlement also.

Jessica and Sophie had also spent a long time in therapy. They had also been in court for a lot of the trial, although they had been excluded when anything particularly graphic was discussed. They had been horrified to learn of their parentage, and how Bob had been treated. Their counsellor had managed to show them how they had been manipulated by their mother and how their love for him had been turned into contempt.

When they met up with Bob for the first time after he was discharged from the psychiatric hospital it was done under supervision. Nobody knew what to expect. Gary being the case worker for the girls was present. Bob also asked if I would be there, to answer any questions the girls had.

I could tell that all Bob wanted to do was to take his, now 16-year-old daughters into his arms and tell them everything would be OK, but he was scared. The last time he had seen his daughters face to face like this, they had held him in contempt.

In the end it was Sophie that broke the ice.

"Gary?" she said in a small voice, looking at him "Can I ask a question?"

"Sure sweetheart" Gary said warmly. Who did you want to ask.

Hesitantly she indicated Bob. He looked at her waiting. Both the girls were looking at him now.

"We were told that Jeremy is our biological father," she began, a tremor in her voice "but is there any way that we could go back to having you as our daddy?"

After that there was a lot of hugs and crying and tears and snot -- lots of snot.

I suppose it was inevitable that Tracey and Bob would get together, Tracey was struggling also with PTSD and her therapist had said that sharing her memories of the experience with someone who had also been there, might help and so they started attending joint counselling sessions. These sessions morphed into them spending time together outside of counselling, which morphed into dating. The twins were happy to babysit Tracey's son, who was in fact their half-brother after all.

A year later they moved in together and seven months later Tracey gave birth to another baby boy.

They decided to call him Jeremy......

Just kidding.