Chapter 2: Sex And Corruption

The mayor watched in silence and in horror. When it clearly showed him pouring vodka into the coffee cup, all hope of getting away with it left him. Then he watched as he started raping her whilst she was unconscious. When she screamed out just after he entered her and was clearly being forced to continue, he knew he was lost. He saw a long prison sentence ahead. Lewis switched his phone and the tv off then collected the statements. Putting them in his pocket he said, ‘In a moment we will return to the reception.’

‘Once we are there, you have two choices. Either the constable will arrest you and from that point on I have no control over what happens. Or you can accept the amazing leniency that your victims are offering you, which you clearly don’t deserve.’

‘You will sign a confession of what you have done. Then you will resign as mayor and as councillor immediately. You will never set foot in the Town Hall ever again, nor will you ever stand for public office. You will never attempt to contact any of your victims.’

‘If you accept that offer, your victims will forget it ever happened and never mention it again to anyone. No one but you, me and your victims will ever know about it. There would be no publicity, no arrest, no trial, no prison.’

‘Your confession, the video you have just seen, and your victim’s statements will be sealed up and kept secure in the police station safe. They will never see the light of day again, unless you are charged with a sexual offence in the future, in which case it will all be given to the judge at your trial.’

‘The choice is yours. To accept the second option, you must sign your confession now, and then announce your resignation as soon as we return to the reception.’

Lewis handed him another statement typed on an official police form. It set out everything the mayor had done to the four victims. All it required was the mayor’s signature and that of a witness to his signature.

The mayor read it through twice. He had already decided he had no option. He was now busy thinking how he could explain his sudden resignation to his wife and others. He picked up the pen and signed it. Lewis countersigned it as witness and put it in his pocket with the other papers.

I suggest you go and swill your face before we go Lewis told him. As soon as the mayor closed the bathroom door, Lewis rescued his camera and put it in a carrier bag he had had in his pocket. As they left the room, it’s doubtful that the mayor even noticed that Lewis was now carrying a plastic bag that he hadn’t had before.

‘Ok,’ Lewis said, ‘Let’s go. When we go in, I’ll call for attention. Then you can make your announcement before you leave the Town Hall for good.’ They got up and returned to the reception. This time with Lewis in the lead, followed by the mayor and Tom bringing up the rear at a distance.

As soon as they entered the reception room, Tom returned to Amelia. Lewis went over and stood on the six-foot square stage in the corner of the room which had a microphone. The mayor followed him and stood there looking very subdued. Picking up the microphone, Lewis said, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please.’

When there was silence Lewis said, ‘The duties of a councillor and a mayor can be very stressful and affect the health and lives of those who take up these offices to serve the community. His Worship the Mayor would like to make an announcement.’

Lewis passed the mike to the mayor. There was absolute silence as everyone waited for him to speak. Normally a clear and forcible speaker, he was obviously having great difficulty finding words. After a few attempts to start, he handed the mike back to Lewis. ‘Will you do it for me please,’ he said in a breaking voice.

Lewis took the mike and announced, ‘On behalf of the mayor, I have to tell you that for personal reasons he is resigning as mayor, and as a local councillor as of this minute.’ There was a ripple of supressed voices then Lewis added, ‘You can see it is a decision that has upset him considerably, so I would ask you to please remain silent whilst he leaves the room.’

Lewis switched the mike off and whispered, ‘Follow me.’ He led him to the door, opened it and let him through. Lewis led him back to his room and told him to collect all his personal things.

Once he had everything ready Lewis asked him what number he dialled for his driver. Ringing it, Lewis requested his car be brought to the front door of the Town Hall.

Then Lewis walked to the top of the grand staircase with him. Standing in a row at the railings the far side of the staircase where his four victims. From the landing they had seen Lewis leading the mayor to his room on the first occasion. May had immediately gone into the reception room.

She had made sure the microphone was working then returned to the landing out of sight. The four of them had slipped into the reception room unnoticed, immediately after Tom. After listening to the announcement, they had gone out again before the mayor and Lewis stepped down off the stage.

Now they watched in silence as the disgraced mayor walked down the stairs for the last time. Despite what he had done to them, each one felt sorry for him. The mayor didn’t even notice they were there.

At the front door Clive was waiting. ‘The mayor is unwell and has resigned.’ Lewis told him, ‘Will you see him safely home.’ He watched the car drive away then returned up the stairs. The four ladies met him and thanked him, all subdued. ‘That was a very sad thing to see.’ May said, ‘Even though he deserved it.’

‘They went off home,’ and Lewis returned to Ella. Half the guests had already left and all the others were heading out. A man approached Lewis and introduced himself as a reporter from the local paper.

‘Can you tell me what happened and who you are?’ he asked, ‘It has been a great shock to us all.’ ‘I just happened to be here,’ Lewis told him. ‘I met the mayor here at the Town Hall recently, when he gave me information for a project for school. I was writing about a mayor’s year. He invited me and some friends here tonight, so I guess he just saw a face he knew and asked me to help him.’

‘Making the actual announcement for him was a shock, even to me. But you’ll have to ask the mayor himself why it was necessary. I’m sure you could see how distressed he was.’

To all other questions he just replied that he had no idea. On the way home, Lewis told them, ‘Thank you all for your support. I can’t tell you why it happened, but I can tell you that you have all played your part in an essential public service tonight.’

THE FOLLOWING DAY

That evening Lewis downloaded all the recordings from the camera. Initially, he had just spun through every event to the start of each new recording. As soon as he saw that it wasn’t a lady with the mayor he had moved on to the next one.

Then before the meeting with the four ladies he had decided he should check through the whole tape to see if the mayor had mentioned anything about what had happened to anyone else, or even mentioned another victim or victims. That had given him some surprising additional knowledge about the mayor’s sexual misdeeds.

Now he would go through it all with a fine-toothed comb. It would take far too long to listen to all of every recording, so he decided to listen to up to ten minutes of each and then spin on. The first three where phone calls on the internal phone which he only listened to a minute of, feeling that nothing untoward would be discussed on that line.

Phone calls in and out on the mayor’s own mobile were more revealing. It soon became clear that he had another lady friend outside of the town hall staff, who he had sex with fairly regularly. But going by hearing his end of the conversation, it was very consensual.

On the first three calls with her, all he managed to learn was that her name was Bev, so he assumed Beverly. He kept an ear out for her from then on. There were a lot of calls involving mayoral visits and May came in often with requests for him to visit people and events, and to take notes.

Then he had a visit from an older man who seemed to be in authority. Checking his name against the list May had given him, Lewis decided he was the CEO. Their discussion and a couple of future ones were all Town Hall business.