The Governor had always taken his job very seriously. He sat behind the desk in his office, watching impassively as the latest inmate was led in.

"Stand on the line!" the female guard instructed her.

She didn't resist the order; she just tried to clear her thoughts of every emotion, and stood looking straight ahead of her.

"Jackson, Natalie: Charged with attempted armed robbery; detained on remand, pending a preliminary hearing," the guard continued.

The Governor looked Natalie up and down: she continued to look over his head at the wall behind him. A familiar exchange of looks passed between governor and guard: the latter nodded and went out the way that she had come in.

"You could be here some time, Jackson and until your arraignment, you're mine: I tell you when to eat, when to sleep, and when to crap! Do you understand!"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Good Girl! With that attitude, we'll get along just fine! Now I have to search you! Take your clothes off, one at a time, and hand them to me."

Once again she reacted right away: no hesitation; no emotion. The shirt came first: just like being in a doctor's office, six buttons and off. She handed it to him and he checked the double thicknesses of material in the collar and cuffs. Natalie masked her revulsion when he brought the garment to his face and breathed in deeply.

"Brassiere, please!"

Natalie reached behind her and deftly unhooked the garment, took it off, and handed it to him across the desk. She stood upright, with her hands at her sides. She couldn't see his face, but if she could, she would have seen his eyes feasting hungrily on her breasts. Natalie had seen the effect that they could have on men before: sometimes welcome; sometimes not. Again there was something obscene about the way he fingered the item: as if practising for the way he was going to finger it's contents. The bra joined her shirt on the desk.

He didn't have to speak. As soon as bra was put down, she undid the button on her jeans and lowered the zip; but before she pushed them down over her hips, she balanced on each leg in turn as she removed one trainer and sock, then the other. These were quickly examined. He was more interested in watching the appearance of more bare flesh, as hips and thighs were exposed. Natalie was wearing the briefest of briefs, and the Governor's eyes flitted over every inch of exposed skin, before stopping at the triangle of flimsy material left covering the space between her long, shapely legs.

Her pockets had already been emptied, so he only had to conduct a cursory search of anywhere that could possibly conceal a blade, or maybe drugs. It was time for the grand finale ... he suddenly sat upright and looked more alert than at any other time during the process.

"If you wouldn't mind!" he said ... as if she had a choice.

In seconds she was naked in front of him. There was really not enough material there to warrant a search, but he did anyway. Natalie mentally squirmed as once again he held her intimate apparel to his nose and breathed in her natural aroma. She knew what was coming next.

"I have to check your body cavities, Jackson. Take a step back, then lean forward against the desk."

The Governor got up from his chair, and as he did so, she saw the obvious bulge in his trousers. He went over to a filing cabinet and took out a box of latex gloves, then pulled one over his right hand. In the same drawer as the gloves, there was a tube of lubricant; some of which he smeared over a finger.

"Try to relax, Jackson ... you might even enjoy it!"

She closed her eyes and clamped her lips together as he pushed his finger into her anus, as far as it would go, then moved it around inside her. Finding nothing, as she knew he would, he extracted his finger, took off the glove and casually tossed it into the trash.

"You've got a great arse, Jackson ... and the rest of you isn't bad, either!"

You know what you can do with your compliments, she felt like saying, but she kept her mouth shut. Cavities, he'd said, not cavity ... that only meant one thing!

"Feet apart ... wider!"

His hand was all over her vulva. She couldn't help gasping as a cold finger roughly found her clitoris and started to rub it. She thought of all the times that she'd done this to herself; or the tongue of a lover who had done it to her ... sweet times! But this was crude and painful!

He hadn't probed inside her vagina yet, and she wondered when the rubber glove would be going on! But there was no glove! Instead she heard the unmistakable sound of a zip being lowered, and by moving her head, she could see his trousers drop to his ankles.

God! No! she thought, He wouldn't! But he did!

With his hands on her hips, he pulled her towards him. He removed one hand, and then she felt the head of his penis searching for her opening. She wasn't even wet, and she just hoped he'd used some more of that lubricant! He thrust hard and was inside her: the shock took her breath away; like she'd been punched in the stomach! She could only grip the edge of the desk and concentrate on not crying out, as he pumped away. With every inward stroke, his hairy scrotum pushed against her soft behind. She knew that at this rate it wouldn't take him long to come: Just a little bit longer, she kept telling herself.

At last he was done. He pulled out of her, and then she felt the condom follow. At least the bastard had the sense to wear one! She was still leaning against the desk, her shaking legs barely able to support her weight.

"Okay, you can stand up now, Jackson ... and for God's Sake get dressed before someone comes in!"

Natalie slowly stood up, then picked up her clothes, and still standing in front of the desk, got dressed again. Once again she tried not to look at him, but her composure was gone and he could no longer look her in the eye. The Governor picked up the phone.

"Jackson's done here, Can somebody come and finish processing her!"

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and the same guard as before came in. Natalie was taken to the stores, where she once again took off her clothes, which were taken away to be cleaned. Dressed now in prison garb, she was taken in silence to the cell that she would be occupying until her preliminary hearing.

It wasn't Natalie's first time in trouble; but it was the first time that she'd been sent to prison. As a teen she'd been a bit wild, but her past offences were misdemeanours, for which she'd only received cautions and fines. But now she felt that these minor offences were coming back to haunt her: she had a criminal record, and in some people's eyes that was reason enough to assume that she was automatically guilty of any alleged indiscretions.

She would be sharing a cell with one other young woman: this other woman was lying on her bunk, reading one of the novels to be found in the library.

"We've found you a new roomie, Gardner," the guard said derisively, " ... and not just one of your penny ante tea leaves ... this one's a real villain!"

The cell door shut behind her.

"You don't seem like no hard case," the woman said, " ... was that Hawkins' little joke!"

"Kind of!" Natalie exclaimed, "They're trying to get me for armed robbery!"

"And you're innocent, of course!"

"I think so! But no one else appears to!"

"Okay, so what's your story!" the woman asked her, " ... And it's 'Sarah'; although everyone usually calls me 'Scotty.'

"Natalie ... or just, Nat! You know that expression: 'In the wrong place, at the wrong time'; well, that's what happened to me! I went into a bank to query something, and while I was in there, three people in ski-masks rush in with shotguns and start waving them around! Well, they made a complete hash of it and got caught in the act. The police take off the masks and I recognise one of them as an ex-boyfriend. And I think to myself: it's better to own up that I know the guy, rather than be called up as a witness and then they find out. So I call out: Ronnie, is that you?

"Next thing I know, I'm in the police station ... because, apparently, the police don't believe in coincidences, and I've been charged with being an accessory to the attempted robbery!"

"That's harsh!" Scotty said, "But I know what they're like: they love to tie up all the loose ends when they close a case!"

"I'm just hoping then when I get the chance to stand up in court and tell my side of the story, common sense will prevail!"

"Well I wish you luck with that, Nat! I take it you've just met our wonderful Governor! Did he try it on?"

"The bastard did more than try it on! Although I guess it's not technically rape if I didn't protest! But who are they going to believe ... and I'm in enough trouble without having to prove sexual assault!"

"It's not the first time I've heard that story, Nat! I just hope that one day the truth comes out about that piece of slime ... but as you say: it's our word against his! The screws know what goes on in that office, but they're in his pocket and they're more interested in their pensions than us! But don't worry, Nat ... I'll put the word out and you'll get treated right while you're in here because of it!"

She was true to her word, and Natalie found that she was left alone. There were some hard-nosed women cons, who tended to have a lot of, shall we say, 'influence' over day-to-day prison life, and some of these had also experienced the Governor's special cavity search methods!

On the first occasion that Natalie was allowed visitors, she found herself sitting opposite her tearful mother, trying to reassure her that it was all a big mistake and, hopefully, when she had her day in court it would be sorted out. Natalie was sitting at a table next to her friend, Scotty, who was sitting facing a really good-looking guy, who smiled at Nat every time she happened to look in his direction. She resisted the urge to smile back though ... she couldn't risk antagonising her only real friend inside, by flirting with her boyfriend! When visiting was over they went to eat. She took the opportunity to explain what had happened.

"I swear, I didn't encourage him, Scotty!" Her cellmate laughed.

"Maybe you should have, Nat! My brother really liked you ... and if I say so myself, he is a bit of a dish!" Natalie returned the laugh.

"I wish I'd known! I thought he was just another rat, trying to cheat on his girlfriend!"

"We are allowed to write in here, you know. He's single, and I don't think he'd need a lot of encouragement, in your case. And just to put the record straight: he definitely wouldn't be my type anyway; if you get my meaning!"

"Yes, I think so!"

Natalie and Scotty's brother, Chris, began to correspond regularly, and a couple of times she put her mother off visiting, so Chris could visit her instead. The day finally arrived when she was told the date of her hearing. Some of Natalie's family would be there; but also Chris.